Logical Expressions FAQ

 

Thank you for visiting our site and considering our services. If you're thinking about hiring us to help you with your book, you might want to know a little more about our background and how we work.

Here are answers to some of the frequently asked questions about our consulting services. If you have other questions, please feel free to contact us. There's no obligation, so feel free to drop us a line!

• What is your background in book publishing?
• Why did you get into book publishing?
• What kind of projects do you handle?
• How do you quote projects?
• What do you need from me to get started?
• How long will it take you to finish my project?
• How do you handle revisions?
• Do you guarantee my book will sell?
• I need to talk to you now. How do I contact you?

What is your background in book publishing?

You can find out quite a bit about us on this page: Fast Facts about Susan Daffron and James Byrd

But realistically, for book projects, you'll probably be dealing most with Susan. She has been involved in publishing in one way or another since 1986 when she did a college internship at McCall's Magazine in New York City. There she saw the realities of the "slush pile" (actually the slush room) filled with work from aspiring writers. She realized that getting published might be a little more difficult than she thought.

After graduating from college, Susan worked on early Macintosh computers (a Mac SE with 128K of RAM and PageMaker version 1!) doing typesetting work for a print shop. After moving to San Diego, she used an early desktop publishing program called Ventura Publisher to lay out thousands of pages of documentation. That led to other technical writing and graphic design jobs, mostly involving long documents and books.

The last "real job" Susan had before starting Logical Expressions was at a technical publishing company. There she was an editor on the magazine, produced newsletters, and laid out books and prepared them for early print-on-demand (POD) printing (a Xerox Docutech). She laid out many thousands of pages of books way back in 1995 before anyone actually called it POD printing.

After starting LE, Susan worked on many graphic design and editorial projects and worked with many book publishers, including Macmillan Computer Publishing. She did copy editing, developmental editing, technical editing and layout for various publishers on a wide range of projects. She also co-authored a traditionally published book on Microsoft Office, and wrote a book called How to Use PowerPoint 2000, which was published by Sams.

With this extensive background in publishing, it actually was fairly easy for Susan to navigate the murky waters of self-publishing and produce 8 books in less than 18 months.

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Why did you get into book publishing?

We made a conscious decision to switch our market to self-publishing. When we decided to reorient our services exclusively to book publishing, we actually were doing quite well offering Web site, writing, and graphic design services. However, given the pressure from offshore programmers and innumerable free online templates, we saw the handwriting on the wall. Web design has been devalued and it's difficult to be competitive.

Books have a lot more permanence and prestige than Web sites. Anyone can put up a blog and sound their "barbaric yawp" on the Internet, but it takes a lot more thought and effort to produce a quality print book. We both are avid readers and have always loved books, so it seemed natural to work with clients who love books as much as we do. (Let's face it; no one who hates books bothers to write them!)

Our background in marketing our business and our Web clients online is also extremely useful for book publishers, since at this point, selling books in bookstores is becoming more difficult and less lucrative. Most people have far more success selling non-fiction books online. So we use our Web design skills and background to help people market their books the same way we have.

Although books aren't as "high tech" as Web sites, we also don't have to explain how a payment processor or DNS works to people as often either. Plus, nothing compares to hearing how excited a client is when he or she receives the proof copy of their book in the mail. We know how it feels to hold your book in your hands for the first time ;-)

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What kind of projects do you work on?

We work exclusively with non-fiction self-publishers. Generally our clients are entrepreneurs who want to use a book as another income stream or as a way to demonstrate their expertise and generate leads. Our Publishize System helps people self-publish books in a cost-effective way using print-on-demand printing.

We offer services to help people write, publish, or promote their books.

Please see these pages for more detailed information:

• Write Your Book
• Publish Your Book
• Promote Your Book

Because of our background in writing, editing, design and programming, we can quickly grasp even the most technical and challenging production problems.

You can find out more about the types of clients we work with on the Who We Work With page. If you want to find out more about projects we've worked on in the past and what clients thought, please check out our writing credits, client list, project portfolio, and testimonials pages.

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How do you quote projects?

We almost always quote by the project. We base the quote on the type of work you need, and how much time it takes. Many times that depends on where you are in the book authoring process. If you have a rough manuscript, you may require developmental editing or coaching to finish the project. If your book is already written, but needs to be laid out and sent to the printer, that's a different type of project. A marketing plan or book Web site is yet another type of project.

We offer a complimentary 15-minute consultation so we can get an idea of where you are in your project. Please visit these pages for more information.

• Write Your Book
• Publish Your Book
• Promote Your Book

We don't work on an "hourly rate." Obviously, our fees are based on how long it takes to do the work, but we think a project-based approach is easier for everyone. You know what to expect, so there aren't any surprises. Hiring us is either worth it to you, or it's not. Our prices are clearly described in our Online Store.

We aren't the least expensive folks you'll find, but we definitely aren't the most expensive either. However, we didn't just fall off the turnip truck yesterday. As noted, we've been doing publishing work for a lot of years and we take customer service extremely seriously. Some of our clients have been working with us for more than a decade. The How We Work page has some information about what to expect when you work with us.

If you want to talk to us about your project, please fill out one of the forms below with the details to see if we can help you.

• Write Your Book
• Publish Your Book
• Promote Your Book

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What do you need from me to get started?

1. A signed agreement and up front payment. After the quote has been approved, we write up a contract that outlines the project. If it is an extremely large or long-term project, sometimes we'll break it up into phases with half or one third up front. Each phase of the project has payment milestones. For example, we might break up a big project into three phases. In that case, a client is billed as follows: 35% before beginning Phase I, 35% before beginning Phase II, and 30% before beginning Phase III. We submit invoices at the beginning of each Phase, and work begins on that Phase when payment is received.

With smaller projects, we require payment in full through our shopping cart. Final prices are always subject to revision if the costs or specifications change. (Yes, stuff happens.) Excessive alterations and client-directed changes may incur extra charges. (Yes, even more stuff happens too.)

In general, we try to avoid involving LEI in the printing process. We don't want to become print brokers, so we ask clients to pay any printing and/or film costs directly to the respective vendor.

2. Creative materials. Often we need logos and background materials to begin work. On a layout project, for example, obviously we need the manuscript text of the book. For cover design, we may need an author photo and biographical information. For a marketing plan, we need information about your book, the target audience, and competition. We can't help you without these materials.

Once we get the materials and/or background information, we may still have questions. In that case, we email or make an appointment to talk on the phone at your convenience.

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How long will it take you to finish my project?

It depends on what you need and how busy we are. In general, we'll require a couple weeks for projects, depending on the complexity. Obviously, big projects take longer than small ones.

We very rarely take on rush projects. (Poor planning on your part doesn't constitute an emergency on our part, mostly because it's not fair to our other clients.) However, with that said, if you have a rush job, contact us just in case. We have turned around "emergency" projects in a couple days (or even hours) on occasion. As noted, it really depends on what else is going on. If we can't meet your deadline, we'll tell you and won't take the job.

If we accept the job, we will not miss your deadline. When we take on projects, we do what we say we're going to do when we say we're going to do it. It's that simple.

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How do you handle revisions?

For most projects, two sets of revisions are included in the project fee (if you need them). However, for lack of a better term, there is a "statute of limitations." You need to tell us within 30 days after receiving the final project that you need another revision. Coming back two years later with a typo isn't fair, and we'll charge you for accessing the files again.

Realistically, by the time we're done, most clients are happy and we don't hear from them again until the next project.

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Do you guarantee my book will sell?

There is no way anyone can guarantee a book can sell. We do the best job we can with the information we receive, but in the end there are way too many variables that affect how a book sells.

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I need to talk to you now. How do I contact you?

Call us at 208-265-6147 or contact us via email using the link at the bottom of every page of this site, or using one of our publishing contact forms.

• Write Your Book
• Publish Your Book
• Promote Your Book

Tell us about your book project. We offer a free 15-minute consultation and there is no obligation to hire us if we talk or correspond via email.

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