Writing a non-fiction book may seem straightforward, but it is very challenging. You have to strike a balance between hard facts and telling a story that keeps readers engaged with your content. You want to provide insights and knowledge while also setting out your personal experience and opinions on a subject.
For many, writing a non-fiction book focuses on sharing a unique point of view on a topic, often with data, case studies, and research to support your arguments. It can be difficult to avoid a dry tone in your writing in some situations. The same applies to autobiographies and memoirs. Thought leaders who never wrote a book may find that getting all of their ideas down on paper, editing, revising, and reworking all take a significant amount of time and effort.
The challenge of writing a non-fiction book does not stop with physically getting the words on paper, either. You must find a way to share your work with others in a way that makes sense with the brand and message you want to convey.
While you can pitch your manuscript to big-name publishing companies, it is challenging to get those larger brands to even look at what you have to offer, let alone agree to publish it. They keep ownership and creative control over your work, which is not appealing to many writers. To top it off, they often take royalty fees on every book you sell.
Instead, many people are turning to options for self-publishing. When you have control over the publishing process, you have a lot more say in how your finished product will look and feel when it goes out into the world.
Scribe Media helps authors write, publish, and market their non-fiction books. Scribe Media assists writers in creating their books and works with them to publish in a way that allows the author to maintain control over the entire process. The following Scribe Media review discusses services and whether those services add value to your non-fiction book writing and publishing process.
Scribe Media: Helping Non-Fiction Writers Get Published
Scribe Media tailors its services to those who are considered thought leaders or entrepreneurs who want to get more information out about a particular topic in a streamlined way. They have a specific writing and publishing framework the helps writers put their goal of writing a non-fiction book into an attainable reality.
Instead of having to wade through applications and pitch meetings with publishers, Scribe Media allows writers to “do it yourself” when it comes to both writing and publishing. They provide a comprehensive outline for writers to create non-fiction—and they even offer marketing services to help self-published authors get their work into the public eye.
Scribe Media Services: An Overview
Scribe Media offers both writing and publishing services and separate marketing services. Writing and publishing make up about 80% of their overall services, and the other 20% focus on marketing.
Scribe Media also offers a free learning tool so writers can learn more about the writing process and how to publish their own book. They call this service the Scribe Book School. Classes in this section include:
How to Write Your Non-Fiction Book
How to Write Your Memoir
How to Launch Your Book
How to Publish Your Book
In addition to their regular services, these classes are offered as free, self-directed courses.
Scribe Media offers consultation services to help you decide what kind of writing and publishing services are a good idea for you. They have author strategists who will walk you through the options and help you decide what your next steps should be. This consultation is free, and if you are considering writing a book, it can be a great first step to help you decide if writing a book makes sense for you.
Scribe Media recognizes that writing a book isn’t for everyone—and one of the topics that you will discuss in this consultation is whether writing a book makes sense for the goals you are trying to accomplish. As founder Tucker Max notes, “Obviously, not everyone should write a book—simply because most people don’t actually know what they’re talking about or have anything valuable to say.”
This consultation process helps you decide if you are heading in the right direction in a very realistic and down-to-earth way.
If you have already written a book or you want to do the writing completely on your own, Scribe Media offers stand-alone proofing and publishing services.
As part of their proofing process, they do a complete manuscript evaluation. This evaluation includes pointing out strengths and weaknesses in the copy and checking for basic grammar, syntax, and typos. They also provide book cover design and help with creating the interior layout of the book. They will even include graphics in your book if you would like to add those.
Publishing involves ebook creation, distribution, paperback, and hardcover copy work, and creating an array of marketing materials. They have a full “first-week promotion” package that includes podcast interviews, social media posts, and more.
This process takes four months and costs $3,000 per month.
3. Guided Author Services
If you have an idea of what you want to write, but you need some direction, the Guided Author package might be a good option. This package involves a dedicated coach and team working with you as you write your book, plus proofing and publishing.
It also includes a three-day online course, writing guidance and accountability, weekly coaching calls, and access to Scribe Media’s private Facebook group made up of editors and other Scribe Media authors.
All of the services in the publishing-only services are included in this package as well. This option is for a full 12 months, at $1,500 per month.
4. Professional Services
Scribe Media also provides services where they do the writing for you. Scribe Professional Package involves an interview process where the services are similar to ghostwriting based on the content you provide in the interview.
This is not just a “one and done” interview, however. Instead, the team does an interview with you for each section of the book—and each interview is generally between 90 and 120 minutes. In total, it ends up being up to about 12 hours of interview time separated into more manageable chunks of time. Your team creates your non-fiction book based on your interviews over the course of just a few months.
They work with you to get your ideas on paper, design the book, and prepare it for publishing. All of the same publishing services in the other packages are included as well, including proofing and marketing. The package is $5,000 per month for eight months.
5. Elite Ghostwriting
This package includes all of the other services—but it takes it a few steps further. The main difference between this package and the professional package is that the interview process and content development are much more extensive. You can expect numerous calls, revisions, design work, and more. Even the founder of Scribe, Tucker Max, is listed as an editor on this particular package.
Scribe Media does not give out pricing for this package, but it mentions that the minimum for this more extensive service is $120,000.
Book and Author Marketing
In addition to their book packages, they also offer branding services and book launch services. They have two general packages they offer relating to marketing: Book Launch and Author Ecosystem.
1. Book Launch
Book Launch is focused almost exclusively on making sure that your book becomes an Amazon Bestseller. It hits the gambit of book launch marketing, including pre-launch media coverage like podcasts and social media posts. Much of these services are also found as part of the publishing and promotion services that you receive as a Scribe Media author—priced at $3,600 per month for five months.
2. Author Ecosystem
This service focuses on creating a brand for you as an author rather than simply focusing on your book. While your book is certainly important, the true emphasis is really on you and portraying you as an expert in your field.
The package involves work on your website, general marketing, social media, newsletters, and more. It is really an advertising blitz that can help you establish yourself as an author and expert on a particular subject.
Pricing for this service is $3,000 per month for two months.
Does Scribe Media Add Value?
In short, yes. It is a good resource for those who know they want to write a book but are not sure where to start. Scribe Media touts their free consultation service as a way to discover whether writing a non-fiction book is really a good option for the goal you are trying to accomplish—they are quick to point out that it is not a sales call.
However, you should keep in mind that if you have a weak idea for a book and insist on putting it out in the world, Scribe Media is not going to be able to help you suddenly make your idea a better one. They will, however, give you resources and opportunities to make your ideas and writing better (if that is the package you choose).
What Scribe Media does not do is put words in your mouth. Whether you are using the ghostwriting service or the publishing services, their writers and editing team do not add any idea that does not come from the author.
Because Scribe Media uses a team of highly talented people who review your work in-depth, it adds a layer of service that you simply cannot get from writing software or programs like MasterWriter, Scrivener, or ProWritingAid.
Are Scribe Media’s Services Worth the Cost?
While many companies provide similar services, Scribe Media does have quite a track record. They have worked with many best-selling authors who have had a great deal of success after publishing their books. Scribe lists literally hundreds of authors, some of whom you likely know or read before, who have published with them in the past six years—14 of them have been New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestsellers.
One of the benefits that successful authors like is that Scribe Media does not take any royalties or other fees from your finished product. Instead, their fees are limited to the investment you made to engage their services. If you are wildly successful, that is money you can keep in your pocket.
Putting It All Together
If you have always thought about writing a book, enlisting Scribe Media can give you the push in the right direction you need to take action to make that dream a reality. If you already have a manuscript ready to go, but you are not sure how to get the word out, Scribe Media can help with that too.
All in all, Scribe Media can provide a lot of value to the right person—and they have been very successful with other authors. It might be just the nudge you need to get your non-fiction book off the ground if you are willing to make the investment.
