The eleven-step plan, in plain English

The eleven steps do not change between authors. The execution changes based on your tier. The steps themselves are fixed because cutting one breaks something downstream and adding a twelfth slows the timeline without improving the outcome. Here is what each step actually requires of you.

Steps 1 through 3: Getting in

Step 1 is Apply. You submit a short form with your topic, your audience, your draft status, and the result you want readers to walk away with. The editorial team responds inside seven business days. Step 2 is Discover. You run a Voice Diagnostic, an Audience Audit, a Framework Draft, and a sample chapter. By the end, you have a documented voice and a named framework on paper. Step 3 is Approve. Your Discover package goes to the editorial gate. If it passes, the project moves. If it needs work, you get specific notes and a path to resubmission. That gate protects every other author already inside the imprint.

Steps 4 and 5: Building the book

Step 4 is Architect. You lock the title, the subtitle, the full chapter outline, and the Story Bank with at least thirty entries. By the end of Architect, the book exists on paper and the blank page problem is gone. Step 5 is Draft. You write thirty to thirty-three chapters. The in-app coach reads every section the moment you submit it and flags drift in real time. Chapters come back faster because the feedback loop is immediate.

Step 6 and 7: Making it publishable

Step 6 is Compile. The editorial team assembles the full manuscript, the workbook built from your chapter exercises, and the Coach Edition if your tier includes it. Step 7 is Polish. Line edit, cover design, interior layout, author photo, back cover copy, foreword coordination if applicable. The designer and editorial team work in parallel so the book that goes to the printer can sit next to any title on the shelf without flinching.

Steps 8 and 9: Standing up the engine

Step 8 is Equip. Launch infrastructure goes live: landing page, email nurture sequence, ARC reader team, podcast media kit, speaker one-sheet, social rollout calendar. This runs before the book is available for pre-order. Step 9 is Distribute. ISBN registration, Amazon and IngramSpark distribution, library channel access, retail catalog entry, audiobook narration if your tier includes it.

Steps 10 and 11: Launch and beyond

Step 10 is Launch. The team operates launch week. ARC reviews go live in the first seventy-two hours. Amazon and Goodreads optimization runs daily for the first thirty days. Your job during launch week is to record the podcasts and show up for your readers. Everything else is handled. Step 11 is Scale. The book becomes the front door to keynotes, cohorts, certifications, the audiobook, the Spanish edition, the Coach Edition rollout, and the second book if you want one.

Eleven steps. One team. One book with your name on the spine.