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We are a small team of writers, editors, and designers who love books. You can read our manifesto here.
Writing a book is one of the most rewarding projects you’ll ever take on—but it can also feel overwhelming if you’ve never attempted to write one before.
This page is designed to answer many of the questions clients have before getting started. You’ll learn how our process works, what to expect over the coming months, and what happens after the manuscript is complete. You’ll also find answers to common questions, sample writing, and an overview of our publishing process.
Thank you for considering Word & Craft for your project. Our commitment is to create a book you’ll be proud of.
“There is no agony like bearing an untold story inside you.”
– Zora Neale Hurston
Most of the leaders we work with have spent years collecting ideas, experiences, stories, and lessons they want to share. They’re just not sure how to organize all that material into a finished book. That’s where we come in.
At Word & Craft, we help leaders turn ideas into fully finished books. We lead you through the entire process from writing the manuscript all the way to holding a finished book in your hands. Our goal is to make the process as simple and enjoyable as possible so you can stay focused on your professional responsibilities.
Authors love to talk about how grueling and brutal the writing process is. There’s a famous saying, often attributed to Ernest Hemingway: “There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.” That might be overstating it a bit.
Make no mistake, writing a book takes time, but it doesn’t have to be hard. We’ve broken the bookwriting and publishing process into seven steps. These are the seven phases of every book project we work on at Word & Craft. The seven phases are: Clarify, Outline, Write, Edit, Design, Print, and Promote. And that’s truly all it takes to publish a great book people will buy.
Let’s look at each step in more detail:
You’ve got an idea for a book. That’s important—you can’t have a book without an idea! But just any idea is not quite good enough. We need to turn it into a great idea. To do that, we need to think about it, and think about it some more. We need to talk about it and then talk about it with someone else.
During this process, we will not be in a hurry. At all. As a matter of fact, we’re going to deliberately take our time. Take walks in the neighborhood. Write pre-drafts. Change our mind. Sleep on it. We’re wooing the creative gods here. We’re throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks.
You may see people offering a way to “write a book in 30 days.” No thanks! We want people to still be reading this book in 10 years, so it’s okay if it takes time.
During the Clarify phase, we’ll work together to get really really clear define what the book is about and the best ways to accomplish that goal.
This stage is built around conversations either face to face or over video. Through interviews, brainstorming sessions, and back and forth, we’ll organize your ideas and uncover themes that may not yet be obvious. If you already have notes, articles, sermons, presentations, or previous writing, we’ll review those as well to better understand your voice and message.
By the end of this phase, we should be able to give a clear and compelling elevator pitch about your book.
While this phase may seem simple, it’s often the most important part of the entire project. Great books aren’t built by writing more words—they’re built by gaining greater clarity.
Once we’ve clarified the purpose and message of your book, the next step is creating a roadmap.
During this phase, we’ll organize your ideas into a clear, logical structure that helps clearly articulate your message. We’ll also identify where stories, illustrations, research, and practical application fit best.
This is a collaborative process. As we develop the outline, you’ll have the opportunity to review the structure, ask questions, and make adjustments before we begin writing. Our goal is for you to have complete confidence in the direction of the manuscript before a single chapter is drafted.
By the end of this phase, you’ll have a clear understanding of how everything fits together.
