The Book at the Beach Process

A three-day intensive to complete your first draft

GHOSTWRITING SERVICES

Your challenge isn’t the ideas; it’s making the writing a priority.

When you sit down to write, there’s so much competing for your time and attention.

It’s easy to get overwhelmed or distracted by things like:

  • Demanding business priorities 

  • Family responsibilities

  • Too many disorganized thoughts

  • Deciding which topics to include

  • Understanding your niche

This is where I step in.

Through a series of one-on-one interviews, I pull all the knowledge, experience, and stories out of your head and onto the page.  

Our conversations offer a safe place to reveal your authentic story, the one you’ve been too afraid to share. Be prepared to discover your message, your voice, and your genius on the pages of your first draft. 

Once you hold that manuscript in your hands, you’ll know you’re an author. 

Past authors have booked hotel rooms or an Airbnb near me in Florida; others have found a place closer to their homes where we can relax, focus, and get the writing done together. Wherever we meet, we spend three days away from life’s distractions to make your first draft a reality.

  • “I Ieft my Book at the Beach process feeling like an author, knowing this was doable and it was just a matter of time because my book was definitely going to happen. Karen coached me through all of it. And now it’s a part of almost every conversation I have about my business. I’ve been able to expand the work I was already doing with leaders from Fortune 10 companies because of it.”

    Kristin Rink
    Executive Coach and Consultant
    Author of Controlling the Pause: Reusable Tools for Big Leaders in Transition

What’s Included in
Book at the Beach?

pen-line books on a shelf

Everything you need to develop your idea and write, edit, design, and publish your book—plus, you keep 100 percent of the royalties.

COMPLETED BOOK MANUSCRIPT

  • Validating your idea (or not) before we begin work

  • Structuring and positioning it to be the best possible book

  • In-depth interviews to get your ideas out of your head and into your readers’ hands

PUBLISHED BOOK

  • A beautifully designed cover and interior layout

  • Full coordination of all publishing details (ISBN, author bio, book description, etc.)

  • Paperback and e-book formats 

  • Creative rights and ownership of the book

DISTRIBUTION

  • Full printing services, with the ability to order unlimited copies at production cost 

  • Full distribution through major online retailers (Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Apple Books, etc.)

How we get started:

Complimentary Brainstorming Call

We start with a thirty-minute discovery call to get to know each other and talk about your ideas. You talk about where you are in the book-writing process (idea, no idea, too many ideas, started writing, have a first draft, have a completed draft).

At no charge to you, this is a chance to determine if my expertise and this process are a fit for you. Do I have knowledge and experience with your niche that might help?

By the end, you’ll be clear on three things:

  • Your strongest idea

  • Clarity about whether this is the right time in your business for a book

  • What doors a book will open for you and your business (for example, establishing expertise or credibility, becoming a speaker, attracting a different level of clients, or building your brand)

“The book that changes your life the most is not a book that you read; it’s the book you write.”
— Daniel Priestley

Here’s how the Book at the Beach process works:

  • On our first day, we begin creating your Positioning Toolkit:

    • Establishing exactly what your book is about

    • Defining your ideal readers

    • Determining the book’s impact on those readers

    • Outlining your objectives

    Once the book is framed in your Positioning Toolkit, I guide you through the Rapid Results Outline, a starting point for our content interviews.

    With those pieces in place, we then start the interviews, which represent the most important part of this process. They get all of your content, stories, and knowledge out of your head and onto a recording.

    We work in ninety-minute blocks, using the book outline as a starting point.

  • DAY 2: DEEP DIVE

    • Reviewing Day 1 content

    • Completing content interviews

    • Understanding the publishing industry

    • Brainstorming book titles

    DAY 3: SPLASH SESSION

    • Revisiting the book title

    • Identifying gaps in content

    • Developing a marketing strategy

    • Identifying market value positioning

    • Creating an action plan and next steps

    • Reviewing success metrics

    • Having cocktails and applauding all your hard work!

    At the end of three days, you’ll leave feeling immense relief—I’ll have everything I need to begin building the first draft, and you can get back to focusing on your business.

  • This is where the real magic begins…

    In the weeks immediately following your Book at the Beach sessions, my team and I will use your content interviews to pull together and refine a working draft.

  • Over six months, you’ll work with my team in a collaborative editing process to incorporate your feedback into the next few drafts—until it glows like a sunset.

    Your book will go through four rounds of editing:

    1. A developmental edit focused on content completion

    2. A line edit to elevate the language and optimize the structure

    3. A copy edit to review word by word for grammar and consistency

    4. A proofread to catch any remaining errors

  • Once the final draft of the book is complete, my team will work with you on the design and these technical aspects of publishing:

    • Cover design

    • Interior layout

    • Digital and print publication and distribution through platforms like BookBaby

    • ISBN assignment and barcode creation

    • Conversion to Kindle and other e-readers

    • Title upload

    Optional add-ons (at an additional cost):

    • Hardcover printing

    • Audiobook publishing

  • Your book is published—time to celebrate! 🍸 Drinks are on you! 🤣

Authors I loved working with:

MICHELLE TURMAN

Author of Jumping the Queue: Achieving Great Things Before You're Ready

PATRICK RURKA

Author of Your Roots Are Showing: A Pharmacist's Guide to Growing Your Best Self

GABI SPRAKE

Author of What The...I Did Not Sign Up For This: The Ups and Downs of Supporting an Entrepreneur

THIS PROCESS IS A FIT FOR YOU IF:

  • You’re writing a nonfiction business book, self-help book, or memoir

  • You have mastery and knowledge to share but don’t like writing or have the time to do so

  • People have been telling you for years that you should write about your area of expertise

  • You understand the value of a collaborative working relationship

  • You can honor deadlines

THIS PROCESS WON’T BE A FIT FOR YOU IF:

  • You want to write fiction, poetry, a cookbook, a children’s book, a graphic novel, a revenge memoir, or catharsis book

  • You want to do the writing yourself; if this is you, take a look at my Book Writing Masterclass

Your Investment

Writing assistance is an incredibly valuable investment, both in yourself and in your story. Every manuscript is unique, and all ghostwriting work will be custom quoted, based on the length, complexity, and scope of work required to capture your genius on the page. 

Business books up to 45,000 words start at $48,000. Books of industry-standard length (55,000 to 85,000 words) start at $62,000. The Book at the Beach begins at $72,000, billed in ten equal payments. Please contact me for a quote.

Note: This amount doesn’t include the three-day accommodations so that our collaboration begins in the most relaxing and convenient place to do our best work together. 

Kind Words from Authors

  • “I spent my entire life stuffing my voice into a box so small that I eventually forgot it existed. It is because of Karen’s guidance, encouragement, and wisdom that I have managed to tell a story I thought I would never tell.”


    Dr. Zoe Read, MD
    Author of A New Kind of Grit: Female Rebels and the Art of Defying the Odds

  • “The purpose of writing my books is to elevate my thought leadership, visibility, and credibility. Karen has a successful process and methodology that gets the right outcomes. She’s amazing at understanding your voice and tone and replicating that.”

    Audrey McGuckin
    CEO and Founder of the McGuckin Group
    Author of Reclaiming the Fire in Your Belly: A Practical Guide for Women Leaders to Navigate Overwhelm

Let’s work together.

Are you ready to become an author?
Fill out some basic information and I will be in touch shortly.

Meet Karen

Since 2008, I’ve written four of my own books, ghostwritten more than seventy books, and worked with hundreds of authors.

My specialty is working with female thought leaders and industry experts who want to increase visibility, credibility, and impact by writing a book. With my natural curiosity and successful methodology, I know exactly how to capture your genius on the page.

FREE PREVIEW DOWNLOAD

Behind the Cover

A Ghostwriter’s Guide to Authoring Your Own Business Book

Behind the Cover distills my more than fifteen years of writing and publishing experience and lays out my method from start to finish.

You’ll finally get that book out of your head and into readers’ hands.

Read the first two chapters for free.