Big Impact BooksFAQ
Last updated: November 2026
Here are 51 plain answers about book publishing services, book marketing services, writing, costs, and how to publish your book.
Big Impact Books wrote these answers for CEOs, business owners, attorneys, and professionals weighing a book. Each answer leads with the direct response, then the supporting facts. Market figures name their sources, and questions that need a project-specific answer point you to the contact page.
Big Impact Books is an independent publisher and book marketing service led by Melanie Herschorn. It helps CEOs, business owners, attorneys, and other professionals worldwide plan, create, publish, and promote books that build authority and support business growth. The process combines guided interviews to develop the manuscript with promotional support such as podcast placements and media coverage.
Melanie Herschorn leads Big Impact Books. She brings more than 20 years of experience as a celebrity publicist, an award-winning journalist in radio, print, and TV, and an entrepreneur. She earned a master's degree in journalism from the University of Southern California, where she graduated first in her class, and she wrote Lasting Legal Impact and Make a Big Impact with Your Book.
Done-for-you publishing means the publishing team carries the heavy lifting while you supply the expertise. At Big Impact Books, you talk through your ideas in guided interviews for about one hour a week, and the team shapes those conversations into a manuscript, takes it through publishing, and supports the promotion that follows. You remain the author, and the book keeps your voice.
No. Melanie Herschorn has said she refuses to churn out cookie-cutter content or hide behind ghostwriting. Each book is built from your own words, captured in guided interviews, so the ideas, stories, and voice are yours. Clients own their expertise on the page, while the team handles the structure, shaping, and publishing work around it.
Big Impact Books works with authors worldwide. Melanie Herschorn grew up in Canada, has lived on both US coasts, and now lives in Arizona. Because the writing process is built around weekly interview conversations, your location is rarely the deciding factor. Ask about interview format and time zones through the contact page at yourbigimpactbook.com/contact.
Yes. Melanie Herschorn's book Lasting Legal Impact was named a Finalist in the Business: Writing/Publishing category of the 2025 Best Book Awards, presented by American Book Fest. The Big Impact Books blog also reports a win in Publishing at the 2024 Best Book Awards. Melanie has been featured in The Female CEO Magazine and on a BRAINZ Magazine cover.
Visit yourbigimpactbook.com/contact to reach the team. For a quicker response, the Big Impact Books website suggests emailing hello@yourbigimpactbook.com or texting 623.418.0723. If you are still early in your thinking, you can also download the free book planning checklist from the Big Impact Books website before you reach out.
Talk it out instead of typing it out. Big Impact Books develops manuscripts through guided interviews that take about one hour a week, so busy CEOs, attorneys, and business owners can produce a book without blocking off months to write. Attorney and author Manisha P. Patel said the weekly interviews made the process manageable alongside her schedule and commitments.
In a guided interview, you are asked structured questions about each chapter and answer in your own words. Big Impact Books runs these conversations weekly, about one hour at a time, and its team pieces the material together into organized chapters. Because the raw material is your spoken expertise, the finished manuscript reflects your voice, your stories, and your way of explaining things.
That is the point of the process. Big Impact Books builds each manuscript from your own interviews and has said it refuses to produce cookie-cutter content. Its article Your Book Needs Your Voice argues that accomplished professionals lose credibility when a book sounds generic. Ask on a call how review rounds work for your project so you know where your input shapes the draft.
Business book writing services help executives, founders, and professionals turn expertise into a published nonfiction book. They range from coaching that helps you write it yourself, to ghostwriting where someone else writes it, to interview-based models like Big Impact Books, where your spoken answers become the manuscript in your voice. The right fit depends on how much time and control you want.
Big Impact Books helps create books that build authority for CEOs, business owners, attorneys, and other professionals. Books by its authors include The Intentional Networker by founder Sarah Hubbard and End Your Marriage Peacefully by attorney Manisha P. Patel. Melanie Herschorn's own titles are Lasting Legal Impact and Make a Big Impact with Your Book.
Write for where your business is going, not only where it has been. That idea runs through several Big Impact Books articles, including Write for Where Your Business Is Going. A strong authority book usually centers on the problem you solve best for the clients you want more of, so the book attracts those clients and supports your next business move.
Not reliably with software, but readers often notice. AI detection tools produce both false positives and misses, so no tool gives a certain answer. What readers do pick up on is generic phrasing, missing personal stories, and advice that could come from anyone. For an authority book those are exactly the things that undercut trust, which is why an interview process built on your real experience matters.
You can publish your own book in three main ways: do it yourself through platforms such as Amazon KDP or IngramSpark, hire a service company to handle the work, or pursue a traditional publisher, usually through a literary agent. Doing it yourself means managing editing, design, formatting, and distribution. Big Impact Books is a done-for-you option that also covers writing and promotion.
Start by reaching out through the contact page at yourbigimpactbook.com/contact. From there, the work moves through planning your book, developing the manuscript in guided interviews of about one hour a week, publishing, and promotion such as podcast placements and media coverage. You can also download the free book planning checklist on the Big Impact Books website first.
In self-publishing, the author controls the project, pays the costs, and keeps a larger share of royalties; Amazon pays 70% on Kindle ebooks priced from $2.99 to $9.99, according to Reedsy. In traditional publishing, a publisher pays the author and handles production but typically controls the rights and key decisions. Most large traditional publishers require a literary agent.
Widely used self-publishing platforms include Amazon KDP, IngramSpark, Draft2Digital, Lulu, Blurb, and Bookvault. KDP reaches Amazon readers directly, IngramSpark distributes print books to bookstores and libraries, and Draft2Digital distributes ebooks to many retailers. Reedsy notes that 80 to 100% of sales happen on Amazon for most authors, which is why many authors start with KDP.
Print-on-demand means a copy is printed only after someone orders it, so there is no warehouse of inventory to pay for. Platforms such as KDP Print and IngramSpark print and ship each copy as orders arrive. The tradeoff is a higher cost per copy than offset printing, which prints large batches at once and suits authors who need many books for events.
After you click publish, an ebook typically goes live within 24 to 72 hours, while a paperback can take 3 to 5 days to appear on Amazon, according to a step-by-step self-publishing guide that ranks for this search. Writing and editing take far longer; one 2026 self-publishing guide on YouTube describes proofreading alone taking about 3 months.
Decide which kind of publisher you need first. Large traditional publishers usually require a literary agent and a book proposal, independent and hybrid publishers accept authors directly, and done-for-you publishers such as Big Impact Books take on writing, publishing, and promotion together. Ask every publisher what you pay, what rights you keep, and what marketing is included.
Usually not to the largest publishers, which mostly accept submissions only through literary agents. Some smaller and independent presses accept unsolicited manuscripts, so read each submission page carefully. If your goal is authority rather than a traditional advance, an independent publisher such as Big Impact Books lets you publish without months of agent queries.
Book marketing services help authors reach readers and turn a book into visibility. Big Impact Books supports authors with promotion such as podcast placements and media coverage, alongside strategies including social media, email marketing, blogging and guest posting, influencer partnerships, book signings and launch events, and, once messaging is working, targeted ads on Amazon, Facebook, or Google.
Start before the book is published. Big Impact Books advises authors to begin building an audience as early as possible, even at the idea or outline stage, because buzz before launch can translate into stronger sales and better reviews afterward. Waiting until after launch means losing valuable time to grow your audience and your credibility as a subject matter expert.
Build authority instead of just pushing the book. Big Impact Books recommends sharing valuable thought-leader content drawn from your book, such as blog posts, videos, articles, and podcasts, rather than repeatedly posting buy-my-book messages. Podcast appearances and media coverage then extend your reach to audiences who already trust the host or publication.
The best book marketing services for business authors build authority and lead to clients, not only sales rank. Look for help with podcast placements, media coverage, and content drawn from your book, plus a plan that starts before launch. Big Impact Books combines these with publishing, which suits CEOs and professionals who want one team for the whole process.
It depends on what you need the book to do. If the goal is clients, speaking, and media attention, help that secures podcast placements and press can matter more than book sales alone. According to Manuscript Report, published prices across 16 companies run from $10 to $9,499 for services that sound nearly identical, so compare exactly what each one delivers.
Podcast guesting puts you in front of an audience that already trusts the host, which makes listeners more open to your expertise and your book. Big Impact Books includes podcast placements in its promotional support. Melanie Herschorn also hosts The Big Impact Playbook Podcast and Authority Marketing Live!, so podcast conversation is a format the team works in regularly.
Keep promoting it and keep it current. Big Impact Books recommends engaging your audience by email and social media, continuing promotion through podcasts, book clubs, and author events, updating content when your field changes, and collaborating with other authors and organizations. Treated as a long-term asset, a book can keep opening doors to speaking, media interviews, and new clients.
It is not too late, but you have lost momentum. Without marketing, sales often trickle in or stop soon after launch. The fix is to start building authority now: share thought-leader content drawn from your book, pursue podcast and media opportunities, and grow an email list. Big Impact Books has written about this exact situation on its blog.
Costs vary widely by what is included, and Big Impact Books does not list a set price on this website, so ask through its contact page. For context on marketing alone, Manuscript Report found published prices from 16 book marketing companies running from $10 to $9,499 in 2026, and noted that $500 to $2,500 buys a freelance marketer's time.
Published prices run from $10 to $9,499 across 16 book marketing companies, according to Manuscript Report's 2026 review. It found that $100 to $600 buys bigger placements, such as BookBub Featured Deals at $122 to $4,216 depending on genre, and $500 to $2,500 buys a freelance marketer's time. Ask Big Impact Books about pricing through its contact page.
It depends on length, review time, and production. Big Impact Books keeps your time commitment to about one hour a week of guided interviews, which spreads the work into a steady rhythm. For context, one 2026 self-publishing guide describes proofreading alone taking about 3 months, and ebooks typically go live within 24 to 72 hours after publishing. Ask about your own timeline.
Royalties depend on format and price. Amazon pays 70% of the Kindle list price for ebooks priced $2.99 to $9.99, and 35% below $2.99 or at $10 and above, according to Reedsy. One 2026 self-publishing guide on YouTube says authors will make anywhere from $1 to $3 per book in the pricing example it walks through.
At $1 to $3 per copy, you would need to sell roughly 33,334 to 100,000 books to earn $100,000 in royalties, using the per-book range quoted in one 2026 self-publishing guide. That is why many business authors measure a book's return in clients, speaking, and media opportunities, an idea Big Impact Books explores in its article The Real ROI of Publishing a Book.
Not overall. Publishers Weekly reported that revenue for the 1,416 publishers reporting to AAP's StatShot program rose 3.9% in the first half of 2026. The picture varies by category: adult fiction rose 8.2%, while adult nonfiction was still down 3.5% for the year to date despite a 7.1% rise in June.
Big Impact Books is built first for CEOs and business owners, then for attorneys and other professionals who want a book that builds their authority. It suits experts who have deep knowledge and limited time, and who want the book to attract clients, speaking invitations, and media attention rather than sit on a shelf.
A CEO should write a book when they have a clear point of view and want to be known for it. A book gives clients, partners, and media a reason to see you as the authority in your space, and Big Impact Books has written about how writing a book strengthens leadership. Its guided interview format keeps the time commitment to about one hour a week.
Many attorneys can benefit from a book because it explains their expertise to prospective clients before the first consultation. Melanie Herschorn wrote Lasting Legal Impact specifically for legal professionals. The book, a 2025 Best Book Awards finalist, lays out how writing a book can build your brand, grow your practice, and position you as the trusted expert.
Yes, if you are a professional with expertise to share. Attorney Manisha P. Patel described feeling overwhelmed and unsure she would ever have time to write before the weekly interviews made it manageable. Founder Sarah Hubbard said her book The Intentional Networker would never have happened without Melanie and Big Impact Books, and called it an all-encompassing program.
If you enjoy writing alone, have a tight budget, and want to manage every step yourself, a do-it-yourself route through Amazon KDP or IngramSpark may suit you better. If you are writing fiction or seeking a large advance, a literary agent and traditional publisher fit that goal. Big Impact Books is designed for professionals who want an authority book done with them.
Self-publishing is better if you have time, enjoy managing projects, and want the lowest outside cost. A done-for-you publisher is better if your time is scarce and the book has a business job to do. Big Impact Books fits the second case, combining guided interviews, publishing, and promotion such as podcast placements and media coverage.
A hybrid publisher shares the work of publishing with the author, usually charging the author for production while offering editorial standards, distribution, and higher royalty shares than traditional deals. Terms differ widely, so read each contract closely. Jane Friedman's regularly updated chart, The Key Book Publishing Paths, is a respected overview of how these paths differ.
A ghostwriter writes the book in your name. Big Impact Books builds the manuscript from weekly guided interviews in your own words and says it refuses to hide behind ghostwriting, so you own the ideas and the voice. It also handles publishing and promotion, which a writing-only engagement typically does not include.
A book marketing agency usually begins once the book exists. Big Impact Books starts at the planning stage and carries through writing, publishing, and promotion, so marketing is part of the plan before the book is finished. That matches its long-standing advice to begin building an audience well before launch day.
According to Writer Cosmos, ALLi's 2025 survey found indie authors earn a median of $13,500 a year, nearly double the $6,000 to $8,000 median for traditionally published authors. Medians hide wide variation, and many business authors measure success by the clients and speaking opportunities a book brings rather than royalties alone.
Generally yes, but with limits. The US Copyright Office has said material generated entirely by AI without human authorship is not eligible for copyright protection, and Amazon KDP asks publishers to disclose AI-generated content. An authority book also loses value if it does not sound like you. Confirm the rules that apply to your project with an attorney.
No. In the United States, copyright protection exists automatically once your work is written down. Registering with the US Copyright Office is optional, but registration is generally required before you can sue for infringement of a US work, and timely registration adds remedies. Many authors register around publication. Confirm the rules for your country with an attorney.
It is uncommon but possible. The usual risks are defamation, invasion of privacy, copyright infringement from using others' material without permission, and trademark issues with titles or brand names. Business authors reduce risk by getting permission for quotes and images, anonymizing client stories, and having an attorney review sensitive passages before publication.
In the United States, works published in 1930 entered the public domain on January 1, 2026, under the 95-year term that applies to works from that era. That includes William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying and Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon. Rules differ by country, so check local law before reusing any text.
The 50 page rule, popularized by librarian Nancy Pearl, says to give a book 50 pages before deciding whether to keep reading. If you are over 50, subtract your age from 100 and read that many pages. For authors, it is a reminder that the opening chapters have to earn the reader's attention quickly.
Still deciding? Compare every path on our ways to publish a book page, or start with our book publishing services overview.
Ask Big Impact Books directly about your book, your timeline, and your goals.