MOONRISE Tier
Pick Your Publishing Path
What’s included
Moonrise is a collaborative engagement—not a deliverable you wait for. We work together across 3 months minimum, with regular strategy calls, real-time feedback, and a plan built around your specific book and goals.
1. Publishing Path Sprint
This is the most important decision you’ll make for your book—and the one most authors make without enough information. We educate you on and provide comparisons on the four publishing models—traditional, hybrid, small/independent press, and self—taking into consideration factors such as your goals, genre, audience, desired timeline, budget, professional needs, and platform, as well as the market.
For example, did you know a traditional advance might be the only money you ever see for your book? Or that if you self-publish on Amazon’s KDP, your book can only be available on Amazon? Or that there could be a small indie publisher perfect for your non-fiction niche?
By the end, you’ll know exactly which path fits and why. No guessing or pressure. Just a clear recommendation you can trust.
Here’s a sample idea of a sprint:
- Side-by-side comparison of all different publishing paths for your book
- Honest pros, cons, and costs of each
- A clear recommendation with reasoning
- If/then guidance: if you want an agent, here’s your next move; if you’re going indie, here’s yours
2. Market Positioning
Where does your book fit, and how do you talk about it so the right readers immediately understand why they need it? This is your book’s identity in the marketplace.
- Promise: the takeaway readers can expect
- Comp titles: books similar to yours that prove there’s a market and show where yours fits
- Audience: who buys it, why they buy it, and where to find them
- Hooks: the angles that make someone click “buy”—or say yes to a pitch
3. Retail Readiness (Metadata) *
*see our recommended add-on below for additional info
Think of your book’s retail page the way you think of a storefront window. If it doesn’t make someone stop and look, they keep walking. Before your book goes anywhere—to an agent, a publisher, or directly to readers—it needs to show up professionally everywhere it lives online. We help you understand the ins and outs.
- Online retail page education: what goes where and why on sites like Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Goodreads, your authors website, etc.
- Back cover copy: what should go where on your back cover, spine, and front cover, plus a back cover description, written to sell
- Keywords and categories: the search terms and shelf placement that determine whether readers can find you
4. Cover and Formatting Guidance
Your cover is the single most important marketing tool your book has. We’ll give you a creative brief that tells a book cover designer (we can introduce you to our vetted designers that work in a range of budgets) exactly what your book needs—genre signals, tone, audience, comparable covers in the market—so you’re not starting from scratch and hoping for the best.
- Eight-page cover creative brief to fill out together, giving your cover designer exactly what they need to design the ideal cover for your book.
- Formatting guidance for print and digital
- Introductions to vetted cover designers and formatters from our trusted partner network
5. Launch Strategy Foundation
You don’t need a forty-page marketing plan. You need a realistic timeline, a short list of high-impact actions, and a clear sense of who to contact and when. That’s what this delivers.
- Launch timeline with milestones and deadlines
- Priority action list based on your path and budget
- Email outreach script kit: short, copy-paste messages to booksellers, librarians, event hosts, and your network
- Budget guidance: what’s worth spending on and what isn’t
6. Template Toolkit
Plug-and-play files for your chosen publishing path so you’re not building everything from scratch.
- Query letter template (if pursuing traditional or hybrid)
- Outreach email templates
- Timeline and next-steps checklist
Additional path toolkits available at add-on rate.
7. Vetted Professional Network
One of the most valuable things I can give you is a shortlist of people I actually trust. After 20+ years in this industry, I’ve built relationships with professionals who do excellent work and treat authors with respect.
- Cover designers
- Formatters and interior designers
- Book marketing and promotion resources
- Publicists
- Printers and distribution contacts
These aren’t random referrals. These are people we’ve met and known in the industry, and worked with in person. Our network includes professionals who have been working in publishing for decades, as well as fresh new voices, all accommodating a range of budgets and genres.
Recommended add-on:
Maximize Your Metadata
Make Sure Your Book Gets Found
Metadata is your book’s search engine. Think of it as all the information about your book that readers AND book buyers (bookstore owners, Amazon sales reps, etc.) see to consider purchasing your book. This includes but is not limited to the title, subtitle, description, keywords, categories, reviews, awards, price, page count, genre, author bio, etc., which all determines whether your book shows up when a reader searches for exactly what you’ve written.
Because a beautifully positioned book with poor metadata is still an invisible book.
Most authors don’t know their metadata is wrong until they’ve already published. We fix that before it costs you.
Choose Your Option
- Metadata Creation: We build your full metadata package from scratch—title and subtitle strategy, book description, keyword research, and category selection optimized for your genre and audience.
- Metadata Review: You already have metadata—we audit it, identify what’s hurting discoverability, and optimize what you have.
