The Uncommon Octopus is here to help inspired, creative, passionate people just like you tell their stories and bring their books into the world. But no two people need the same thing. Some clients want expertise from inception to publication, others just need a little help here and there. Everyone else is somewhere in between.
In honoring your amazing uniqueness and needs, we have the capability to extend our professional writing arms into every facet of the book creating experience.
Writer Services
Ghostwriting – Editing – Book Proposals – Publishing – Something Else Entirely
Ghostwriting
We offer fully comprehensive ghostwriting services that honor your intelligent and driven nature, while also effectively drawing out your most sellable story.
Our high-touch ghostwriting process runs the full spectrum from understanding you and your message, to a polished manuscript in your hands ready to submit to an agent or publisher.
We help you pull those incredible ideas out of your head, place them on paper, and create a book on your behalf that’s as amazing as you are.
Editing
For those clients that have written all or most of your book, we offer three levels of editorial services: developmental, line, and proofreading.
Development editing:
You’ve devoted time and energy to creating that first draft of your story/message/cure-all. You know it isn’t flowing right, but you don’t know why. It seems disconnected, and you wonder if you’ve included enough or too much or even the right things at all.
In developmental editing, we work from the bird’s eye view. We help you clarify your message(s) and organize your book so it flows seamlessly. We make sure you stay on track, go deep, and get to the core issues.
Line editing:
Here we drill down into the next layer. At this point, your story is flowing smoothly, and you’ve got all the bits and pieces synching nicely. But the language itself doesn’t always work. You’re worried you sound like a naive nine-year-old or a dotty ninety-year-old.
We smooth your story out line by line. We help you pick those perfect words and craft those sentences that wrap their tentacles around the reader’s’ imagination page after page.
Proofreading:
This is the final layer of polish. You’re ready to send your masterpiece off to an agent, editor, or independent publishing group, and you need a final set of eyes to catch any last mistakes or grammatical inconsistencies.
Grammatical errors and inconsistencies are caught, as well as capitalization and terminology consistencies. For example, is her hair color “blond” in one section and “blonde” in another? Usually, the reader feels these mistakes rather than outright notices them.
Book Proposals
Publishing today has never been more competitive. To stand a chance of swimming with the big fish, you must approach traditional publishers with a book proposal–a comprehensive document detailing why they should publish your story.
We write professionally crafted, no nonsense book proposals designed to show any agent or editor you have what it takes to make their dreams comes true–a book-selling idea that stands their hair on end.
Publishing
We offer two routes into the publishing ocean: traditional and independent.
Traditional publishing:
For those clients that qualify, our team will lead you through the process of crafting a book proposal and query letter for submission to key agents. Karen has an established relationship with a successful New York based agent for those that will be a fit.
Our team members have successfully swum these seas and add an invaluable level of experience and expertise.
Independent publishing:
If you’re ready to market your book on your own and distribute it through online avenues such as Amazon, we offer guidance through independent publishing.
We can either coach you through the process of formatting and distributing your book yourself, or we can provide a dedicated team to do this for you.
Something Else Entirely
The Uncommon Octopus stands for those who are unique, uncommonly creative, and often don’t fit into normal categories. After all, our octopus is a storytelling, single malt swilling, undersea legend.
You might be a person with An Idea that you want to put in book form. This Idea might be written down in one form or another, or no form at all.
We help take your book Idea from where it is, to where you want it to be.