Writing A Great Book Is Your Next Big Adventure

If you know the hero’s journey, you know the first thing that happens to the hero after they leave their starting point: they meet a mentor.

And just as no hero becomes a hero completely alone, no business author writes a fantastic, growth-kickstarting book without some guidance from an expert who’s been there before them.

See, the mentor is the most pivotal figure in the hero’s journey — without them, the hero wouldn’t BE a hero.

When Sir Edmund Hillary wanted to climb Mount Everest, he hired a Sherpa who’d spent years on and around the mountain, and already made six near-successful attempts at the summit.

When Tiger Woods wanted to improve his golf game, he hired a coach who spent years deconstructing and rebuilding his swing (which ultimately won him the 2019 Masters Championship).

When Sean Ogle of Location Rebel wanted to learn what it took to be location independent, he reached out to one of the leading minds in that field for mentorship: author and world traveler Chris Guillebeau.

And let’s not forget about some of our favorite fictional heroes and their mentors, like Harry and Dumbledore, Katniss and Haymitch, or Peter Parker and Tony Stark (too soon! *cries*).

In each of those partnerships, the hero had talent, drive, and courage. In some cases they were already at the top of their field. But they didn’t know everything. So they partnered with someone who knew more than they did about the specific area they wanted to master, be that mountain climbing, golf, or destroying Horcruxes. And in every case, the master’s knowledge combined with the protege’s efforts led to a result bigger and more powerful than either person could have created alone.

This is the power of the mentor-hero partnership. And it’s the foundation of how we’ll work together.

So let me ask, my heroic friend…

• A hero! (Yes, you. 🙂 ) Or at least a hero-in-training.
• A successful, stable business owner. You’ve got the money to invest in writing a great book, the business strategy to use that book to fuel real growth over the next 3+ years, and the bandwidth to be a big part of the book process yourself.
• A person of integrity. You’re not looking for shortcuts, hacks, tricks, quick fixes, or easy outs. You’re as good as your word, and now you want to make your words as good as you.
• A perpetual student. You know nothing (about writing books), Jon Snow, and you’re okay with that because it means you get to learn more.
• A writer. Maybe you write every day, maybe you only write the most important things in your life, but you know writing this book is YOUR job. Passing it off to a ghostwriter just feels wrong to you.
• A human. You have a life outside of your work, and you enjoy that life! Being a robot workaholic who never has fun holds no appeal for you.
• A dedicated project partner. You’re going to bring your A game to this book, and you want to work with someone who’s going to bring theirs.
• A nerd. Yep, I went there. No matter what you love, you got passion in your pants and you ain’t afraid to show it love it with all your nerdy little heart and get excited about sharing it with anyone who will listen. (And you’re probably getting at least some of the references I’ve dropped around this site!)

If you are in fact all of those things, you are most definitely in the right place!

So now you might be wondering…

Known globally as The Master Wordsmith™, James Ranson has been helping business authors write, publish, and monetize high-quality books since 2014. With a team of expert editors and designers behind him, and in partnership with Morgan James Publishing, James offers complete writing and publishing packages that take six-figure entrepreneurs on the hero’s journey from business owner to business author in a year or less, and double their revenue (or more!) within three years of publication.

As the folks at Farmer’s Insurance put it, James knows a thing or two because he’s seen a thing or two. He is the author of Don’t Write A Crappy Book!, a comprehensive guide to avoiding costly writing and publishing mistakes business authors don’t know they’re making. Within the self-publishing industry, he’s seen the high end and the low end, the half-assed and the whole-assed, the programs for bootstrappers and the programs for CEOs. He’s worked for Chandler Bolt (Self-Publishing School), Tucker Max (Scribe Media), and whole lot of people in between. 

And he will put his dedication to creating high-quality, truly excellent books up against any of theirs any day of the week.

James knows writing a successful business book is a hero’s journey, not a race. He knows great book marketing only works with a great book. And he knows profitable books don’t get written alone. In a self-publishing industry obsessed with writing books in a weekend, James stands against the flood of quick-and-cheap, one-size-fits-all “solutions,” guiding six-figure business owners to embrace the challenge of putting their book’s quality first.

On your hero’s journey to business authorship, James is the mentor that helps you write a book you’re proud of, that wows your audience, and that makes you money for years to come. Clients of his have used their books to build multiple-six-figure businesses, receive book deals from traditional publishing houses, and get national and international media attention. His authors have described James as “a reassuring presence in an otherwise stressful process,” “an editor who cared about our book as much as we did,” “a mentor who will hold the line for what’s truly best for the book,” and “the solution to all my book problems.”

When he’s not mentoring heroic business authors, you will find James singing Christmas carols in Victorian costume, hiking and playing board games with his partner Lindsay, exploring Atlanta’s amazing theatre and restaurant scenes, training for competitive powerlifting, and checking out more library books than he can carry.

How we’ll work together

Damn near everyone in the self-publishing industry these days is on one extreme or the other — either they chain you in lockstep with their system (whether or not it’s right for you) without any individual support, or they let you loose to do whatever you want while they do most of the actual work for you. And while some people thrive on one end or the other, any bell curve will tell you that most people fall somewhere in the middle. If you look at Self-Publishing School and Scribe Media and think “those don’t feel right for me,” that’s why — and it’s why you’re in the right place right now.

You don’t want a one-size-fits-all DIY system based on what worked for one person (the system’s creator). You don’t want a hands-off team of ghostwriters to make YOUR book THEIR project. You want the support of an equal — someone who can blend their knowledge with your expertise to create something better than either of you could create alone.

You’ve built a heroic business by being as good as your word. Together, we’ll embrace the challenge of making your words as good as you. I won’t help you write the quickest, the cheapest, or the easiest book, I will help you write the BEST book. Anything less isn’t worth your time or mine.

As a mentor teaches a hero they’re capable of more than they believe, I will show you how to write not just any random book, but a truly excellent text designed to fuel real business growth.

As a mentor guides a hero in learning the skills they need to find success, I will help you become the writer you need to be to write that high-level text (and enjoy the process!)

As a mentor directs a hero on the path to mastery, I will lay out a systematic but individual path for you to follow that takes you step-by-step through the process of building a quality book.

As a mentor occasionally steps in to take care of a situation that would distract or derail the hero, I and my team will take on certain book tasks for you — specifically the design and publishing of your newly-created text.

And as a mentor challenges a hero to grow through instruction, training, and testing, I will push you to complete and master each task on your book journey — and support you when those tasks seem insurmountable.

When we work together, we will combine your business expertise with my mastery of words to write the best book your best self would write on their best day ever. I’ll guide you in writing a book you’ll be proud to showcase and leverage for years to come, a book that can double your business without feeling disconnected from your own voice, a book you actually will enjoy writing.