The 7-Power Contractor®

When serial entrepreneur, business consultant, and former plumbing, heating, and cooling contractor Al Levi decided it was time to stop doing individual engagements and start focusing on helping more contractors at one time, writing a book summarizing his approach to creating a business service contractors could "run with less stress and more success" was a logical first step.

Book Strategy and Planning

Al Levi had a mountain of existing content he had created over the past 15 years, including dozens of articles he had written for trade magazine Plumbing & Mechanical, numerous blog posts, and dozens of training manuals and training materials. He needed someone to help him distill the system down to its essence so that it could be effectively communicated in a 175-page book.

The first step was to interview Al to find out what he wanted to achieve with the book, talk about the audience he wanted to reach, what he wanted them to take away from the book, and what he wanted them to do next.

The next step was to create a working table of contents outlining the major buckets of information Al wanted to communicate (in this case one bucket per Power). With that structure in place I set about sifting through all the materials to surface the best stories and determine the most effective sequence for telling them.

Developmental Editing and Co-writing

After reviewing the story selection and proposed sequencing with the author, I set about stitching the book together, which included drafting any connective tissue I felt was needed. From there it was a collaborative process to ensure that the concepts were conveyed in a way that sounded just like Al (not me) and that we were sure would resonate with Al’s audience.

Book Cover Art Direction

For the cover, I generated a detailed design brief with examples for Ebooklaunch.com, and the cover they created became the inspiration for the new 7-Power Contractor® logo and branding.

Publishing

To keep the cost down, I purchased a Microsoft Word book template and loaded the manuscript into it (not recommended). I then procured a block of ISBN numbers from Bowker, assigned them, and then loaded the manuscript up to what was then Createspace and the e-book onto KDP. I also researched and assigned categories.

(Note: I no longer offer book design and publishing services.Book cover and interior design as well as book publishing and promotion are now handled by my preferred vendor partner Stellar Communications Houston.)

The 7-Power Contractor®: Run Your Contracting Business with Less Stress and More Success® was published April 11, 2016 by Appleseed Business Inc. The book is currently available as a paperback ($24.95), e-book ($9.99) or audio book via Amazon.com.