A book, start to finish

1

You write to a writer

Read a few profiles: what each writer has worked on, their samples, their price range, and any reviews stamped Paid in full. When one looks interesting, click Contact on their page.

The form asks what the book is, who it’s for, roughly what you can spend and how ready you are. Only the writer sees it. It costs nothing and commits you to nothing.

Talking to more than one writer? Save them for later, and the same form can go to up to five at once. Each gets a private thread, and none of them sees who else you wrote to.

The writer gets an email. They reply in your thread, or decline, which closes it.

2

You talk

Replies come into the same thread, and you get an email each time. Ask whatever you need to: how they work, how long it takes, what it might cost.

Most books start with a call. Either of you can offer up to three times. The other picks one, and you both get a calendar invite. The call itself is on Zoom, and whoever has the account adds the link.

A writer may share a sample they keep off their profile. Only you can read it, and only here.

3

A contract arrives

When the writer is ready, they send a contract, not a quote: a fixed total split into two to six stages. Each stage says what you’ll get, what it costs and when it’s due.

It reads like an itinerary. Across the top, the stages on their dates. Beside them, the total. Below, the rights: the book becomes yours stage by stage, as each payment is released.

If the writer has terms of their own, they’re there too. They can’t override the standard agreement.

4

You accept

At the bottom, under the agreement itself, are two boxes: one for the price and the stages, one for the rights and confidentiality. Tick both and accept.

Accepting doesn’t charge you. It locks the total, the stages and the exact wording, and you can both download the agreement whenever you like.

Something doesn’t fit? Decline it and say why in the thread. The writer can change it and send it again.

5

You pay the first stage

The contract becomes a page you both work from, laid out the same way.

You pay one stage at a time, never the whole book. Click Pay, and you pay on Stripe’s checkout page. The money is held, and nothing reaches the writer until you approve the work.

There’s nothing on top. The price in the contract is what you pay.

The writer gets an email, and the stage tells them it’s their turn to write.

6

The writer delivers

The writer attaches the chapters to the stage, adds a note and sends it. You get an email.

The files are frozen when they’re sent, so what you read is what was delivered. Every draft stays on the page, and at the end you have all of them.

Now it’s your move. Approve it, ask for a revision, or report a problem.

7

You approve, and the writer is paid

Happy with it? Approve it, and the stage is released to the writer. It can’t be taken back here, so read it first.

The next stage becomes payable, we email you, and the whole thing goes around again.

8

Or you say nothing

If you don’t approve or object within 7 days of delivery, the stage releases to the writer on its own. A writer shouldn’t go unpaid because a client went quiet.

Two days before, we email you. If the work is fine, you don’t need to do anything. If it isn’t, raise it before the clock runs out.

Pausing the book doesn’t stop the clock on a stage that’s already been delivered.

9

Or you ask for changes

Your contract says how many revision rounds it includes. Asking for one uses a round and stops the clock. When the revision arrives, the 7 days start again.

Say exactly what should change. Clear notes are what make a round work.

Once the rounds are used up, more changes take a change order (step 11). The writer prices the extra work, and you both sign.

The writer starts the revision. Nothing already delivered is removed, and the new files sit alongside the old.

10

If something is wrong

If it’s more than notes on the writing, report a problem instead. It doesn’t use a revision round.

The clock stops and the money is frozen. Nothing moves until it’s resolved.

A member of our team reads it, along with the thread, the contract and the work. Keep talking to your writer in the thread, too.

11

The book grows

Partway through, you may want more: another chapter, another round of edits. Say so in the thread. Only the writer can propose a change: what’s being added, why, and what it costs.

Read it, sign it, and it joins the contract as a new stage, paid and held like the rest. The signed amendment sits beside the original agreement. Change orders only add.

Pay for it here, like everything else. If any part of the contract is paid some other way, your review can’t be stamped Paid in full.

12

The last stage

When you approve the last stage, the book is done and the manuscript is yours. Publishing, printing and the launch are yours too.

Because every payment went through the site, your review will carry the Paid in full stamp.

13

Your review

You rate the writer overall, then on the four things clients ask about: deadlines, communication, revisions, and whether it sounds like you. Then you say it in your own words.

Your name, your company and the book’s title never appear. A member of our team reads every review before it goes up.

On the writer’s profile, your review is stamped Paid in full. For the next person choosing a writer, that stamp shows the whole contract was paid here.

The writer isn’t shown who wrote it, and can’t read it before it goes up.