Do you have a manuscript that has been sitting around for a long time?
This case study is about journalist Ashley Rindsberg's book The Gray Lady Winked. His book was almost 20 years in the making; finally published in 2021. His book's time had come: it "sold like crazy" in the first month and is listed as #33 in Media and Communications Industry books on Amazon.
I worked with Ashley on his interior design and layout (typesetting) for this non-fiction book. Read on to learn more about his journey to #bookdone, and learn why his book will never be a New York Times bestseller (he's OK with that). 😉
More about The Gray Lady Winked
As flagship of the American news media, the New York Times is the world’s most powerful news outlet. With thousands of reporters covering events from all corners of the globe, the Times has the power to influence wars, foment revolution, shape economies and change the very nature of our culture. The Gray Lady Winked pulls back the curtain on this illustrious institution to reveal a quintessentially human organization where ideology, ego, power and politics compete with the more humble need to present the facts. The Gray Lady Winked offers readers an eye-opening, often shocking, look at the New York Times’s greatest journalistic failures, which changed the course of history.
More about Ashley Rindsberg
Ashley Rindsberg is an investigative journalist, non-fiction author, novelist and screenwriter whose work focuses on the search for truth by individuals marginalized by the dictates of power.
Rindsberg’s book on how the New York Times' misreporting influences history, The Gray Lady Winked, is now at the very center of the global conversation on media, journalism, fake news, and free speech.
Rindsberg is a go-to source for media and political commentary, appearing in news outlets around the world, including Sky News Australia, Israel HaYom, OpIndia, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, FirstPost, Taipei Times. He has been honored by the Indian Prime Minister for his coverage of anti-Hindu media bias.
As a journalist, Rindsberg breaks major stories, uncovering pandemic-related ties between Harvard University and China in the Spectator, and reporting on the media effort to debunk lab leak for Tablet Magazine. Rindsberg has also covered the New York Times’ unethical labor practices for Unherd, called for congressional hearings in National Review and contributed media commentary to the New York Post.
Ashley’s Book Done Timeline
✍️ Writing started: Early 2000's
🎨 Files ready for editing, design and layout: Late winter 2021
✔️ Book done (released): May 3, 2021
Ashley’s Book Done Take-Aways
Here are my questions for Ashley about self publishing and reaching book done.
After setting your book manuscript aside for many years, what made you decide to pick it back up and get it into print?
There was clearly a zeitgeist emerging about media and trust in journalism, both topics at the heart of my book. After all the pro and cons lists and mental spreadsheets, I woke up one morning with a visceral feeling that the time for this book was now. I just couldn't ignore that feeling. It was the activation energy that got the whole process moving.
Which service providers or partners did you have in creating and producing your book?
Editor
Proofreader
Cover designer
Book interior layout designer (That's me! —Julie)
The boundaries sometimes blurred between the editor and the proofreader, as they were both very thorough and quite academically-minded, so sometimes their proofreading became fact-checking. It was an exhaustive and important part of the process.
Which part of your book project took longer than expected, and why?
It all took longer than expected! 😊
Which part of your book project was the most fun or most rewarding?
Cover design was great. I really enjoyed the process and the product. My cover designer, Jaime Keenan, did a great job of echoing the theme of the book in the cover design—that there is more to the news story than what we see in newsprint.
When you write another book, what will you do differently?
Next time I will prep better for launching my book. I will have all of my formatslined up (hardcover, softcover, ebook, and audiobook), and have my website done ahead of time. I learned that I need a lot more lead time to put all these pieces in place before release.
Have you had any new opportunities come up because of your book?
I've had incredible opportunities open, including becoming very connected to the Indian community, which has taken up my book with enthusiasm. I recently did an event with the prestigious Nehru Center in London. I've also been reached by a number of influencers from the crypto space, with whom the book resonates strongly. This has further my understanding of blockchain, the community behind it, and where it's all taking us. I've also learned how to condense complex ideas into compact, digestible messages for media.
“For this book, the cover designer had used a font similar to the NYT logo. I used the same font for the drop caps in the interior, and worked tiny black diamonds into the design (like in the “T” in “NYT”.) Every book interior is custom and little details like this make books memorable and unique! I do my best to match the style of the interior of the book to the cover of the book. ”
What is your best advice for book marketing?
Try everything! Don't give up.
You told me that your book project sold like crazy during the first month. Why do you think this happened?
The book sold well in the first month because I did a lot of advance outreach, including to dozens (if not hundreds) of influencers. I also worked my personal network for pre-orders. Most importantly, that got people I know involved in my mission. The result was that the first major media hit I had came from a family member who randomly emailed a major national radio personality, who invited me on the show. All this created a positive feedback cycle for my Amazon ranking, and Amazon blew a bit more wind into the sails on account of that.
Did you build your own websites or get someone else to build them?
I commissioned someone on Fiverr to build the book's website, and had a much more bespoke designer do the design for my personal site, which I then had a developer build.
You have a separate website for your book and for yourself, can you explain how you decided the book needed a website of its own?
I have separate sites for the book and myself because my work as a writer is quite varied, and I didn't want people who were there for The Gray Lady Winked to be distracted by my work in fiction and essays. I also wanted potential Gray Lady readers to feel they were in the "realm" of the book, with a site that had an aesthetic and feel that matched the book.
Ashley's Book Done Technical Details
Your printer needs these kinds of details to give you a quote for printing a similar book.
Page count: 286
Dimensions (page size): 6 x 9 inches
Binding: Hardcover and softcover
Interior details
Ink colors: Black ink only
Bleed: No
Connect with Ashley through his website or on Twitter.
What are you waiting for?
I hope that reading about Ashley's success in publishing his book has given you some new ideas to help you reach #bookdone. If there is any theme that is constant in my work with authors and content creators, is that it always takes longer than expected to pull together your first book. Giving yourself (and those helping you) the time needed to create a quality final product is well worth it. Congratulations on this success, Ashley!
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