We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Carol Farabee a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Carol, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. How did you come up with the idea for your business?
I have always been a writer.
I saw an ad from a publishing company to attend a free, 3-day event that would teach you to be a publisher. I attended the event and obtained a lot of good information.
At the end of the event, on Sunday afternoon, the shocker hit. This publishing company was charging $40,000 to publish their book. At least 15 to 20 went with them to give them $20,000 to start their book.
I read the small print on the contract. This publishing company owned the book. They chose the title, cover and had editing rights. They could order copies of the book at $2 per copy but they had to order 2,000 copies at a time.
I could do better.
I started Farabee Publishing and it spread by word of mouth. What I do is work with women that have a story to tell. They were from domestic violence backgrounds, sexual abuse and they were self-help books for women to help them overcome these things that happen in their lives and moved on.
I have a few men that also had stories to tell.
I work with their budget as they do not have $20,000 to pay for a book to be published.
It has been rewarding helping a lot of people tell their story and it was a healing for them.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?
Working with the authors put me on the track of learning the social impact of what was not happening in a lot of areas. These women did not have the services they needed to change their lives.
That is when I started my nonprofit, Young Writers Foundation. I have worked with 12- to 19-year-olds to help them in their writing. We have a lot of gifted youth.
From there I have worked with a lot of nonprofits to help them with their mission, goals and strategic plan so they could impact more social issues in society.
I do four edits for each book. I am looking for grammar, wording, format, and their voice. When the author writes I am very adamant that they use their voice. There may be some areas that people will say should be edited but when the author has had an experience I want them to speak in their own voice. There are too many books that are clinical in nature and take away from the personal experience of the person being mistreated.
I work with the author’s budget and do not push for a deadline. Some have taken a year or more to write. We do zoom meetings if they are out of state and we are crying together feeling what they have gone through.
I do not advertise because I have a great referral program. I work with those that want to tell their stories. Some say they have been writing their story for 10 years or longer.
What I do that is different is that I will go to their home and sit at their table and talk about the book. It is that one on one approach that has been lost in the publishing world. We need to get away from the clinical view and talk to those that have a book in them and I work with them to outline the chapters and walk them through to the end. It is that personal touch that I will always give my authors.
As an author myself, I understand what they are thinking and can show them how to organize their thoughts. I have made comments on some author’s works such as, ‘did you want to say it this way?’ They will say yes and that is what I keep in the book. This is their book. I will put comma’s but I will not change their sentences without working with them first.
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
Trust is important. I am their publisher but I am also their confidant. I am that person they share their information with and there has to be a trust factor.
When they send me their manuscript I have them put in the subject line that it is for review only. That protects their information and copyright.
Another thing I do is show them the contract. They own 100% of the book, that is cover and content. I will work with them until the book is complete and they say it is complete.
This is their story. You have to embrace that this is their story. When I edit I make sure it is what they want. I do not put words in the manuscript that are not theirs. I do not change any wording from how they are saying things.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
There was one of my authors that had a manuscript that was very science fiction. The problem was that she had too many words that had no meaning. You could not follow the main character’s path and mission.
We talked and I relayed to her what was needed. If she wanted her readers to understand the book and to also read it there had to be more clarity. So, she is rewriting it. I also said we need a map so the reader can follow the main character as he travels on his journey.
Another issue was that the manuscript was 600 pages. That was not one book. There were many pages that were half pages so that would help but if we were going to have a 300 page 6 x 9 book that would be a long book.
Authors need direction but not criticism. There is a way we have to talk to them and have them understand what we are saying. The book cover is important, the formatting is important and the number of pages in the book is important.
I have a book I wrote, Traces of Eve, that was 415 pages. I broke it up into three books. I have a 20 book series, Adam Hawk, US Marshal, and each book is around 120 pages.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.farabeepublishing.com/Farabee-Publishing.html
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/farabeepublishing
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carol-farabee-665641b/
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