We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Michael Nicloy a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Michael, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?
Nico is one of Mike’s nicknames, derived from his last name (Nicloy) Why the 11? Well, there are three reasons (no, not 11 reasons):
– Mike is a member of the “one-kidney club.” He received his new kidney November 2012…the 11th month of the year! (Check out our story at: www.yougottabekidneyme.com)
– Mike and his wife, Angela, were married on September 11th, 2011
– The musician’s law requires knowledge of the movie “Spinal Tap”…
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 back background and context?
Nico 11 Publishing & Design of Mukwonago, Wisconsin, provides authors with publishing services, which includes book design and layout, writing coaching and ghostwriting, editing, proofreading, audio book production, printing, illustrator/artist services, and self-publishing consulting, We believe that if you want to write and publish a book, you should follow that dream and we are here to help with any needed services and products to fulfil that dream. We publish fiction as well as illustrated Children’s, business, travel, memoirs and biographies/autobiographies, sports essays, cookbooks, and journals. Some of our authors include ESPN Senior Basketball Analyst Dick Vitale, Olympic athletes Elizabeth Beisel and Katie Hoff, CGSports Management, Team Jack Foundation, radio personality Stefan Rybak, astrology guru Peter Marks, comedian Ray Pasquin, and bestselling sci-fi writer Jerri Shepherd,
Our mission statement: “Nico 11 Publishing & Design is an independent publisher. We have an author-first mentality where we take you through the writing, publishing, and design process, answering all the “What Now” questions along the way. Whether you’ve already written your book and need a publisher, or have a story and need a writer, or you need a professional designer to take your project to the finish line…BE WELL READ with N11.”
I got into publishing when I worked for a small writing services company whose owner wanted to start a publishing line. I ended up buying the company after about five years running the publishing line and changed the name to Nico 11 Publishing & Design.
I am most proud of helping authors who may have never written a book at all, let alone published it, thinking that they would never achieve the ever-elusive “book deal”. There are people out there who have dreams of writing a book, or have ideas for books who think that they have no chance of being published, or don’t know how to go about getting published or self-publishing. I love being able to help those authors achieve their goal of becoming a published author. We aren’t in the business of rejecting authors and their manuscripts. Instead, we provide direction to a successfully written book, using tactics such as writing coaching, co-writing, or editing, and then design and layout the book to release it to the world for sale and copies printed.
I can be reached directly by email: [email protected]
Website: www.nico11publishing.com
Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?
Creativity can strike at any time…and not always at the exact moment when the spark is needed. Certain creative things have to develop and ideas need to be nurtured, and many, many ideas need to get tossed into the bin as they grow into the final project, piece, song, etc. It is important to remember that there are no bad ideas in brainstorming; anything can be crossed off the list, and what is on the idea list may not be the final result of the project. It is also important to know that creative people who make their living in their field deserve to be paid like any other professional tradesperson-an experienced, knowledgeable expert who has been trained, educated, and has many hours of practice and work, spent the money that they make on equipment, tools, further professional training or education, gas, etc., and then are told that their industry caters to a public who expect a discount or free service because, “Isn’t it your passion? You should do it for free,” or, “Your product is not necessary, it is only for entertainment, therefore it is not an essential service,” or the ever-frustrating, “Do this for free and I’ll get you great exposure.” Could you imagine saying those kinds of things to a professional in another field like a plumber or web designer?
What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?
The best source of new clients is the referral of happy existing clients who share their experience with friends, family, colleagues, etc. It doesn’t matter what the industry, clients will always share their experience (especially a bad one!). Happy clients not only will contract future projects, but they will also actively look for people they know who are considering book writing and publishing and tell them how satisfied they are.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.nico11publishing.com
- Facebook: @nico11publishing
- Linkedin: Michael Nicloy
- Twitter: @nico11pub
Image Credits
Michael Nicloy headshot by Dan Zarwell/Zarwell Photography