You will not find a louder cheerleader, engaging vision builder, and driven go-getter than our very own Francie Hinrichsen! Francie’s passion is empowering women to do what they love and to do it well. Not only does this passion shine brightly in all the resources, tools, and community she provides for women entrepreneurs, but it also comes pouring off the pages of her new book Dream, Build, Grow: A Female’s Step-by-Step Guide for How to Start a Business.
Francie came to us nearly two years ago with the general concept for Dream, Build, Grow and was a little unsure of the best next steps to bring this idea to life. Throughout all of our planning calls and discussions, it was so evident that the number one goal for the book was to effectively equip aspiring business owners to chase their dreams and find great success. So we worked with Francie to hone and polish her thoughts, restructure the content and trim away a bit, to be sure this workbook met its intended goal. And, of course, such a fun and pizzazzy design was an added bonus!
Our work on this project included developmental manuscript edits, book cover and interior design, typesetting, metadata category and keyword research, marketing digital assets package, and publicity campaigns. We originally planned to include our Market Refined Publishing imprint for Dream, Build, Grow, but together we determined it would serve Francie’s platform and long term vision well to use Founding Females as the publishing imprint instead, so all of her available resources offer cohesive branding.
About This Recent Project
Book Edits, Cover Design, Formatting, & Typesetting
The first draft of Dream, Build, Grow was packed from beginning to end with step-by-step business planning and tools, written in very academic and informative language. One of our amazing editor associates, Beka of Rebekah Benham Editing, worked with Francie to soften the tone of the information, add a little more of her own personal journey, and infuse much more of her bubbly personality. With Beka’s personal experience in marketing and business building, she was the perfect fit to refine Dream, Build, Grow in a way that stayed true to Francie’s vision and hope.
Francie had a good idea of the overall look she wanted for the cover design, and of course it needed to be feminine and fun as well as appropriately professional. Nelly, our designer, worked her creative magic and offered several original concepts for Francie to consider and we couldn’t be more pleased with the one she chose. You can’t go wrong with animal print; right?
The selected concept allowed for really fun, eye-catching “extras” in the book’s interior as well, from chapter headings, to inspiring quotes, to notes and vision board sections throughout. Every page of the interior reflects careful thought and design.
Marketing Research & Resources
Given her current role as marketer extraordinaire, Francie had a greater understanding than most first-time authors of what it would take to make her book a success. We shared some of our marketing timeline and checklist tools with her, in addition to a few consultation calls to assess progress and needs, and let Francie steer her own launch team and promotions.
To help support her efforts, we provided a social media content calendar, many digital assets such as social media cover images and shareable graphics, pull quotes from the book, and more. Through our metadata research package, we also developed strong marketing copy for Francie to repurpose on her website, social media, and emails.
Publishing & Optimization
We determined early on that a wider distribution strategy would work well for Dream, Build, Grow. Using IngramSpark in addition to Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing allowed for greater distribution to the major retailers as well as preorder and promotional opportunities.
To set this release up for success with all retailers, our associate Sara provided our metadata keyword and category research package to guide the product description and listing details on both KDP and IngramSpark. She also optimized the book’s back cover copy and the content used for Francie’s Amazon Author Profile. We also repurposed much of Sara’s content in our publicity outreach on behalf of Dream, Build, Grow to connect Francie with leading influencers and media opportunities.
We ended the project with the management of a couple of Amazon ad campaigns and watching Francie’s new release top the “women in business”, “self-employment”, and “business franchises” categories. Successful book launches are always so exciting, but a successful book launch for a dear team member and friend is simply amazing! We’re so proud of our Francie and absolutely loved being a part of this journey!
What Francie had to say…
MRM helped me publish and market the book, and the experience was incredible. It was a unique perspective getting to work on both sides with MRM, and it has allowed me to better understand what the experience is like from our clients’ perspectives!
Services Included in this Project
- Developmental manuscript edits and final proofread
- Book cover and interior design, formatting, and typesetting for Kindle Direct Publishing & IngramSpark (Print Only)
- Metadata, category, and keyword research for KDP & IngramSpark
- Marketing copy for the product listing and author bio
- Product(s) and author profile setup and optimization for KDP & IngramSpark
- Marketing consultations and tools
- Publicity campaigns for local and podcast appearances
- Digital assets package with social media, email, and website promotional graphics and content calendar
- Amazon ad campaigns
Team Members Involved
Rebekah Benham
Mandy Roberson
Nelly Murariu
Sara Ward
Amy Boehnert
Find out more about these ladies and the rest of the team here at MRM: Meet the Team
