Behind the scenes of "Living the High Life"

Photo by Deutsch Photography

What went into writing the book

Have you ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes of writing and publishing a book? In this blog post, we'll take a look at the process of creating "Living the High Life: How smart co-op and condo owners protect themselves and their investment."

First, the idea for the book was sparked by our team's extensive experience working with co-op and condo owners and boards. As many coaches and consultants can probably relate to, we often refer to ourselves as therapists who listen to our clients’ and prospect-clients’ various problems. We saw a need for a comprehensive guide that would provide practical strategies, examples, and resources for protecting their investments and navigating the complexities of co-op and condo ownership and board responsibilities.

Once we had the idea for the book, the next step was to outline the content and structure. We wanted to the book to be is designed for co-op and condo owners, co-op and condo board members, and those considering co-op or condo ownership. We wanted to cover the benefits and challenges, problems and solutions, in simple, straightforward language—no legalese, just helpful perspective. We wanted to look at what it means to live in a co-op or condo, examine the role of the board, and discuss some of the major focus areas for a co-op or condo and its board, from safety to sustainability and finances to fun.

Next, it was time to start writing. The author, our very own Tina Larsson, spent several months setting up a strategy, which included joining a writer’s circle where she got some valuable input and guidance from other authors. In this case, there was little need for research as Tina had it all in her head from our experience working with and speaking with co-op and condo owners and board members over the last ten years. The strategy included hiring a professional book editor, who was hired before the book was written to secure the editor’s time commitment.

Tina then set a start and end date, blocked out two hours per day to write it, and on April 1, 2022, she started a new word document called “Tina’s book” and put the first word on it. As suggested in John Maxwell’s book “Thinking for a Change”, Tina sat in a designated writing chair for those two hours per day. The writing chair was nothing fancy or new, it is one of the chairs around the coffee table which she otherwise doesn’t usually sit in.

Some days were less productive and she typed only five sentences, while other days were very productive and could easily result in two chapters. The writing process involved multiple drafts and revisions from The Folson Group team, to ensure that the content was accurate, helpful, and engaging. She also ran each chapter by the other authors and members of her writing circle.

Once the book was written, it was time for the editing process. Our editor, Karin Wiberg and her team at Clear Sight Books went through the book line by line to catch any errors or inconsistencies and to make sure the book read smoothly and clearly. Much of the editing was reordering the content to be better organized for better flow and to be easier and more engaging for the reader. The editorial team went through the editing process three entire times before they sent it to their proofreader.

Tina already had a title in mind, which she thought was the first and most important step in writing the book. However, after the editing was completed, this title did not match what the book was about. So, our editorial team provided ten potential titles and subtitles, of which we picked “Living the High Life: How smart co-op and condo owners protect themselves and their investment.”

After the editing was complete, it was time for design and layout. Although you can engage a separate professional to do that, we engaged our editorial team to do this too. This step is to create a visually appealing and user-friendly layout for the book. This involved choosing the right font, formatting the text, and adding images and other design elements.

Many authors have a book cover designer. Tina does all our social media visual content in Canva.com, so she decided to design the cover herself. If you are writing your first book, here’s a tip: when you open a KDP account, which is an Amazon authors account, Amazon will provide you with a book cover template based on the size of book that you chose. The book size of “Living the High Life” is 8x5, but measuring the books in your book shelf can give you an idea of what you want your book to look like. You can then drop the KDP book cover template into Canva to create your design. This will ensure that the text on the spine actually fits on the spine and doesn’t bleed over the front or back covers.

As we had already decided that the book was going to be self-published through Amazon, which we had communicated with our editor, she had priced in to set it up on Amazon as a paperback and Kindle. Our editor’s package also included getting the ISBN number and copyrighting the book. Living the High Life is available as print-on-demand on Amazon.

Our own Mark Foley wrote the foreword. It has gotten much praise from several attorneys representing NYC co-op and condo owners and boards.

As you can see, writing and publishing a book is a complex and time-consuming process. But we believe it's worth it to be able to share our knowledge and expertise with co-op and condo owners who are looking to protect their investments and live the high life.

We hope you enjoy reading "Living the High Life" as much as we enjoyed creating it!

For more resources on how your co-op or condo works, download the first chapter of Tina Larsson’s book Living the High Life, or buy the book on Amazon. Make sure to subscribe to our newsletter so that you don’t miss any future posts.

At the Folson Group, we are passionate about helping every co-op and condo owner live in a building that is safer, more sustainable, and more affordable.