…And downloading book titles in my dreams
Dr. Melissa Mondala is the first author I’ve worked with whose book, Embody Lifestyle Medicine: How to Build a Successful Direct Care Startup, has landed at #1 in an Amazon category.
I saw her speak at the Vegan Women Summit in 2023, which I attended virtually. She was the first vegan Filipina doctor I’d seen, and I immediately followed her.
So I was even more excited when we met in person at the 2024 Summit in Los Angeles. She was wearing a traditional Filipiniana dress, and I’m so glad she was rocking our culture’s attire because I might not have noticed her at the 1000-person event!
I’d brought a bunch of copies of my book to give to people in case I felt like it, so I gave her a signed copy. She told me she was working on a book too!
We stayed in touch via email and then signed an agreement in July so that I could help her with:
- Finishing the book
- Editing the book
- Formatting the book’s interior and ebook
Ghostwriting to finish
Over about three Zoom sessions, we recorded the two chapters that were missing from the book and added a bit to one chapter.
Copyediting
Melissa had written a lot of the book and included references over the course of the year prior, but when I started copyediting, we had to be sure that all the links still worked and if not, alternative sources were there.
This was the first time I worked with AMA (American Medical Association) citation style too!
I learned a lot not just about lifestyle medicine (which is a crucial but still developing area of medicine) but the different medical models you could have in your practice, depending on one’s insurance plan. I am Canadian, so this was all new to me.
Formatting
Melissa has a great brand presence, so for the book’s interior, I took inspiration from the typography she was already using online.
There were also two QR codes that needed to be added to various chapters and sections, which was an extra but fun challenge.
Cover and title
She hired my cover designer, Joy Lopes, to do the book cover and had several great high-res photos to pull from. There was one thing missing to complete it: a title! The working title was “A New Way of Health Care” but this had neither keyword that she wanted the book to rank in.
Both “lifestyle medicine” and “direct primary care (DPC)” or “direct care” were important to have in the title or subtitle.
The night after doing some research on the books already using these keywords, something came to me in my dream: embodying lifestyle medicine.
She decided that “embodying” was too long a word and we could shorten it to “embody”—voila!
Book launch
I recommended that Melissa launch her paperback and ebook online first and then organize an in-person event (as well as sell her book in her clinic), but she did what few authors do: she hosted a book launch event first!
I believe only one thing needed to be changed when she received her print proof from Amazon. Once that was done, she ordered her event copies, and a week later, she was already celebrating in person!
Melissa didn’t launch her ebook right away, but between her launch event, social media, and other marketing efforts, she got enough traffic to drive people to Amazon. By the end of February, her book was the #1 new release in the Doctor-Patient Relations category! I swear I saw another medical book category in which she ranked #1 but I don’t have a screenshot.
Even though Melissa’s book was not the first I partially ghostwrote, it was the first to be published. I’m honoured to have worked on her book not just because she’s such an impactful leader, but because there are just not enough visible Filipina vegans out there!
Need a ghostwriter, editor, or formatter to help you publish your book so you can get it in the hands of readers? Read more about my services here and contact me if you’re ready to begin!
