HOPE DISAPPEARING

BY SHERMAN HAGGERTY

WHY WE LOVED THIS PROJECT

The team at Izzard Ink immediately loved the idea of this project and its noble goals—homelessness is an issue that affects communities everywhere, and is in dire need of attention and forward-thinking solutions. We loved how the author, Sherman Haggerty, is both solution-driven and brings years of first-hand experience dealing with the issue. It was a pleasure to help create a book that would ultimately be featured on TV, nationally syndicated radio shows, and in print outlets, in the author’s quest to make the world a better place.

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Izzard in Action

Editing

We started out by completing Izzard Ink’s assessment process for Sherman’s initial manuscript.

Our editors saw that the manuscript had the potential to be great, and identified several ways it could be improved—including added citations, smoother sentences, and lengthy paragraphs. We wanted to make sure the book would be top quality, to help the author further establish his creditably as an expert in the field.

From our recommended editors, Sherman chose an editor with a deep background working on non-fiction books for major publishers. Throughout the process, Sherman was open to the editor’s questions and feedback, helping to make the content clear and engaging.

This process later helped the book get several great reviews from literary outlets such as BookLife and Publishers Weekly.

Cover

Sherman worked with Izzard and let his expert cover designer lead the way on the design, drawing on her years of experience on similar books. She read the manuscript and came back with eight different options. Sherman settled on a version of the current cover, with a few minor revisions. We love how the cover captures the subjects at glance—both the issue at hand, and how it affects communities.

“This book was inspired by an event that took place one afternoon in 2017 and changed the course of life for more than 200 homeless people who were in the waiting list for a transitional housing program.

This list was erased impersonally, in one day, by a directive.”

Accomplishment Overview:

Fox 32 Chicago featured the author on a video segment as a subject matter expert, to an audience of over 1.3 million viewers;

The Eden Magazine, based in Beverly Hills, California, featured the book in a two-page spread in February of 2022 to their audience of over one million readers;

Various podcasts and nationally syndicated radio shows featured the author and the book;

Several articles were written and printed in various outlets featuring the book and the author as an expert on the issue of homelessness.

Hurdles

During the developmental editing process, Sherman worked closely with his editor to improve the organization of content in the book, ensuring that arguments, stories, and information on a given subject were organized to be in the appropriate chapter.

The editor also helped add citations where necessary—these are key for a non-fiction book making a specific argument about policy, such as Hope Disappearing.

Finally, after the editing process, efforts were made to ensure the book could be published in time for Homelessness Awareness Month in November, timing which helped with media appearances and reaching the intended audience.

Sherman Haggerty

“When I started the project, I had no idea where to start so I did research on self-publishing. Skipping the details on how confusing that was, I ended up at this site; ‘The Alliance of Independent Authors,’ which provided excellent reviews of publishing options. Based on those I eventually chose Izzard Ink Publishing to be my publisher.

Their executives and representatives helped me put together an absolute first-class team for editing, cover design, layout, and preliminary public relations.

The book turned out so much better than it started and the process was amazing. I could not have possibly achieved these lofty results on my own.”

— Sherman Haggerty

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