Founded in 1991 by John Willig, our purpose has remained steadfast - to work honestly and creatively with writers to enhance the value of their book ideas, proposals and manuscripts.
To achieve significant results for clients, we offer a variety of editorial and content consulting services. We have worked with many award-winning authors and global content experts from countries including Singapore, Denmark, Germany, Canada, U.K., Argentina and the Nikoli Puzzle Company, Japan.
Our content and contract services include:
Proposal Crafting, Evaluation & Recommendations
Strategic Content and Book Coaching
Manuscript Development and Editing
Contract Reviews & Negotiation Guidance
There's an abundance of misinformation, myths and costly miscalculations in the book publishing maze. Here's your opportunity to work with an experienced expert and not make the mistakes costing writers thousands of dollars, learn vital strategies to make your writing commercially successful and learn how you can become an admired author.
"For anyone faced with the daunting challenge of publishing a book, ignore John's sage advice at your peril. John's extensive experience in the publishing business allows him to cut through the clutter and get to the crux of the matter in very short order. The pearls of wisdom and stories he shares along the way are priceless. You learn a lot from John and he accelerates you up the learning curve effortlessly."
Dr. Tony O'Driscoll, Fuqua School of Business, Duke University
"John has a deep understanding of writers, readers, and publishers and is attuned to the vibrations of the market. He is in a perfect position to help you create your best book. I am grateful to him for helping me become a best selling author and eventually write 9 books. However what I appreciate the most is that he brought out the hidden potential in my ideas and knowledge. This ultimately added to my impact, contribution and legacy. Thanks John, keep going."
Marty Seldman PhD best selling author of Executive Stamina, Customer Tells, and Survival of the Savvy
My Content & Contract Services
Based on 49 years of sales, marketing and executive editorial experience working with major publishers such as HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster and representing over 500 authors as their literary agent and trusted advocate. Our most recent award-winning authors include:
Proposal Crafting, Evaluation& Recommendations
Publishers are investors. Is your proposal highlighting key features and benefits, the book's unique value proposition reflected (hopefully) in the subtitle, how your professional work is aligned with your book and various content formats to help generate revenue and promote worldwide sales? Have you included a well-edited sample chapter that 'sings' and reflects your writing voice? These and other critical factors will be evaluated with recommendations on how to make your proposal a great business plan and investment opportunity for publishers.
"Working with John has completely revolutionized how I was pitching my book and myself to publishers. When he explained to me that a book proposal is really a business plan and publishers are similar to equity investors, it made so much sense and gave me a clear idea of how to focus the proposal."
Janette Hillis-Jaffe,Everyday Healing
Fee Range: $600-$750
Strategic Content& Manuscript Coaching
Words matter even in your first sentence. You may not be Stephen King and be able to "grab the reader by the throat and drag them into your story" but you do need to be engaging and quickly! Attention 'spans' no longer exist. Whether you are self-publishing or going 'traditional', your manuscript needs strategies and features to connect with distracted readers in a chaotic marketplace. Is the work structured well? Is your ending the best beginning?
"Any author that has the opportunity to work with John is very lucky. John helped me evolve my writing style to be infinitely more effective. Instead of dwelling on nit-picky little details, he helped me get the overall shape and content right."
"Jim Collins, Built to Last, Beyond Entrepreneurship and From Good to Great
Fee Range: $750-$1,500+ includes Zoom meetings
Contract Reviews & Negotiation Guidance
Publishing agreements are oftentimes open-ended, intentionally obtuse and complex per all the potential formats for your work. Your rights as an author can be compromised with language intended to protect publishers (and not you) from unexpected outcomes With over 850 publishing agreements successfully completed, John will guide you through the legal matrix with all of its challenges and costly ramifications.
"I cannot put into words the invaluable service that John Willig offers. With great alacrity, he reviewed my book contract and offered great suggestions which the publisher accepted. I could not have navigated this brave new world without John's keen eye and vast experience. I look forward to working with him again!
"Darlene Corbett,Stop Depriving The World Of You
Fee Range: $750-$1,500 includes Zoom meetings
Just a Few Testimonials
many more upon request
"The greatness of all nations arises from its authors."
Samuel Johnson
"All of us need some luck in our lives — mine came in the form of my insightful agent John. With his deep reserve of patience and persistence, he helped me prepare a book proposal that I could never have done on my own."
" John took a chance on two first-time authors and saw something great in the kernel that led to this book. Thank goodness for the human cloud to help us find such a consummate expert and bang-up good guy."
"I want to thank John whose enthusiasm and excitement about my book reignited my own. John helped to shape the proposal into one that captured the content and purpose of my book and he found a publisher"
"This project would never have been completed without the support of John. From my very first contact with him, I knew I had found someone who understood what I was up to and who would not be satisfied until my book was ready for prime time."
Celebrating 49 years working in publishing, John often says to friends that his career actually began as a Newsday paperboy growing up on Long Island, New York.
After graduating from Brown University, his first job was as a sales representative in academic publishing. He soon began work as a marketing manager and then editor for HarperCollins where he published in 1984 one of the first books on AI Artificial Intelligence: Tools, Techniques and Applications by Tim O'Shea and Marc Eisenstadt. As his interests moved to trade publishing, he became an executive editor at Prentice Hall for business books. While at P-Hall, John enjoyed working with such authors as Henry Mintzberg, Philip Kotler and Jim Collins. He acquired and edited Jim's first book Beyond Entrepreneurship which now has a new edition B.E. 2.0. In 1991 he became an accidental entrepreneur and then literary agent to advocate for authors and work more closely with aspiring writers. Throughout his career as an editor and agent, John has successfully negotiated over 900 publishing agreements. John participates at many industry events including the Writer's Digest and ASJA conferences
Listen to John's recent podcast interview with with Tanya Hall, CEO of Greenleaf Publishers on
John continues to represent and advise his current group of talented authors and clients like Pulak Prasad, author of What I Learned About Investing From Darwin.
Aspiring authors (especially in prescriptive non-fiction) need to have a strong digital presence and online community - "platform" - to be seriously considered for representation and eventually by publishers. If you need to improve your brand strategy, website design and content revenue potential, we strongly recommend:
Revive Global Ventures will be helping authors not only bring their books into the world, but also connect directly with audiences, cultivate online communities and dialogue, and expand the global reach of their works. This collaboration reflects a shared belief: that in a crowded and competitive publishing marketplace, digital platforms and strategic clarity matter.For authors, a strong visual digital presence and engaged community are no longer optional - they are powerful tools for attracting readers, supporting book launches and optimizing amazon, extending the life of ideas beyond a single title, and building a durable personal brand with public speaking and media appearances. Our goal is to build creative, affordable, time and performance efficient websites and digital platforms for entrepreneurs and authors that will be 'built to last'!
"Revive Global Ventures absolutely overdelivered. The speed, insights and strategy not only saved me so much time and money, they gave me information I would not have been able to access on my own. I came away with impactful messages on how to communicate about my products with my clients."
Martin Seldman PhD, bestselling author of Executive Stamina, Customer Tells and Survival of the Savvy
Contact John
Thank you for visiting Literary Advisory Services!
Please let me know how many pages you will be submitting
and what service you are contracting to begin our work together. Our initial
consultation fee of $250 can be applied to the service you would like to book.
