Retainer

The engagement ended, the book is live, and the decisions kept coming. A podcast invitation that might be worth rearranging a week for, or might not. A price question. A second-edition itch. A bookstore that wants a consignment deal with strange terms. None of it is a crisis; all of it goes better with the person who built your book's machinery still in the room.

What you miss is having someone who already knows the whole story: your book, your readers, your numbers, and what you are trying to build over the next five years rather than the next five weeks.

How it works

The retainer is a month-by-month strategic partnership. At the start of each month, you and Julie agree on a finite scope: the decisions on the table, the questions to work, the pieces to review. Then the month runs with Julie on call for exactly that work.

At month-end, the scope is done, with no rollover and no meter quietly running. When a month ahead looks light, you skip it. When the next book starts stirring, the retainer is usually where the first conversations happen.

The retainer is offered only as a continuation of a completed Foundation, Signature, or Custom Project engagement. It works because of everything those engagements already established.

Who this is for

You finished a P&P production engagement, the book is out in the world, and you want the strategic relationship to continue month over month.