Five milestones, each one something you can hold.
The same structure runs under ghostwriting, editing, publishing, and printing — adjusted in length, never in shape.
Outline approved
NDA signed, discovery calls done, chapter outline in your hands.
Half the draft
Chapters delivered on a fixed schedule. You comment; your writer replies fast.
Full manuscript
Complete draft, revisions folded in, then structural editing begins.
Printed proof
Cover chosen, interior typeset, and a physical proof posted to your address.
On sale
Listings live, print run delivered, a launch plan handed over.
Why it's built this way
Payments follow delivery
Each milestone is something you can read, hold, or approve. The next payment isn't due until it lands.
You see work before it's final
Outlines, chapter batches, and proofs all come to you for approval — nothing goes to the next stage silently.
Revisions are counted, not vague
"Unlimited revisions" is a sign the number was never decided. Ours are written into the agreement.
Questions about how milestones actually work
What happens if I'm the one who's late on a milestone?▸
The schedule shifts with you — a slow outline approval or a delayed round of feedback pushes the next milestone back by the same amount. Nothing already paid for is forfeited.
What happens if you're late on a milestone?▸
The next payment isn't due. That's not a goodwill policy — it's how the payment schedule is built, and it's written into the agreement before work starts.
Can milestones be renegotiated once a project starts?▸
The count and definitions are fixed before work starts specifically so they don't drift mid-project. If your scope genuinely changes — a memoir becomes two volumes, a paperback becomes a hardcover run too — that's a new, separate agreement, not a quiet renegotiation of the old one.