This is Your Life in Book Form, Chapter by Chapter.

This is how we start from zero and create your book:

1. Your book will be written one chapter at a time.
   
2. An Introduction begins your book. Fee for Introduction: $200.
3. Each chapter after the Introduction will be at least 3,000 words long.
4. The fee per chapter, even if we run over 3,000 words, is $500.

You receive all of the following for $500 per chapter:

• You provide the facts of your life story by answering questions. It’s easy to do because I ask all the questions. If there are some you’d rather not answer, you can just skip them.
• Your answers or notes don’t have to be written any special way. Just write what you feel and tell what happened.
• Don’t worry at all about spelling, punctuation, or grammar. I’ll never criticize you.
• If you have no idea where to start, no problem. I’ll help all the way.
  
• However, if you have definite ideas and lots of notes, we’ll start where you are and move ahead. We can use your notes, whatever shape they’re in.
  
• If you don’t have any notes, no problem. All I’ll need to get started will be your answers to a few short questions.
• Before I start to work on each chapter, I’ll request a deposit of half the amount: $250, payable online.
• Each chapter will take me two or three weeks to write the first draft. You might receive a Sneak Preview of the chapter before that, just so you get a look at the work being done.
  
• When the first draft is ready, I’ll email to to you for your inspection and corrections. At that time, I’ll bill you for the remaining $250.
• You can make corrections, changes, or additions to the chapter as you wish, providing you don’t start the entire chapter over again.
• I’ll send you a second draft for your inspection within a week. This new draft will reflect all of your requests for revision.
  
• Then you can go over the second draft, make changes, and email them to me. I’ll send you a third draft as soon as possible.
• You can stop the process at the end of any chapter. There is no minimum number of chapters required.
• When your book is completely finished, I’ll proofread the entire manuscript without extra charge.
• You own the copyright to your book. You receive 100% of any profits you might make from sales of your finished book. You own 100% of any future movie rights.
• Any published version of your memoir should list my name on the cover, below your name and in smaller letters: either “With Lilian Duval,” or “As Told to Lilian Duval.” A very short bio about Lilian Duval must appear after the end of your book or within the first pages.

After starting my memoir, it was a long six years before I returned to work on my book. The reason for this was an unexpected email which I received from an amazing woman, whose name is Lilian Duval, and who decided to help me. She is my assistant in this project.

She is a writer by herself and her style of writing I like very much. I would write the same way if I were as free speaking in English as in Russian. Lilian is the author of the captivating novel You Never Know, published in 2011. She and her husband are both survivors of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. They sent all three of their children to Juilliard, and Lilian herself is an amateur classical guitarist, deeply devoted to music. She and her husband were our guests at Music Mountain in August 2011 during our performances there.

I am very grateful that she agreed to help me gather my scattered thoughts and memories into something organized and beautiful. — Alla Aronovskaya, first violinist of the St. Petersburg String Quartet, Kansas, 2011.

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