Neither Dorian Mintzer nor Roberta Taylor were professional writers, but as experienced psychotherapists, they wanted to do a book to help guide couples through the retirement process.  Working together over a period of several months, Fern helped them to:

• Write the book,  The Couple's Retirement Puzzle: !0 Must-Have Conversations for Transitioning to the Second Half of Life
• Position the book as the classic on the subject of retirement
• Craft the book so that each chapter could work as a stand-alone magazine article or publicity piece
• Self-publish the book 
• Publicize the book, including organizing media attention and book launches, and procuring endorsements and reviews

After a few years, the authors decided that if their platform was strong enough, they would prefer to transition the book to a traditional publisher for future editions.  Fern helped them to:

• Compose a pitch letter and book proposal
• Pitch the book to publishers
• Successfully sell the book to mid-sized publisher, Sourcebooks

Though most books now have a bookstore shelf life of only four months,The Couple's Retirement Puzzlehas remained actively in print from 2011 to today.