You have a book inside of you. Your story—whether personal or business, tragic or comic, inspirational or cautionary—needs to be written. It does not, however, necessarily need to be written by you.
Unless you’re a naturally gifted writer who has studied the craft and understands the full spectrum of mechanics and techniques that produce good writing, authoring a book on your own is misguided. Your story—regardless of its potential impact—withers and dies unless it is well written.
You know this is true because you’ve seen it with your own eyes—films with great casts ruined by bad scripts, writing even exceptional editors couldn’t save, writing even Robert DeNiro couldn’t save.
Your message deserves to be delivered in a way that compels people to read it. When you take a powerful story and combine it with masterful writing, you have the formula for a brilliant book. That’s where the ghostwriter comes in.
An experienced, capable ghostwriter is able to adapt your voice and mannerisms and pour them onto the pages within the framework of good writing and storytelling techniques. When you hire a ghostwriter, the work s/he produces should sound like you, only better.
Here are tips for hiring a ghostwriter:
- Approach the project as a collaboration. Avoid any writer who tries to steamroll over your ideas.
- When you pay someone to write your story, you call the shots. Listen to your ghostwriter’s suggestions, but trust your intuition.
- Interview multiple candidates before deciding on a collaborator.
- Select a candidate who is a great listener. Listening is as essential a skill as writing for a ghostwriter.
- Be explicit on your timeline.
- Make your intentions clear from the onset. For example, if you don’t want the ghostwriter’s name on the book cover, make sure s/he knows this at the beginning of the process.
- Use an attorney to draft the contract and require your ghostwriter to sign an NDA.
- Provide your ghostwriter with names of people to interview, but do not approach such people on your own. Allow your ghostwriter to establish contact without revealing her/his role.
- Select a writer with a Bachelor’s/Master’s in journalism and a background writing feature articles.
- Decide which of you will market the book to agents/publishers.
- If publishers have approached you to write a book, include your ghostwriter in the process.
- Be clear on compensation and stick to the deadline and payment schedules.
- Enjoy the process of witnessing your story unfold in your words!
I am a ghostwriter who has written books, speeches, newspaper articles, and blogs for luminaries that include celebrity jewelers, art dealers, physicians, and a solar energy physicist. I hold a B.A. in journalism from Temple University and an M.A. in creative writing from Wilkes University. All work I produce for clients is confidential.
