About Ghostwriting

What is Ghostwriting?—A brief history

As you can guess, ghostwriters help others get their words into print, whether that print is a book, an article, a speech, or even a blog post. Typically, the ghostwriter does not originate the content they write; instead, they interview, take notes, coach, and edit, all to help their client/author write what they want to write and do it with the most impact.

Far from being a modern invention, ghostwriting and ghostwriters have been around for millennia. For ages, rulers, prophets, kings, and political leaders have relied on scribes to help them pen their words and write their books. From what scholars can tell, the Old Testament in the Bible itself was written by two sets of scribes. Where those scribes got their primary information may sometimes be a matter of debate, but it’s likely that the prophet Hosea did not pen the Bible book of the same name—someone helped.

Today, ghostwriters help celebrities, CEOs, politicians, business leaders and even ordinary folk put their knowledge, wisdom, and stories down in a book. And if you find that it’s time you made a difference in the world by writing a book, chances are you could benefit by hiring a ghostwriter.

Why hire a ghostwriter?

As we mentioned above, most published authors, whether they are celebs, politicians, or people in the news, had help writing their book, and that help usually took the form of a ghostwriter.

So, why shouldn’t you just do it all on your own, without a ghostwriter’s help?

You can, of course, but ask yourself this: do you like to hire the best person for the job? Also, is your time precious, and do you want to get the most out of every moment?

If you answered yes to either question, then it might make sense to hire a ghostwriter to help you with the often huge task of writing a book.

Click the button below to get going on your book today!

Think of hiring a ghostwriter as an investment

When you hire a ghostwriter, you invest in yourself, your future, and what a book can do for you. Hiring a ghostwriter requires money, but it will save you time, which many feel is worth much more than money. Your time is precious, especially if you own and run a company, so hiring a ghostwriter becomes an investment in yourself and a chance to accomplish a major task in less time. One way to look at hiring a ghostwriter is as a justifiable investment.

If I told you that it would cost $1 million, you’d probably run way. And you’d be wrong.

The truth is, hiring a premium ghostwriter like me or one of my associates typically runs between $30,000 and $70,000, all based on the length and complexity of your book.

Examples of famous ghostwritten books

Many bestsellers, both fiction and nonfiction, had a ghostwriter during the writing process. Below is a list of a few nonfiction books that used a ghostwriter:

• Spare, by Prince Harry (ghostwritten by JR Moehringer)

• Heaven is for Real: A Little Boy’s Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back, by Todd Burpo

• Profiles in Courage, by John F. Kennedy

• It Takes a Village: And Other Lessons Children Teach Us, by Hillary Rodham Clinton

• Decision Points, by George W. Bush

• The Autobiography of Malcolm X, by Malcolm XLean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead, by Sheryl Sandberg with Nell Scovell

• My American Journey, by Colin Powell

• My Life, by Bill Clinton

• Scratching the Horizon: A Surfing Life, by Izzy Paskowitz with Daniel Paisner

• I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban, by Malala Yousafzai with Christina Lamb

• American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History, by Chris Kyle, with Jim DeFelice and Scott McEwen

• Becoming, by Michelle Obama

• Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance, by Barack Obama

Novelist James Patterson always employs a team of ghostwriters (that he oversees) for his books. And after they died, Tom Clancy and Robert Ludlum both had books come out under their name because their publisher had hired ghostwriters to write under their name. These are just a few examples, of course, of ghostwriters being used to produce bestselling books.

Click the button below to get going on your book today!

Additional information/frequently asked questions

Below are some brief answers to common questions that people have about ghostwriting and ghostwriters.

Is ghostwriting ethical and legal?

The short answer is yes, ghostwriting is ethical, and legal, especially the way we do it. With us, we help our clients put their words, thoughts, and ideas down onto paper. We’re not writing a book about a subject and then slapping someone else’s name on it. In fact, no author writes a book totally by themselves; publishers always use editors to help their author finalize and finish their books before they publish. And a ghostwriter acts as just another person who can help an author write their book.

How do I find the right ghostwriter?

Because writing a book is such a large task and having your name put on a book is such a big deal, when you search for a ghostwriter should be organized and methodical. While there is no one way to find the right ghostwriters, you should consider the following:

Find someone who can write well. Beyond reviewing their writing samples—if they have any that they can share (sometimes ghostwriters’ clients won’t allow them to share what they’ve worked on together), you can often gauge how well a ghostwriter can write just by reading blog posts, articles, and web copy that they’ve written (stuff on their own website or LinkedIn profile). Because if you read what they’ve written about themselves and what they do and you can’t follow it, their writing won’t get any better when they write for you.

Find someone whose approach to books and writing matches yours. While you may not have many opinions about books and how to write them, make sure that you like what you hear when you ask your ghostwriter about their process and how they work. Not everyone works the same way, so there is a ghostwriter out there who is a good fit for you.

Find someone you enjoy talking to and can imagine working with. Before signing on a ghostwriter, have a couple of chats with them, either via phone, Zoom, or in person (if possible). If you like talking with them, they might be the right fit for you. If you don’t, keep looking. Writing a book together is a good-sized project, and you need to enjoy working with your ghostwriter.

Find someone whose required investment fits within your budget. Again, not all ghostwriters charge the same, so find someone who can do what you need to within your own budget. Remember, ghostwriting is a premium skill that not every writer has, so expect to pay well for a highly skilled ghostwriter.

Find someone who finishes their projects and gets things done. Writing a book is a bit like eating elephant, as the saying goes, and the way to do that is one bite at a time. Make sure the ghostwriter you work with has concrete steps in their process and sticks to their process so that your book gets written in a timely fashion.

Find someone who comes well-recommended. Again, given the confidential nature of a ghostwriter’s work, not all ghostwriters can get public testimonials from all of their clients, but make sure that your ghostwriter has at least a few people who can vouch for them and their work, even if those people are former employers. If they can’t put those on their website, they should be able to send you copies of a few testimonials or references.

What does it cost to hire a ghostwriter?

It doesn’t cost a million dollars to hire a ghostwriter (at least, not usually); instead, (as mentioned elsewhere on this site), you should expect to spend anywhere between $30,000 and $70,000 to hire an excellent ghostwriter to help you pen your book. You can spend less, and there are ghostwriters who work with famous celebrities who usually charge even more, but expect to invest in order to write a book with a good ghostwriter.

How to write a book

We can’t tell you how to write a book in just a few paragraphs, but here are a few essential steps you can follow.

First, plan and outline what you want to write about. We’ve all been talked to about outlines by our English teachers when we were growing up. Well, outlining before writing is a good idea. And if you’re worried that your outline will hamper your creativity or restrict you too much, just know that your outline can and will change as you write your book.

Second, set a writing schedule and pick a time of day and day of the week that work for you. This schedule doesn’t have to be first thing in the am or late at night, but it needs to be at the same time every day during a time when you won’t be interrupted. Find your best time, put it in your calendar, and stick with it.

Third, set timeline milestones to help you stay on track. As you work through your outline, try to set reasonable goals for accomplishing your next milestone, be it a page, a chapter, or a set of pages. You can even set a date that you want to be done by and when work backwards to figure out when you need to be done with what in order to reach your goal—this is called model building, and J. Robert Oppenheimer used it to help direct the team building the first atom bomb.

Fourth, have an accountability partner, someone who will check in with you to make sure you’re making progress on your book. In other words, have someone else you can check in with and be accountable to to keep you working on your book. Again, writing a book is work and it’s not always fun, so having an accountability partner can help you stay on task.

And lastly, keep your prose plain and simple, and don’t strive to impress but to communicate clearly. Avoid using too much passive voice (difficult for those trained in academic and government-style writing, minimize adjectives and adverbs, write in plain, direct sentences, and avoid jargon and overused metaphors and phrases. There’s tons more you can do to improve your writing and keep it clear, but this is a good start.

Again, there’s a lot more to writing a book than the above steps and tips, but if you follow these suggestions, you will increase your chances of finishing a book that others will actually want to read.

How to write a great memoir

As with writing a nonfiction book, there is no one magic secret to writing a memoir, but the following steps and tips can help you as you tell your story.

First, as when writing any kind of nonfiction book, make sure to plan, outline, and follow a process and schedule when writing your memoir. See the section above on how to write a book and make sure you follow all of those tips.

Second, don’t log every moment of your life in your memoir. Memoirs are really a best of in your life—a worst of as well, perhaps. When readers read a memoir, they want to read the highlights and lowlights of your life. These include your important events, accomplishments, turning points, as well as your major failures and disappointments. Sure, you will need to give them some background here and there and let them know where you are in your life for the chapter they’re reading, but strive to minimize or cut out all the mundane stuff in your memoir, because it doesn’t make for great reading.

Third, don’t be afraid to be personal and make yourself look bad. Yes, you can recount your victories, but you also need to recount your failures and mistakes, too. No one wants to read a book by and about someone who is perfect. How un-relatable! How boring! If you have an interesting experience or event in your life that was painful but that changed who you are or how you see things, include it even if it hurts to talk about it.

Fourth, and this applies to all writing, be specific in your writing. Don’t just say, I had a bad year, tell us why, if there are some interesting stories that illustrate why. Don’t just say, my dad was often unkind to me, tell us what he did and said. You will already have enough general statements in your writing, so make sure to include details to back up the generalities that necessarily

Fifth, memoirs are not a chance to get even. You may have plenty of people who did you wrong—most of us do—but your memoir is not the place to settle scores. Again, how boring, and how petty. Getting back at others through your memoir ruins the good energy that should permeate your memoir.

Sixth, and lastly, don’t forget that you are telling stories. We have all been to school when a substitute teacher took over for our regular teacher. And if your school was like mine, the kids often took control of the class for the sub and chaos often resulted. But when I was in elementary school, we had one sub who we all looked forward to whenever she showed up. Why? Because all she did all day was tell us one great story after another—she had dozens of them—and she knew how to tell us stories in her quiet, soft voice in such a way that we all settled down and just listened. Not everyone can do what she did in person, but when you’re writing your memoir, find and tell stories from your life, and write and rewrite them until they flow. Being aware that you are telling stories to a room of listeners will help you write a more compelling and readable memoir and will take your memoir to the next level.

Again, there are tons of other tips to writing a great memoir, but these six are a great start.

Can I get rich by writing a book?

While people still write bestsellers and become rich doing so, getting rich by writing your first book is rare. Instead, look at writing your book as a way to make a difference in the world. And if you do want to monetize your book, know that being an author can open doors to speaking opportunities, chances to be hired or consulted as an expert, and any effect your book might have on acquiring clients for your business or profession, if you have one. But don’t write a book just to get rich because it probably won’t happen.

Making money from your book . . .

If you truly want to make money from your book, or monetize it, consider the following common ways that many authors use their books to increase their bottom line:

Speaking engagements. Most people who speak professionally also have written a book, or even several books. The books may or may not be bestsellers, but having a book can help establish you as an authority on your subject area and can not only help you get speaking gigs but get you more money when people do hire you to speak.

Client acquisition/business development. Simply put, your book can be a lead magnet, helping your close deals and sign more and even larger clients. There’s no guarantee that a book will do this, but authoring a book might make the difference between a prospect choosing you over a competitor who hasn’t yet written a book.

Branding and influence. Having a book out helps define and expand your personal or corporate brand, and that in turn can often lead to other sources of income. Having written a book can then open the door to other marketing and monetary opportunities.

Book sales. I list this method last because for most people, the above means and methods will usually generate more revenue than book sales. Still, do what you can to maximize your book sales by always having a copy of your book on hand, getting influencers and well-known people (even if they’re only well-known in your community) to read and endorse your book, and so on.

The secret to writing well

I don’t have the space here to relay all of my advice on how to write well, but I can share one thing: the secret to all effective, even great, writing is to tell the truth.

This means that not only are you correct factually, but you don’t pen hasty generalizations to tell people what you think they want to hear, and when you are writing personally, you tell how you really feel and what really happened, even if you’re not sure how you feel or what happened doesn’t make you look good. Just tell the truth, give us the facts without extra words, and your writing will have a solid foundation. There’s a lot more to great writing than this, of course, but this is the key to all great writing and is the best place to start.

Great books on writing

Some of the best books on writing are as follows:

• The Elements of Style, by Strunk and White

• Telling Writing, by Ken Macrorie

• On Writing, by Stephen King

• Bird by Bird, by Anne Lamott

How to improve your writing fast

Here are three quick tips to improve your writing quickly.

First, minimize passive voice. While there is a time and a place for passive voice in the verbs you use, many times your writing will be clearer and have more force when you recast your sentences to make your verb active, rather than passive.

Second, use fewer words, not more words, whenever you can. After you write a sentence or a paragraph, go back and see if you can’t say the same thing but in fewer words. Usually, you can, and when you do, you immediately improve your writing.

Third, tell the truth. I’ve written about this one before, but it bears repeating. The more frank you are in what you write and reveal, the better your writing will be. For more information, see my paragraph above on telling the truth when you write.

Traditional publishing vs. self-publishing, which is right for you?

The majority of books you see in a bookstore like Barnes and Noble were published by a traditional publisher. And usually all of the books on any bestseller list were published by a traditional publisher. What do I mean by traditional publisher? I mean any publisher who will accept your manuscript, help you finish it and give it a final edit and maybe even some developmental editing, and then pay the costs to print and distribute your book. Traditional publishers can be big, like any of the

How to write a book proposal

Writing a book proposal is no walk in the park. Do it wrong, and the proposal you send to agents and publishers might get ignored because it doesn’t answer their questions, even if you have a great nonfiction book idea.

But I’m getting ahead of myself here. First, who needs to write a book proposal? Answer: only those who are writing a nonfiction book that is not narrative (in other words, it’s not an autobiography or memoir) and that the author hopes to get published traditionally. (For a quick tutorial on the difference between traditional publishing and self publishing, see the paragraph above.)

When and how to find a literary agent

To continue on from the last topic above, on how to write a book proposal, you need only look for a literary agent if you intend to get your book, fiction or nonfiction, published traditionally. If you are going to self publish your book, you don’t need an agent.

But if you decide that your book has the content, the wit, the charm, and most of all, the story that would attract a traditional publisher, honestly the best way to get your book in front of a traditional publisher is to first get it in front of a literary agent who likes it and thinks that a publisher will bite.

Choosing the right title for your book

If you publish your book traditionally, you likely won’t get to choose its title or even its cover image. But if you self-publish, you are in control. And when you need to choose a title, I have some quick suggestions to follow.

First, choose a title that describes what your book is about. While it may be fun and stylish to choose a title that catches the eye and is memorable but has nothing to do with your subject, I prefer book titles that capture the essence of that book’s main thesis and content. Again, when you write, your first job is to communicate, not to baffle, so your title should point to your book’s main point and/or main content.

Second, feel free to brainstorm when choosing a title. Write down all your ideas—and even others’ ideas if you want their help—and then look at what you’ve got. You may even want to let those titles sit for a day or two before narrowing them down.

Third, go with your gut. Sometimes, you’ll know when you’ve hit on the right title. Sure, you can poll your friends, coworkers, business associates and everyone on LinkedIn, but in the end, it’s your book, so you need to feel good about your title.

Click the button below to get going on your book today!

The Los Angeles Ghostwriter is an excellent writer with an inquisitive mind. He is also an excellent listener and communicator. Highly recommend his services!

Mark. A

★★★★★

Contact us today!

Contact us to start writing your nonfiction book, whether it’s a business book, a memoir, or self-help.

Let’s bring your book to life!