SHOULD YOU WORK WITH A GHOSTWRITER?
A book coach can be very helpful in guiding an author through the planning and development of a book, but the author will still write the words themselves and likely manage several other pieces of the project on the whole. In contrast, if an author hires a ghostwriter, there are a number of benefits to the author which we explore here.
Holistic Partnership & Guidance
Working with a ghostwriter is working with a dedicated and collaborative creative and business partner. They are bringing their writing expertise and understanding of story/book development to the project. This is their creative expertise. Because they are familiar with a book’s lifecycle (or development stages), the publishing process, and in some instances, book marketing, they can also look at your book project through a business lens.
This combination of creative and business acumen makes a ghostwriter a holistic—and invaluable—partner for the author. They are able to see the book from a variety of perspectives and comprehensively guide their client through the various stages of book development.
Logistical Facilitation: Project & Process Management
Not only will an experienced ghostwriter lend their deep understanding of a book’s development and publishing phases, they’ll command both project and process management to ensure the book is brought through planning to completion. The ghostwriter will identify the way they work (process management) and establish the respective tasks and milestones required to write the book by a set deadline (project management).
Given they are serving as the project lead, the ghostwriter will communicate what they need from the author according to the process and project management. In short, the author has little administrative responsibility to facilitate the project or dictate next steps. The author can rely on the ghostwriter to manage these pieces and communicate with them when it’s time to weigh-in, review, and/or provide feedback.
Writing a Great Book: Story & Manuscript Development
Many people have wonderful ideas for a book or are avid readers and aware of what makes a good book, or at least know one when they read one. Not everyone, however, knows how to write a book, tell a great story, and/or organize their ideas. And not everyone has the time or energy they want to spend actually figuring out how to do those things. They want to author the idea, the story, the concept, etc. but they don’t want to write the words or don’t feel they’re skilled enough to do so well and do the book the justice it deserves.
A ghostwriter can support and guide the author in the story development or book outline and planning to ensure that the book holds together. They can ensure that their is cohesion and a solid organization of ideas and concepts with nonfiction genres or keep a watchful eye on story arc development with creative nonfiction (such as memoir) or fiction genres.
Then, with a well developed outline in place, the ghostwriter can move to drafting the manuscript. Using their writing skills–command of language, word choice, syntax, sentence structure, sensory details, dialogue, etc.–they’ll actually put words to the page, making the outline live and breathe until it becomes a full draft of the book. The author won’t write a word, but they’ll have a well-developed book.
These Benefits Equate to Time & Energy Savings
All these aforementioned benefits equate to a huge time and energy savings for the author. Yes, the author will spend their time in interviews or reviewing pages of the manuscript and offering feedback. Yet in comparison to the number of hours the ghostwriter will spend combing through interviews to capture key details and information; creating a book brief or outline; drafting the manuscript; and then revising the manuscript (an unpredictable number of times) until it’s considered finished, the author’s contribution in time is minimal.
Additionally, since the ghostwriter is controlling the logistics (process and project management), the planning, and the development (multiple drafts and revisions), the author is also saving a lot of energy they would have otherwise spent managing all of these pieces themselves. In many ways, while the author is a collaborator once work begins, there’s a good majority that falls in the purview of the ghostwriter’s roles and responsibilities. This leaves the author to be a far more passive participant than if they were writing the book themselves.
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Content credit: Ally Berthiaume, ghostwriter, writing guide, and girlfriend at The Write Place, Right Time and author of Dear Universe I Get it Now: Letters on the Art and Journey of Being Brave and Being Me
Image credit: Kelly Sikkema