DIYers are Bad News. First, Avoid 1

I didn’t realize one ghostwriting lead I had was a DIYer. 

He had confessed he couldn’t proceed because he didn’t have his family’s full support to tell his story. I understood and occasionally followed up to see if he had made any headway with his family. I usually heard nothing back.

After about a year and a half, I got this email from him:

Hey Lee, 

Your past attempts at contacting me must have gone to my junk mail as this is the first in quite some time. I actually decided to write the book myself over several months and finally completed the process in March. I made a ton of mistakes and learned a lot. From a terrible choice in publisher selection, to hiring private editing that was useless. It was a painful process. However, I am to some degree happy with the final product.

I intend on letting the dust settle from all this but already have thoughts of a rewrite at some point with some additions I regret not keeping in the final print. I do realize that it is missing a professional’s pen and experience. The next time you are bored silly please be my guest and take a look at (name of site deleted). When I am done licking my wounds and possibly decide to perform some revisions I’ll let you know and get you a copy as I won’t be tackling this on my own again in the future. 

I hope you are well and thanks for thinking of me. 

My response: “Congratulations!”

There is nothing wrong with DIYers, or people who want to do it themselves. However, when it comes to ghostwriting, DIYers are hobbyists, and ghostwriters should never confuse a hobby with something important.

There is also nothing wrong with hobbyists. Everyone needs hobbies. But consider the very definition of hobby: “an activity or interest pursued for pleasure or relaxation and not as a main occupation.”

This guy was not a professional writer. In fact, he was a medical professional. If telling his story was not a hobby, and if he considered it truly important, he wouldn’t have done it himself. He would have hired a ghostwriter.

In examining the email, I saw a lot of issues that ghostwriters can help with, provided the person isn’t a DIYer. A ghostwriter can advise on publishing and editing (and should have contacts in the publishing and editing fields). A ghostwriter can make sure nothing that is cut out of the final book is regretted later. And a ghostwriter ensures “a professional’s pen and experience.”

Business advisor Jay Kingley suggested that the reason he asked me to read his book is because he wants my validation as if to say, “Oh my God! You did great! I couldn’t have done any better.”

I won’t read the book because 1) I choose to use my time to chase prospects and work with clients who want a ghostwriter, and 2) I already know how it will read. It will fall somewhere between horrible and mediocre, which is the normal range a hobbyist achieves.

As Kingley said, “(Ghostwriters should) never chase a DIYer because a DIYer values money over time and values money over quality of output.”

A ghostwriter’s business model should be geared toward working with clients who value their expertise and are willing to invest in a professional product. If a prospect says he or she is thinking about writing it alone, the ghostwriter should ask, “Why?”

If the response is, “Because I can do it well,” the ghostwriter then should say, “good luck” and end the conversation. There is no reason to discuss anything else. 

However, there are ghostwriters who try to work with DIYers as clients. Here are some reasons to steer clear:

1. They have different priorities. DIYers might be focused on cost-cutting and a “good enough” approach, while a professional ghostwriter is focused on producing high-quality work that reflects well on their skills and reputation.

2. They have unrealistic expectations and time commitments. DIYers might have unrealistic expectations about timelines, research, and revision needs, leading to prolonged projects, back-and-forth communication, and potentially unpaid rework.

3. They can’t provide their “true” voice. Ghostwriting requires the ability to capture the client’s unique voice and perspective. A DIYer might not be able to clearly articulate this, making it challenging for the ghostwriter to deliver a truly authentic piece.

4. They lack structure and direction. DIYers might lack a clear vision or structured approach to their project, requiring the ghostwriter to spend more time organizing, outlining, and providing direction, which might not be part of their typical scope of work.

5. They underestimate what it takes. DIYers may not fully appreciate the skill, time, and effort involved in professional writing, potentially leading to requests for lower rates or viewing the ghostwriter as merely a transcriber. In fact, as the Raven blog said back in 2013, “In my experience, for a ghost writing arrangement to work (keeping aside other considerations), the client needs to actually be an authority on the subject, be willing to get involved and invest some of his time. Ghost writing doesn’t mean the client hands off something to his writer and forget about it.”

Essentially, ghostwriters in Chicago often prefer clients who understand the value of their services and are willing to invest accordingly. Working with DIYers can become a time-consuming and potentially frustrating experience due to differing priorities, expectations, and levels of commitment to the project’s quality and process.

Since the email concluded with “I won’t be tackling this on my own again in the future,” let me make one comment about that. The odds are: Once a DIYer, always a DIYer. True, there are exceptions to the rule, and he might be the exception. A ghostwriter should be comfortable working with a special minority: the group that has a passion to tell their compelling story, and the quality of output is important to them.

Feel free to read and check out my other posts related to ghostwriting. Go to leebarnathan.com/blog.