Anyone who ghostwrites memoirs understands how involved the process is and the need to ask questions. There has to be between six months and a year’s worth of communication between the ghostwriter and the client. The ghostwriter can’t write the story without the client’s input because the ghostwriter doesn’t know the story. The client, in…
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I ghostwrite three types of nonfiction books: Memoirs, business books, and expository essays. Of these, people most often contact me wanting help writing a memoir. This doesn’t surprise me. Memoirs are among the most popular adult nonfiction books. On Amazon alone, there are more than 30,500 memoir titles. What used to be reserved for famous…
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Time to focus, people! I recently spoke to someone seeking a ghostwriter for his memoir. He bent my ear for more than an hour, telling stories about his life. And he has had quite a life. From his time working at a top advertising company, to his time in the Nixon, Ford, and Reagan White…
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Last week, I started discussing how ghostwriting is expensive because it is so specialized. Read it here. I covered three skills: writing as someone else, organizing massive amounts of information, and understanding what is a compelling story. Now, I’ll tackle the abilities to interview, research, and budget time. Interview — A ghostwriter has to spend…
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About a year ago, I wrote about a reason ghostwriting can be expensive: Time is money. Read all about it here. There is another reason, however. Ghostwriting is definitely a specialized skill. Not everybody can do it, Just like critical thinking, public speaking, problem solving, leadership, driving, cooking with charcoal, predicting the weather, and taking…
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I had an idea for a post, inspired when I recently found this quote on Reddit: “Your first published story or novel will have to be better than the average published ones.” The unnamed writer explained: Writers at a workshop wanted to know why one student’s story didn’t sell and it was better than these…
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Tenth in an occasional series about about compelling stories and ideas worth telling. I recently received an email from a New Jersey woman. It said, “Hello. I was wondering if this story could become a book. Below are 2 articles, but there are many, many more articles out like this.” So far, so normal. I…
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A recent newsletter I received from Ally Machate, who runs a editing and marketing firm, mentioned three costly mistakes authors make when publishing. The first mistake is rushing to publish without proper editing. “Skipping professional editing might save time (and money in the short term),” she writes, “but it often lead to … negative reviews.”…
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Ninth in an occasional series about compelling stories and ideas worth telling. Have you ever been in a relationship with a con artist? Did you lose a lot of money? Did you try to get him or her back, against your better judgment? Did that con artist try to kill you? Did you survive and…
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Here’s a story about stories. I recently gave a speech at a networking group of which I have been a member for eight years (and am quitting this month, but that’s not important right now). I had 10 minutes to talk about ghostwriting, since we were expected to talk about our business. I had previously…
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