Ghostwriting

Ghostwriter, Co-writer, Co-author, or Collaborator?

By Lee Barnathan / September 4, 2023
Posted in , , ,

I’ve previously written that between 50% and 90% of nonfiction books were ghostwritten. I’ve also found sources that say traditional publishing houses admit that 70% of all books were ghostwritten and 99% of celebrity-authored titles were. I’ve also previously written that if you see a “with” or “and” after the author’s name, followed by another…

Read More

Write Your Book for Your Audience, not Yourself

By Lee Barnathan / August 28, 2023
Posted in , , ,

So you want to write a book, or you want a work with a ghostwriter. You have a great story that you know would benefit a lot of people if they could just read your words. That would result in your dream of selling thousands of copies and making a living as a novelist. There…

Read More

Website Ghostwriting: Emphasize Stories Over Facts

By Lee Barnathan / August 21, 2023
Posted in , , ,

One of my various ghostwriting services is telling the story of a company, product or service on its website. Too many company website product or service pages don’t tell the story of how the person reading the page will benefit from using that product or service. I have visited hundreds of small-business websites, and I’d…

Read More

Ghostwriting Emails: Don’t Forget the Why

By Lee Barnathan / August 14, 2023
Posted in , , ,

Ghostwriting is more than books. It’s also writing email campaigns. And when I ghostwrite emails, I remember that you can’t build and sustain a relationship and keep subscriber engagement numbers high via email if your readers don’t understand why you’re sending them. I have found that about in 95 percent of the time, people tend…

Read More

Smile! There is no Right or Wrong Way to Outline a Book

By Lee Barnathan / August 7, 2023
Posted in , , ,

In my last post, I summarized the importance of an outline when ghostwriting a book. Now I answer the question, “How to outline a book.” The short answer: Any way you want. There is no right or wrong way. If you want to stop reading now, I won’t blame you. All I can do is…

Read More

The Importance of the Ghostwriter’s Outline

By Lee Barnathan / July 31, 2023
Posted in , , ,

I had a client who provided me with a sizable amount of information to write the story. These were journals, and the client explained the writing was stream of consciousness. The idea was to get the thoughts onto paper as fast as possible. I applauded this client with getting the story out of the head…

Read More

Ghostwriting a Marketing Plan Inside a Book Proposal

By Lee Barnathan / July 24, 2023
Posted in , , , ,

When ghostwriting a book, I am sometimes asked to also write the book proposal. I remember the first time I was asked to do this. I had no idea, so I did my research. A book proposal is a plan to convince either an agent or a publisher that your manuscript should become a book.…

Read More

When Ghostwriter and Client Disagree, Here’s 1 Solution

By Lee Barnathan / July 17, 2023
Posted in , , ,

I’ve long known that a client-ghostwriter relationship can resemble a marriage at times. The client is sharing so much with so many details that, inevitably, the client gets put in a vulnerable situation. It is up to the ghostwriter to treat that information, and by extension the client, with all the care, decency, and sensitivity…

Read More

How to Interview Someone When Ghostwriting a Memoir

By Lee Barnathan / July 10, 2023
Posted in , , ,

As I’ve previously written, having other sources when ghostwriting a memoir fleshes out a story with different points of view, confirms details, and helps neutralize the “unreliable narrator.” To get these details, however, a ghostwriter often needs to interview those other sources, so this is about how to do that effectively. Like with the entire…

Read More

Why Interview Others When Ghostwriting a Memoir

By Lee Barnathan / July 5, 2023
Posted in , , ,

I specialize in ghostwriting three non-fiction types: memoir, business book, and expository essay. Of these, memoirs take the longest to complete. The main reason, I have found, is it takes longer to organize an outline and write about an individual’s life.  With a business book or expository essay, the client often has the outline already…

Read More