To paraphrase James Carville, not only is it the story, stupid, it’s also the emotion. Plenty of studies have shown that storytelling matters. Here’s one example. One critical aspect of good storytelling is including emotion. Adding details that trigger your brain’s amygdala (the emotional processing center) automatically makes the story better. A story with emotion invests,…
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Occasionally, when I first talk to a ghostwriting prospect, I get asked a version of this question: “Can you help me get my book published?” My standard response has been, “My specialty is writing. I know people in the publishing world that I’m happy to introduce you to, but I focus on making the manuscript…
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You’ve probably heard or read these quotes before: “There’s no end to education.” “Learning is a lifelong process.” “Everything is a learning experience.” I, too, learn as I go. In ghostwriting, there are plenty of opportunities to learn and grow. Here are some lessons I’ve learned. Don’t take any project if you’re not enthusiastic about…
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Last week, I wrote about three reasons publishing is its own challenging animal. Now, here are three more reasons (with apologies to James Carville): It’s the book, stupid In simple terms, the manuscript sucks. The difficult part sometimes lies in why. Not every publisher states the reasons for rejecting your work. The larger the publisher,…
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Too many people don’t realize how difficult the publishing game really is. Recently, a woman in Alabama reached out to me because she wanted a book ghostwritten. If I could choose a title for her book, it would be All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Prison. It sounded really fascinating. Then I…
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I wanted this post to be about brands. I researched “Personal Branding for Ghostwriters: How to Stand Out in a Saturated Market” and found numerous articles about using a ghostwriter to build a personal brand. But there was very little about a ghostwriter building a brand. That didn’t work. So, I dug into my memories. …
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I recently was reminded that I am a ghostwriter. You might think, Well, no shit, Sherlock! I prefer to look at it like the old aftershave commercials from the 1970s, “Thanks, I needed that.” And I have my business advisor to thank. I have many standard fee requests in my contracts. Besides the dollar amount,…
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There is a battle between AI and ghostwriters going on. On one side, there is the ghostwriter. Ghostwriting is a craft. It takes practice, knowledge, skill, and experience to be able to pull a client’s story out of their head and get it onto a page while maintaining their voice, tone, style, and facts of…
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When it comes to contracts, I believe both sides should have protections. The prospect needs to feel like the story is his/her/their property, that they have the rights to it and own it at all times. That also means the prospect has final say over the title, that he/she/they can terminate the project early under…
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From my earliest days in journalism, I was taught to ask questions that begin with who, what, where, when, how, and why because they were open-ended and would lead to long answers (and better quotes). When I transitioned into ghostwriting, I found these questions still worked, but I recently learned that there is a better…
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