As I said last week, the media has done a terrible job showing people the realities of what it takes to produce a book. Here are five more myths people believe because movies and TV shows portray them as the truth. 1. The Myth of the Single Book. The media implies one book changes everything.…
Every time I have a prospect tell me their goals for their book is to sell a lot of copies, I respond the same way: “The media has done an absolutely terrible job and showing you the reality of what it takes to publish a book.” I continue: “Movies and TV shows make it look…
I have two clients whose manuscripts I have pretty much completed. Time to usher them onto the editing phase. But wait! They’re not ready to move on. They’re dawdling, as if they are afraid to leave the comfort of the year-plus relationship they have enjoyed with me. I’m trying to get them to think about…
I currently have two prospects who want me to act as their ghostwriter for their books. They have gone through my early screening process, and when I asked them, “If money was no object, would you be ready to move forward?” they answered yes. Cost is the most common reason a ghostwriting prospect doesn’t become…
When I meet with my business advisor, I update him on how things are going with my outsider clients or prospects. Instead of mentioning them by name (because he can’t keep track), I tend to use occupational or identification shorthand: therapist, Bronx Brother, sex worker, surfer, crypto guy, schoolteacher, Realtor, police brutality victim, impostor, guy…
I am close to completing a nonfiction manuscript about two brothers from the Bronx, the younger one who joined a gang and the older one who didn’t, and the lives they led as a result of that one fundamental choice. It’s violent, coarse, graphic, and it’s filled with the foul language they used on the…
I recently attended a monthly meeting with Ally Machate, who runs The Writers Ally, a book editing, publishing, and marketing firm. People ask her anything related to the book publishing and editing worlds. One guy asked about artificial intelligence, and in listening to Ally’s reply, something dawned on me about large language models, or LLMs.…
When somebody agrees to work with me and I send out a contract, what happens next is always a crapshoot. Sometimes, the person signs the contract, no questions asked. Sometimes, her or she will want to negotiate particular sections, paragraphs, or clauses. I’m always willing to listen to their concerns, and I usually accommodate them…
As I’ve written previously, the ghostwriting default is anonymity. But that doesn’t mean a ghostwriter always has to remain behind the scenes. More and more, authors that use ghostwriters are crediting them. When you see a celebrity memoir, you might see the celebrity’s name and a different, less-familiar name. That name is often the credited…
I recently wrote about how a ghostwriter can make an income of at least six figures. Read it here. The first point I made was to a assemble a team. I recommended including a search engine optimization (SEO) company as part of the team. I had been using a web designer friend to manage my…
