There is a poem I remember reading in a prayer book: What does it really mean to “hear”? The person who attends a concert with a mind on business, Hears — but does not really hear. The person who walks amid the songs of birds And thinks only of what will be served for…
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Nobody starts out wanting to be a ghostwriter. Something happens along the way that makes them want to pursue that vocation. For me, it came in stages. First, I was a journalist. I wrote for two Los Angeles daily newspapers, in the sports departments, and I discovered a gift for getting people to open up…
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There must be a high degree of trust between ghostwriter and client. Each must recognize and respect the other’s talents. Like with a marriage, the relationship between ghostwriter and client has ups and downs, pitfalls and pleasures, risks and rewards. Either partner can throw things out of whack. Clients might typically try to take advantage…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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.…
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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…
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