Ghostwriters don’t automatically deal with a lot of death, but I’ve been lately. Three friends lost their mothers in a matter of weeks. My wife and I have been attending memorials and making condolence calls. Also, a friend died at just 67, sending shockwaves through our social circle. And now, a ghostwriting relationship is at…
As I’ve previously written, the outline is the most important part of the ghostwriting process. It provides a plan, a blueprint, a direction, a pathway—call it what you want—to help you write the book. There is no way to ghostwrite a tightly focused book without first having an outline to determine what’s going in, where…
Fifth of an occasional series about stories and ideas worth telling. A heart defect is not inherently compelling. As a ghostwriter, if someone pitched me to ghostwrite a story about a guy who overcame a heart defect, I’d first ask, “What else is there to the story?” and if there was nothing, I’d turn it…
Fourth in an occasional series about stories and ideas worth telling. One criterion ghostwriters should look for when deciding what story to help tell is how mouth-droppingly amazing the story is. If when hearing the whole story, I find my mouth agape and my vocalizing the sentences, “Oh my God. I can’t believe that!” or…
Third in an occasional series about ideas and stories that are worth telling. As a speech writer in NYC, I get pitched story ideas all the time and many from people who have overcome deep adversity that feel compelled to share their experiences with the world. Sometimes the story doesn’t resonate with me, and since…
This is the second of an occasional series of stories I worked on that are worth telling. According to study.com, there have been more than 20,000 books written about the Holocaust. It is a sensitive topic from personal and historic standpoints, and a ghostwriter has to make sure that if he or she is going…
Back in 2002, The New York Times came out with a survey that said 81% of people feel they have a book in them. The article’s author, Joseph Epstein, tried hard to discourage people from writing those books, and one reason he gave was that “so many third-rate books are published nowadays.” Epstein was right…
The reason I love ghostwriting so much is because it’s the most rewarding—financially and emotionally—work I’ve ever done. I can’t adequately describe how wonderful it is to see the smiles and hear the sobs of joy in between “thank yous” from a client who has wanted to write a book and never thought it possible…
In my last post, I highlighted several typers of editing one could use to improve their manuscript. Today, I’m delving into more detail about line editing. As I previously wrote, line editors focus on more creative uses of language and how the word choice affects how clearly the story is communicated. Is the language clear,…
Last week, I received a phone call and an email inquiry from a man looking for a ghostwriter. He is 93 years old and doesn’t have a lot of time to get his memoir out of his head and onto the page, so he wants to move quickly. He didn’t balk when I told him…
