What Does It Look Like to Work With a Ghostwriter?

All ghostwriters are not equal. When choosing to work with a ghostwriter, you don't merely want someone who can write well. You want someone who can capture your words in a way that authentically matches your tone and style.

My focus is nonfiction, and I’ve found that there are eight main styles of books within this category. These include memoir, autobiography, self-help, how-to, narrative, journalistic, academic, and thought leadership. My specialty is working with authors who use a blended approach. They are personal and want to provide practical insights, but they also want their material to be grounded in data. The two words I use to describe this approach are casual and authoritative.

While every ghostwriter is different, here is my five-step approach, which typically takes three to five months to complete.

Step 1: Plan—Before writing, it’s important to create a Master Book Plan and outline your main chapters, define your target audience, and choose your tone/style. Only after we have this structure in place can the actual ghostwriting process begin. This can be completed in one conversation.

Step 2: Develop—Great ghostwriting starts with great listening, a skill I’ve honed by conducting hundreds of hours of author interviews. During our second conversation, we will discuss Chapter 1 from your newly developed Master Book Plan. This will give me enough content to write an initial draft of Chapter 1. We will repeat this process with the following chapters only after you’re satisfied with how this chapter looks.

Step 3: Research—Throughout the ghostwriting process, I will conduct outside research to learn more about your industry, your story, and your target audience. Because I read a hundred books a year, I'm able to pull from a lot of outside sources to add credibility to your message.

Step 4: Write—Next, I’ll take the transcript of our call and develop a rough draft of the material. But here’s the key: I won’t just write in my voice; I’ll write in yours. Whether you’re blunt and bold, warm and reflective, or academic and precise, my aim is to match your style so the text sounds just like you. After I’ve completed my initial draft, I’ll email you a Microsoft Word document for review.

Step 5: Edit—From there, I suggest a two-pronged approach. For minor edits (additional words or sentences), I ask authors to make these additions using the Track Changes feature in Word and to send me a return document before our next call. For more substantive changes (entire section revisions), we will discuss these on our next call.

All I ask of authors is three things—consistency, clarity, and communication. Weekly meetings are critical to maintain momentum. Clear goals and target audience help us maintain focus. And open conversation about what is and isn’t working ensures our message doesn’t drift off course.

By the end of our time together, your manuscript will be ready for a Copy Edit, which is either conducted by a third-party editor or your publisher to add a final layer of polish. It just helps to get another set of eyes on what we've developed.