Welcome to the Ghostwriting Blog

There are many topics covered on this blog. Please scroll down to look at the post titles. Discover information you won’t find anywhere else!

Researching Ghostwriters, Publishers, and Agents

Absolute Write Water Cooler is considered one of the premier online watchdog groups in the area of publishing.  Simply go to Absolute Write Search Forums and enter the name you are researching under Keyword and then type in the Image Verification Code and then click Search.   See what people are saying about the people or corporate entities you are considering.

Ghostwriting Insurance? Ridiculous!

In their latest attempt to steer clients away from competent, published ghostwriters, some ghostwriting companies claim that it is dangerous to work with independent ghostwriters!  The specious reasoning is that a potential client never has any way of knowing whether or not a ghostwriter will plagiarize to deliver the commisioned work.

This is utter nonesense!  If you ask a ghostwriter to write your memoir, how can he or she possibly substitute another autobiography in place of your unique life experiences?  Are the memoirs of Johnny Carson and Don Rickles interchangeable?  And if you ask a ghostwriter to write true crime, a business plan, a novel, or any other book, how can the ghostwriter possibly substitute some other previously published work in order to represent your specific ideas, experiences, or plots?  It is absolutely impossible.  You will pay for this needless insurance, of course.  It’s called “upselling” you on additional and needless services.  Read “Ghostwriting Scam” on my website.  Know the truth. 

And remember: ghostwriting companies, for the most part, sub-contract out their work to independent ghostwriters anyway.  I network with the independent ghostwriters these companies use, and they’re not on the company payroll.

Who Is Legit and Who Is Not?

First, when an agent or a ghostwriter also publishes books they represent or write, the general concensus is that this constitutes a conflict of interest.  The normal process of selling a book to a publisher is bypassed and quality control is compromised.  Such agents or ghostwriters are naturally biased toward their own clients.  Second, this kind of arrangement always entails paying the agent or ghostwriter (additional) money, sometimes disguised as a promotion fee, representation fee, etc.  Essentially, it is vanity publishing, and such books do not make it into most regular mall bookstores.  These arrangements are generally frowned upon by respected agents and major publishers in the literary marketplace.

Two Kinds of Flat Ghostwriting Fees

Many ghostwriters (and all ghostwriting companies) charge a flat project fee.  I have found that a flat monthly fee saves clients money since, while it is possible to estimate the time necessary to complete a work, a writer can’t precisely determine how long a project will take—unless he or she is going to rush through a manuscript.  Basically you are paying for the professional time of a professional writer.  What if a writer finishes your book ahead of schedule?

 

I work for a flat monthly fee so that you pay only for the actual professional time I spend on your manuscript.  At the end of a project, work is pro-rated by the week (and day) if necessary so that you don’t pay for a full month if such payment isn’t warranted.

Fees for the Nonfiction Book Proposal

For fiction, agents want to see a query letter, sometimes accompanied by a sample chapter or the first fifty to one hundred pages of manuscript.  Querying an agent for a nonfiction book requires that you write a proposal that ranges from thirty to fifty pages.  Nonfiction proposals include your credentials, bio, target audience, marketing strategies, your platform (how and why you can promote your book), what makes your book different from others in the same field, a synopsis, and an outline.

 

Some ghostwriting firms will charge anywhere between $20,000 and $40,000 to write your proposal, which is not included in the basic ghostwriting fee.  In my opinion, this sum is outrageous.  If you select this option (and others) from firms or high-priced writers, you may end up spending anywhere from $50,000 to $300,000.

 

An independent ghostwriter should be able to deliver a well-written nonfiction proposal for $2,000 to $5,000 assuming you can provide the writer with all of the information needed.  Keep in mind that the writer has to either A) read the entire book, or B) for books not yet written, take a considerable amount of time finding out what the intended book is about in order to supply the above information to an agent.  There are cases, therefore, when a slightly higher price is warranted.

 

But $30,000?  Well, only if you’re the kind of person who might want to buy the Brooklyn Bridge or swampland in Florida!

What a Good Ghostwriter Can Offer You

More than anything, a good ghostwriter knows the literary marketplace and what is selling, the proper protocols for submission, the names of most reputable agents and what they represent, how promotion and distribution are handled, how books are acquired and contracts are extended, and the latest news and trends of the business.

If the ghostwriter has great credentials, superior writing skills, and a thorough knowledge of the marketplace, he or she can increase your odds of getting noticed in an industry where the first step is to stand out from the crowd. A superior ghostwriter can save you invaluable time by helping you understand the processes of writing and publishing, thus increasing your odds in a very competitive market.

ONE HELL OF A RIDE: Another Great Memoir

Lou Federico, author of ONE HELL OF A RIDE, emailed me back in 2003, asking if I would write his memoir. He wasn’t satisfied with anyone else he had contacted about the project. He sent me several interesting notes, but they were vignettes that didn’t have a common theme. I told him I didn’t want to take his money since I didn’t think he had a marketable book in the making.

“Bill,” he said, “I’m gonna do this one way or the other, but I’d rather have you aboard.”

Lou was a feisty but active seventy-nine-year-old man, someone who played tennis everyday, managed a duck hunting club, went deep sea fishing–a man full of piss and vinegar, as they say. I told him that I could stitch the vignettes together as a series of short stories, but probably no more.

What Lou ended up sending was truly remarkable. He did indeed have a book once he started to sit down and organize his notes and add a little to them. Lou was one of the first to build resort hotels in Baja, California, and in the process, he had to battle corruption in the Mexican goverment and build his own roads and airstrips. Once his resorts opened, his guests included Jayne Mansfield, John Wayne, Fred Astaire, June Allyson, Edgar Bergen, Erle Stanley Gardner (creator of Perry Mason), Mayor Sam Yorty of Los Angeles, and countless other celebrities.

Lou was a great client. He gave me his materials right on time, paid every bill within days, and occasionally made a few suggestions or augmented his recollections since he said he was a bit forgetful at times. He liked my prose and that’s what he stuck with all the way through.  He was a gentleman, a straight shooter. We have remained good friends, and I am happy to say that his book has done very well in his target market.

Submitting a Query, Part 2: Your Ideas Will Not Be Stolen

In my last entry, I covered the basic elements a potential client should be willing to present to a ghostwriter. Today, I’m going to focus on a problem with approximately twenty percent of the queries I receive: the issue of secrecy. Some people who contact ghostwriters, agents, or editors don’t tell them what their projects are about for fear their ideas will be stolen. Everyone’s notes, rough drafts, and finished manuscripts are automatically copyrighted, even if not formally registered with the Library of Congress. (Go the the LOC website and look under “copyrights.”).  As I said in my last post on submitting queries, you have to follow professional protocols of the publishing industry.  You don’t have to go into extreme detail, but a paragraph or two saves time for everyone.

Submitting a Query to a Ghostwriter

After ghostwriting for almost ten years, I have received thousands of queries. Always put words such as “ghostwriting” or “my writing project” in the subject line. Typing “Hi” looks like spam. Next, be prepared to tell the ghostwriter what your project is about. Ghostwriters, agents, and editors do not steal ideas, which are automatically copyrighted from the moment of inception. State whether the project is fiction or nonfiction and what source materials are currently available, if any. Do you have an idea, an outline, notes, or a rough draft?  Providing a brief synopsis of your book or idea is also critical in determining whether or not you have contacted the right ghostwriter.  I personally do not respond to queries that simply say, “Call me at 555-5555.”  If you want to get published, you must follow the protocols of the literary marketplace,

Ghostwriting encompasses a wide variety of services, ranging from writing an original manuscript to editing (line and developmental) or a combination of the two.  The more information you provide, the better a ghostwriter can decide whether he or she is the right person for the job.

A Timely Memoir: A TEACHER SHOOTS BACK

Gary Weart approached me in December, 2004. He was a social studies teacher and baseball coach who had worked for over thirty years in secondary education, and he told me that he had a story to tell. He was right. During his career, Gary saw thirteen of his students buried because of campus violence. In 1989, he finally started SAVE, Students Against Violence Everywhere, with the aid of a student at his high school. The organization now has chapters in forty-six states and six countries.

The sad reality is that school violence occurs every day, not just when it is reported on the nightly news because multiple slayings have occured, such as those at Columbine or Virginia Tech. Gary has worked tirelessly through the years with celebrities, mayors, governors, senators, congessmen, and presidents to champion the cause of safe learning environments.

I was privileged to help Gary by polishing his prose and doing developmental edits on his manuscript, which I am happy to say was published in the fall of 2006. His book, A TEACHER SHOOTS BACK, not only examines school violence but advocates a new world ethic of peace, involvment, giving, and responsibility. His story also includes many poignant and humorous moments from his personal life.

Gary and I still email and talk on the phone. He was a great client from beginning to end, and I am proud to call him my friend.

Working with an Agent

Here are some guidelines and inside info I pass on to all clients. Please be aware that I do not act as an agent or as an intermediary with an agent.

First, the two best directories for finding the names of agents and agencies are THE WRITER’S MARKET GUIDE TO LITERARY AGENTS and JEFF HERMAN’S GUIDE TO BOOK PUBLISHERS, EDITORS, & LITERARY AGENTS. These are the bibles.

I personally advise clients to use these directories in conjunction with information provided by agency websites when these are available. A website will often list more up-to-date info than the directories, as well as a list of new agents and sub-agents that are in the process of building a client list.

Since 9/11, most agencies do not like to receive large packages, so it is now common practice for agents to ask for a sample chapter or two, then a hundred pages, then the entire book if you have piqued his or her curiosity. Unfortunately, this longer submission process can take six months to a year to complete.

Always follow the proper submission etiquette as prescribed by individual agents, their policies varying widely. Never call agents to pitch your ideas. It’s the fastest way to aggravate them. Presentation counts, and you should always send clean, crisp manuscripts typed in Times New Roman, font size 12, with 1.25″ margins all around. And be patient. A few agents will respond rapidly, but most take weeks to months to reply.

Some agents allow multiple submissions. I always advise sending out ten queries at a time unless the agent is not open to multiple submissions. It’s a numbers game, and if you get a ten to fifteen percent response rate after contacting a hundred agents, you are ahead of the pack.

Always check the directories to see how long an agency has been in business and what its sales record is. If an agency consistently only sells two or three books a year, or if it has been in busines five years and has only sold four titles in that time, don’t waste your postage.

It takes a thick skin to run this gauntlet, but perserverance is necessary in selling your work.

My Pledge of Honesty and Professionalism

Selecting the right individual to handle your book–your dream–is difficult.  I will always assess your project honestly.  I’m proud to say that I’m an independent ghostwriter, without any financial ties or obligations to ghostwriting companies or ghostwriting/POD firms featured so prominently on the web.  I also don’t take on multiple clients as some independents do, and if I work for you, you’ll get for free all the advice and industry knowledge that others try to sell you.  This profession is glutted with con artists and businessmen with few credentials other than a degree in English or a business plan.  As a ghostwriter, I’ve authored and edited dozens of books over a period of nine years, and I’ve written many others under my own name.  If you like what you see on my site, send an email.  You won’t get a sales pitch.

 

My clients include men and women who have secured contracts with major publishing houses and have seen their work published in hardcover and paperback—people who been reviewed by Publisher’s Weekly, the bible of the industry.  I can’t guarantee that everyone will get published or make it to the top, but I can guarantee quality writing and honesty in a profession where too many writers don’t know the basics of grammar or punctuation let alone the basic elements of style and craft.

Evaluating Ideas and Manuscripts

The first thing a ghostwriter should do for a prospective client is to evaluate his or her idea, rough draft, notes, etc. Many ghostwriters (and virtually all ghostwriting companies) will either skip this process entirely or tell you what you want to hear because they want the job.

Before there is any contract negotiation or talk of writing/editing your book, a good ghostwriter will give you an honest assessment of your proposed work. Is it marketable? Does it fit an existing genre? What is the proposed length, and is the length sufficient for submission? (Novels, for example, are usually not considered unless they are at least 65,000 words in length.) Is the market already saturated with your concept? If you have a rough draft, does it need major editing and revision or simple line-edits? These are all questions that need to be answered before work begins.

Always insist upon a detailed assessment of your project.

The Scammers Are at It Again

The scammers never let up.  Some of the notoriously bad ghostwriting companies that offer poor writing and useless services to people unfamiliar with the publishing industry are now putting out press releases warning people of ghostwriting scams.  They are warning potential clients of the very practices that they themselves are guilty of.  Why?  Because they are finally being exposed by online watchdog groups run by agents, publishers, and authors, and they’re in full damage control mode. 

 

Beware of companies that offer package deals as they attempt to upsell you on services that you don’t need.  A ghostwriting/POD company rarely (if ever) has any legitimate agent contacts, and if the company is writing and publishing your book, be aware that agents will not look at these POD books unless they have sold 15,000 to 20,000 copies.  Also keep in mind that the “promotional packages” offered have little effect.  These companies usually write a few press releases and send them to inappropriate reviewers and magazines unrelated to your market.  That’s all you get.  Distribution of the ghostwriting company’s POD titles is also extremely limited, and POD copies are almost never carried by national brick-and-mortar chains such as Barnes and Noble.