What does a ghostwriter do?

You have a tale to tell…or maybe a book to write? You have some great stories, maybe a lifetime of them, and you want them to outlive you? Or you have some unique knowledge and wisdom that you’d like to share?

But maybe you don’t have the time, or maybe writing isn’t your strongest gift?

That’s where I can help you. Writing and editing are my best gifts, and I’ve been doing both professionally for more than 25 years. You tell me your story or give me your material, and I write it up into something that can be published under your name. That’s ghostwriting.

What makes a good ghostwriter?

A good ghostwriter listens well and asks good questions. Even if you’ve told this story a hundred times, my job is to help you find and develop the high points, the story arc, the drama and the conflict, and pull out all the important details and unforgettable characters that make your story one-of-a-kind.

A good ghostwriter is easy to get along with and has no ego issues. My whole goal is to tell your story in your voice…not my story, not my voice. And as for how we’ll work together, I have found ways that work well for me, but it’s more important that you feel at ease.

A good ghostwriter is both curious and knowledgeable. I have a couple of advanced degrees, and the best thing I got out of them was becoming a lifelong learner. I have a broad range of interests, and if there are facets of your story that could benefit from some additional research, I know how to do that.

A good ghostwriter sees things from a reader’s perspective. Which parts of the story are not clear? Are there conflicts in the timeline that make things confusing? Are there unanswered questions that will distract the reader? A good ghostwriter notices and fixes those things.

And of course, a good ghostwriter needs to be a good writer. If it’s an informative or educational book, you want it to be clearly organized and to the point, while anticipating questions. If it’s more of a memoir, you want words that will make your reader thrill and agonize with your passions and emotions, words that can carry them up to the peaks of your victories and also down into the valleys of your struggles and disappointments. You want your readers to feel like you’re sitting right across the table, telling them your story in person. I can do that.

My rate for ghostwriting

My rate is $42/hour.

Some beginners in this business charge by the word, and many of the longtime pros prefer to charge a per-project rate (ranging from $5,000 to $45,000). But I have found that a per-hour rate works best for me, primarily because it’s flexible.

When we first sit down, neither of us probably knows for sure how big this project will be; is it a 100-page story that you can hand out at speaking engagements or pass on to your kids, or a 300-page saga where you finally unlock all the stories and wisdom that the world needs to hear? I’ve had projects that we thought would be “big” end up much smaller, and “small” projects that ended up huge.

Pricing by the hour, rather than by the project, allows us that flexibility.

And I think it’s fairer to both of us, to be honest. For example, if I end up having to wrestle with the transcribing (perhaps because of a dialect or a particular speech pattern), or if a lot of external research is needed to flesh out the story, then I’ll be spending more time than usual. On the other hand, if your story is so smooth and polished that it’s nearly ready-to-print, then that means I’ll be spending much less time than usual.

An hourly rate is, I believe, more likely to result in a fair price; neither more nor less than appropriate.