Guide to Ghost-writing
Disclaimer: This article has been written by an experienced commissioning editor/ghost-writer/agent
and it is intended as a guide. The views and advice are those of the author and
do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of Donard Ghosts or its employees.
Will my book get published?
This is the most common question all ghost-writers are asked, and understandably
so. Regardless of what the ghost-writer may think about your proposed book there
is simply no way to answer this question honestly, either with an emphatic yes or
with an emphatic no. Unless you intend to pay to have the book published yourself,
or a publisher has commissioned the book and you need someone to write it for you
(even then, just because the publisher has commissioned it, that does not guarantee
that the book will make it to print), no ghost-writer should give you an answer to
this question. The most the ghost-writer should do is to give you advice on how
you can form an informed judgement for yourself as to the wisdom of paying to have
the book written.
Carry out research and find out if there is room in the current market for your book.
Or more importantly, is there a market for the type of book that you want to write?
The research does not have to be exceptionally sophisticated, but it does have to
be intelligent. Visit a site such as amazon.com and look at similar books using
relevant keywords or through browsing by genre. As well as looking at the number
of similar books, look at the sales figures (this is a relative value in the case
of amazon.com, but it is useful never-the-less) and even the last dates of publication
for books similar to the one that you want to write. This is a broad approach and
it will only give you a vague sense of how successful your book could be at a commercial
level, but it is something that any prospective publisher will do before they make
you an offer for the book—the results of similar research as this will influence
everything from their decision on whether or not to offer you a publishing deal,
to the value of that deal and any associated options. This is what we do for our
Complete Service, Option Two. If our judgement is wrong with that service then the
writer will end up spending months working on a book for nothing, and the company
will have lost thousands into the bargain.
Some books will inevitably fall outside the influence of the type of research outlined
above. Autobiographies and biographies throw up all kinds of barriers when it comes
to judging the viability of the book, but these can be very positive barriers. There
are very few life stories that are so uneventful that they would be of no interest
to the reading public. The problem for the publisher comes through trying to decide
which of those books will be most successful. If a book is published about growing
up on a small island in the 1950’s, will there really be enough room in the market
for another book about growing up on a small island in the 1950’s? That being said,
certain types of life story have endured as favourites with the public. Stories
about traumatic childhoods are one such example. Individuals who have achieved greatness
in a certain area of their life is another example.
Could I write the book myself?
As with painting your home, servicing your car or building a wall, you can always
do it yourself. As with any of these examples, writing, or the art of writing, as
it is often mysteriously referred to, has a whole industry of books associated with
it. There are also countless websites out there that will answer any questions that
you might have on how to write your book. With a bit of time and effort you can write
your own story. The ghost-writer is there to make that process easier, but that
doesn’t mean that you should feel that writing the book is something that you can’t
do on your own. Who knows, it might even turn out better than the book written by
a ghost-writer. Your writing style might catch the attention of a commissioning editor
by virtue of the fact that you are not a professional writer.
How do I know that the ghost-writer will do a good job?
For any individual to offer their services as a ghost-writer then they should have
already had at least one book published. They will have been through the process
(the sometimes torturous process) of writing a book, editing a book, preparing the
book for submission to publishers, and it is that expertise that the ghost-writer
will bring to your project. That they have been published means that they have been
through the rigorous process of having their work scrutinised and judged worthy by
a whole series of knowledgeable individuals working for the publisher—in short, the
ghost-writer has proved that they can do the job that you are paying them to do.
The ghost-writer is mainly there to make your life easier, just as a painter, mechanic
or builder is there to make your life easier, but that doesn’t mean that you should
settle for someone of dubious ability just because they are cheap. Ask to see samples
of their writing or ask them to provide you with a sample of the work they will carry
out on your book—a professional writer will be able to provide you with a short sample
(500 words – 2000 words) without any difficulty. In fact, it is common practice amongst
most professional ghost-writers to insist on writing a small sample before they agree
to write the full book. Writing your book is a partnership and the sample writing
and how you respond to it will help the writer to judge if it is a relationship that
will work.
Ask to see samples of work that the ghost-writer has carried out for other clients.
In many cases, owing to contractual restraints, it will not be possible for the ghost-writer
to identify themselves as the author of a particular book—this is how it should be
as the client is paying the author to write the book on their behalf, but that fact
should not be made public, unless of course the client is happy to do that. However,
the ghost-writer should be able to get permission from previous clients to send you
small sections of the books that they have worked on in the past—this can often be
a useful indication of how well those previous projects went—if the writer had a
poor relationship with their previous clients then those clients are unlikely to
grant permission to the writer to send you sections of their books. If the writer
is unable to provide you with any sample material from previous clients’ books then
you really should ask yourself why as this could indicate that there was a problem
in the past. Was the writer difficult to work with? Unreasonable? Constantly missing
deadlines? Was the writing substandard?
Before you begin the project or pay the ghost-writer you must agree the terms of
the contract for your project. This is the most important part of the entire process
and a carefully crafted contract will eliminate many potential problems. Be sure
to include firm deadlines—some less than scrupulous individuals may try to guide
to towards accepting terms such as “to be completed within a reasonable timeframe”.
The term “reasonable timeframe” is much too vague and it is very subjective and open
to abuse. The writer, should they be that way inclined, will be able to refer to
a published book or books which took decades to write—in the context of those books
a decade could be considered to be a “reasonable timeframe”. Be clear about any
penalties that will apply should the deadlines set out in the contract be missed.
There are sometimes very good reasons why a deadline is not met but the contract
should be worded in such a way that if you wish to give the writer more time and
not enforce the penalties, it is a concession on your part rather than a right that
the writer has at their disposal. If deadlines are continually being missed then
you will always have the penalties that were written into the contract to use to
get your writer back on track.
Even with a genuine effort on the part of the writer there is always the possibility
that you will not be entirely happy with the finished product. Two of the most successful
series of books from recent years have been the Da Vinci Code books and the Harry
Potter books. These books have sold by the tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions.
They are obviously enjoyed by many people but they are not enjoyed by everyone who
reads them. How you view the work carried out by the writer, even if it is written
to a very high standard, will ultimately be a matter of personal taste. Plan for
this eventuality by including a clause in the contract whereby you can have the book,
or part of it, re-written should you not like the finished work. Most writers will
object to this clause but it really is worth insisting that it be included. It is
highly unlikely, and more than a little unreasonable to ask for more than one re-write
to be hardwired into the contract, but you can always ask, just don’t get too attached
to the idea of a second re-write!
Be sure that you also agree beforehand how you will get the information to the writer.
It is reasonable to expect the writer to accept this information by e-mail, through
the post or by fax, but it is not reasonable to expect the writer to meet with you
on a regular basis, or at all if you have not agreed to this in advance. Remember
that most writers will have a routine, just like any other professional. They will
most likely have set times each day when they focus exclusively on writing—don’t
get annoyed if they don’t take your call or answer your e-mails during the time of
day that they are concentrating on their writing. If you do need to meet with your
writer to pass on the information that you want included in your book be sure to
ask if the writer will charge extra for this. There have been many cases documented
in the media that refer to writers and ghost-writing services charging additional
fees for meeting with the writer—hundreds of pounds (or dollars) per hour, resulting
in a final bill that is several thousand pounds (or dollars) higher than they had
been expecting. It is also completely unacceptable for a writer or ghost-writing
service to request additional money for proofreading or editing the book that they
have ghost-written. It is up to them to arrange for these services and they should
be included in the price that they charge you at the outset. The cost of any additional
services should be written into the contract. If for whatever reason the additional
services are not referenced in the original contract, either ask for the contract
to be updated to included the charges or insist on a supplementary contract be drawn
up that specifies the range and extent of likely additional costs. If charges arise
after the book has been written, insist that the additional charges be dropped—point
out that it is up to the writer to hand over a finished product if the charges relate
to reading or editing fees. Tell them that you are not happy that the additional
charges were not raised when you were negotiating the contract. If they do not move
on the issue of additional charges then it is time to get tough. Let them know that
you feel obligated to go on the internet and let others know about your experiences
of the writer or of the ghost-writing service. Be careful when using this tactic—it
is reasonable if used in relation to charges that you had not agreed to but it could
be viewed as extortion or blackmail if you use it with regard to charges that you
have willingly agreed to.
Legal Issues?
Another popular question that ghost-writers face is on legal issues. In factual books
such as biographies it can sometimes be hard to judge what you can say about real
people or organisations. This is not an easy question for a ghost-writer to answer.
Your publisher, when you get one, will be better placed to advise you. For example,
US libel law is fairly relaxed but in the UK libel becomes a big consideration. Your
publisher will know which territories they intend to publish your book in and the
legal team at the publishers will decide what can be included in the book to suit
those territories. The best advice would be not to leave anything out that you
think is relevant to your story and then let your publisher decide if they can publish
what you have written. Ultimately this is a decision for your publisher but remember
that you will also be held accountable in some jurisdictions should a court decide
that parts of your book are libellous, or in some other way inappropriate.
For works of fiction your ghost-writer should let you know if they think the book
is too similar to a book that has already been published. The writer can only alert
you to the similarities to books that they are aware of and they cannot be held responsible
if it turns out that your story idea is too similar to another book. This sounds
like a major problem but in actual fact it has been proven to be highly unlikely
that two books will be so similar that the dispute can only be settled by the courts
if both writers are working independently of one another, and if neither has knowledge
of the other writer’s work. That being said, with every successful book that is
published you can be sure that many people will come out of the woodwork claiming
that the writer has stolen their idea. Thankfully the courts mainly take a commonsense
approach to these erroneous claims, the vast majority of which are thrown out of
court.
Is the deal offered by a publisher right for me?
With the book written the next stage is to look for a publisher. The easiest option
is to use a literary agent. Most agents will be approached by thousands of writers
each year so they will obviously be very selective about which writers they opt to
represent. There are many so-called agents out there on the world wide web who will
represent you for a fee. Never pay for an agent, even if you have been turned down
by every agent that you approach. It is the agent’s job to get your book published
and if they can’t do that then they shouldn’t get paid—it’s as simple as that. Donard
Ghosts never works with any agents that require payment by the client—in fact, we
will write your book for a greatly reduced fee if we can also act as your agent—we
effectively pay you to allow us to act as your agent—that’s the way it should be.
Copyright © 2009 Donard Ghosts. All rights reserved. No part of this guide may be
copied or transmitted without the express written permission of Donard Ghosts.
