How long does a ghostwriting project take?
Six to twelve months. The timeline is built around your schedule, including your work, family, travel plans, and so on. Of course, life happens, but you’re here because you’re ready to get this thing done. Part of my job is to manage our milestones and keep us on target.
I’m an agent or in-house editor with a struggling author and an unfinished book. Can you help?
Yes. Some call this book doctoring: to patch up and flesh out the conceptual holes and half-formed chapters of an ailing manuscript. Sometimes this involves working with the author to get it done; sometimes this involves my taking it over the finish line for them. Both naturally provide the stress relief of knowing it’s in good hands.
I’m an in-house editor or book packager with a very basic premise. Can you help?
Yes. I love taking very basic premises and turning them into books. For one of my favorite projects, an editor contacted me with a basic idea, and from that I wrote a deeply researched 35,000-word manuscript and delivered it four months later.
How much does ghostwriting cost?
Each project is different, but ballpark is $0.50 - $2 per word. Fees depend on a number of factors, like type of writing, stage of conceptualization, amount of groundwork completed, publishing goals, audience, etc. Contact me for a tailored quote.
I want to work with a ghostwriter, but I can’t afford it right now.
I completely understand. AND let me reframe that for you: There are many ways to get your book out into the world, all of which require a big investment. Whether that’s your time, your focus, or your money – which are really three different ways to talk about the same thing, i.e. your energy. I know, I know, it’s woo-woo. But it’s true!
When you hire me, you invest money, and I invest my time, focus, and the expertise I've gained through many years of experience. Which means you can relax and let me do the heavy lifting. That being said, I would never advise someone to work with me if it might jeopardize their financial security.
Do you have payment plans?
Yes. Usually clients pay at certain milestones, like one-third of the fee at kick off, one-third at completion of the first draft, and one-third after revisions. If spreading payments out more makes it more feasible, I’m open to other arrangements.
What’s the difference between ghostwriting, collaboration, and book doctoring?
These labels are often used interchangeably. If you’re not sure what you’re looking for, I can help.
What’s the difference between autobiography and memoir?
Autobiography tends to include the whole lifespan and have a more academic style, with a focus on just the facts, ma’am. Memoir, currently the more popular of the two, usually zooms in on an era, strategically weaving in relevant experiences outside of this time period and focusing on feelings, transformation, and other tasty psychological morsels. Memoir reads more like a novel, with you as the protagonist, your story the narrative arc, and your formative experiences as backstory. Everyone’s a character, especially you.
What’s the difference between memoir and autofiction?
While memoir grants a decent amount of creative wiggle room, readers expect it to stick pretty close to the truth, as the author views it. This often means that the author opts to take a more gracious approach when detailing the wrongs done to them and the people who did them. Autofiction, meanwhile, allows you to tell your story without having to worry so much about hurting people’s feelings and the repercussions of such. Names and identifying features are changed to protect the guilty, but you can make the villains as villainy as you want, the heroes as heroic or brooding and antiheroic. Plus you get to skip the boring parts of real life (same as memoir) and heighten the drama.
Wait a second. Ghostwriting fiction is a thing?
Absolutely, it’s a thing. People hire ghostwriters to write novels for the same reasons they do memoirs: they have a great idea that won’t let them go and want a professional to make it happen.
What’s with the stigma around ghostwriting?
Beats me. It’s weird, right?
I can’t think of any other labor-intensive, skilled work that’s stigmatized in a similar way. Take remodeling your kitchen, for example. If I had a burning desire to learn the craft of remodeling a kitchen, then the pain of getting up at 4:30 a.m. to saw things and hammer stuff before all my household- and occupation-related responsibilities kicked off for the day would be totally worth it. It might take me ten years to remodel that kitchen, and who knows how it would turn out, but I would be proud to say I’d DIYed it.
Except I care much less about learning how to remodel kitchens than I do about having a beautiful kitchen built carefully and efficiently to my desired specifications. So I’ll hire a professional to do that, thank you, and I won’t feel embarrassed about it, either.
Anyway, the stigma is silly. Do we really expect busy people with jobs and kids/dogs/cats/plants and gym memberships and marinara simmering on the stove to also write books? Should we really expect entrepreneurs, movie stars, human rights activists, senators, clinical psychotherapists, and cancer researchers to be writers, too?
Rant complete.
Is every famous person’s book ghostwritten?
I have no idea, but I’d guess that many if not most are ghostwritten. Because if you are a famous person, you are busy doing your famous person things, and you probably don’t have the time/energy/skillset to write a book.
Will having a book make me famous?
Not necessarily. But it probably won’t make you any less famous than you are right now!
Are you affiliated with this publishing company with an oddly spelled name that charged me $12.34 for ghostwriting a 250-page manuscript and never got back to me, or the book sounds AI generated?
NO! Sadly, there are many online publishing scams out there. My likeness and the likeness of colleagues have been stolen and used to defraud authors. Ugh, it makes me so mad! I will always talk to my clients on video or phone as part of our work together. If that doesn’t happen, it’s not me. RUN AWAY!
More FAQs to come. Have a question? Send it my way at hello@helloannakatz.com.
