Working with a ghostwriter is an intimate process. You share personal details of your life with another person and trust that person to portray your life as you wish it to be portrayed. Sharing can be unsettling, and this is where ghostwritten book examples can help assuage any unease you might retain.
A ghostwritten book is a collaboration between a person who for whatever reason wants to have help in leaving a written legacy and a memoir professional who serves as a sort of midwife for the book project. Let this ghostwritten book examples guide you.
What a ghostwriter does
Of course, an obvious function of the ghostwriter is to apply writing skills to your story. Your ghost is someone who loves to write and has spent years perfecting the craft of memoir writing. You speak your story, and your ghost writes it.
But, a good ghostwriter does more.
Memory—yours and mine—is false, flattering and failing. A prime function of your ghostwriter is to offer feedback on your recollection and help you align it with “what probably happened.”
Your ghostwriter may have to do some push back for the sake of the book. They are emotionally detached from your story and do not share your close—and sometimes blinding—involvement. They are in a solid position to point out inconsistencies in your story and to align parts of the story with other parts. The result is a more coherent and interesting story.
Ghostwritten book examples
We have ghostwritten many, many books in the last two decades plus. Below we share ghostwritten book examples gleaned from books we have co-authored, and the list is always growing.
In conclusion
Once you’ve read the ghostwritten book examples below, why not claim the free e-book, A Consumer’s Guide to Ghostwriting Services / How to Choose and Work With the Best Co-author For You?
Find more information about ghostwriting on our site.
For examples of some of our ghostwritten books, please click here.
I Join a Marching Drill Team
In Franco-American New England, marching drill teams were popular. These teams were made up of girls who played instruments and marched in formation. Rhéa Ledoux was a team captain and she got to march in front of the other girls. The various drill teams would prepare elaborate sequences which they performed in parades—often in competition […]
My Father Loved to Tell a Story
My father loved to tell a story. He would sit three or four of us on his lap and ask us what kind of story we wanted to hear. “Perhaps un petit rien tout nu (a little naked nothing)?” he’d suggest. Not knowing what that was, we would nod our heads eagerly. “Do you want […]
Marie Bilodeau Ledoux’s story
My grandmother Marie Bilodeau Ledoux was born in St-Narcisse-de-Lotbinière, Québec, on May 15, 1884. The following is excerpted from a booklet I wrote about my mémère some fifteen years ago and gave a s a Christmas gift to my extended family.
Albert Leaves for War, and I Go Back Home
The following is an excerpt from We Were not Spoiled by Lucille Ledoux as told to Denis Ledoux. The trip to Syracuse We left our wedding guests at 1:30 for the train trip to Albert’s base in Syracuse, N.Y. Since it was still summer and the sun was out late, we saw much beautiful country […]
Uncle Pitou’s Migration to the US and Robert Is Born at Home
Not too long after I was born, my uncle Pitou Lessard (his name was really Lionel) undertook his own migration to the US from Canada, looking for work. Of course, he moved in with us. Today, people would say the apartment on Howe Street in Lewiston was too small to take in another adult, but […]
Cécile and Robert Verreault Get Married at Holy Cross Church in Lewiston, Maine
This excerpt is from Business Boy to Business Man, the memoir of Robert Verreault as told to Denis Ledoux. The memoir was published in 2013. On May 3, 1952, Cécile and I were married at Holy Cross Church in Lewiston, Maine. Ours was the first of three weddings in the Verreault family that had been […]
Robert Verreault Decides It’s Time to Get Married
This excerpt is from Business Boy to Business Man, the memoir of Robert Verreault as told to Denis Ledoux. The memoir was published in 2013. At 27, I was ready to get married but I had not found anyone yet. I sensed being married would be a good thing for me and I began to […]
My Family Feels the Depression
Excerpted from Business Boy to Business Man, by Robert Verreault (with Denis Ledoux). On October 29, 1929, the stock market crashed. Of course, I didn’t know that, as I was only six. Soon though, my parents, although they didn’t have stocks to crash, were beginning to feel the effect. By 1930, everyone was slipping into […]
My Aunt Blanche, My Favorite Canadian Immigrant
During these years, Aunt Blanche Lessard lived with us. When she was in her early twenties, while we were still on Shawmut Street, she had come down as a Canadian immigrant, looking for employment and had moved with us to Jefferson Street. In Lewiston, she apprenticed as a hairdresser with a Canadian woman and eventually […]