Whether you are too busy to write your memoir, whether you do not have the skills and / or are not interested in acquiring them or whether you simply want to have the ease and assurance of partnering with a seasoned writer, working with a ghostwriter is a viable option to get what you want.
A relationship to be prized
The relationship with a ghostwriter is a dynamic and rewarding collaboration. A good ghostwriter will not only write your memoir as you want it and polish it before it is sent out to its audience but will help you to understand your story better than you may on your own.
Working with a ghostwriter is an intimate process wherein you share very personal details of your life with another person. Your writer gets to know much about you.
Joining forces with a ghostwriter, at its best, is an active undertaking between the two of you in a creative, tandem partnership. It is an investment in your legacy.
In this category, we offer posts to help you to make the right decision on this important person.
The posts below
The texts in this section offer you a number of ideas to consider as you hire and work with a ghostwriter. There are many moving parts but not so many that you cannot learn to master them to your advantage.
Working with a ghostwriter a big decision as your writer will influence every aspect of your book, but the right decision will make all the difference to you in getting your story written and out and into the world.
In conclusion
Once you’ve read the posts 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.
Five Questions to Ask the References of Your Memoir Ghostwriter
Working with a can bring you great joy as you collaborate to produce the book you have so long dreamed of. On the other hand, it can be a nightmare. Here are five questions to ask the references your memoir ghostwriter has given you about working with him or her.
Writing a biography: First Franco: Albert Beliveau
Writing a biography poses specific challenges and research problems that are sometimes parallel to, but in the end quite different from, those involved in memoir and historical fiction.
Working with a Ghostwriter – 3 Ways to Start the Process to Success
The relationship you have with your ghostwriter or co-author is ultimately a working relationship. You can make it a success by applying these three suggestions.
Using a Memoir Ghostwriter – Three Doubts You Needn’t Let Stop You
Is hiring a memoir ghostwriter a good idea?
You’ve lived a life that you feel merits a memoir. Perhaps you’ve risen from poverty to riches, perhaps you have done a “first” and you want people to know it was you, or perhaps you want to celebrate a lost world, a world that has since disappeared. Should you write yourself or should you use a memoir ghostwriter?
You try your hand at writing but you realize that it is too difficult and that the learning curve is too steep. Perhaps you have begun to write and are lost in the shaping of an interesting memoir. (What does it mean to “shape” and “pace” a book?) Or, perhaps you could write the memoir but you are so busy with other things that you hardly have the time to devote to it.
These scenarios call for a ghostwriter who can guide you through the process and write the book as per your instructions. But, you don’t feel comfortable with that. You have reservations.
1. Isn’t using a memoir ghostwriter a bit like cheating?
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Five Ways to Save on Ghostwriting Fees
There are Ways to Save on Ghostwriting Fees
Finding ways to save on ghostwriting fees can be pressing when the story needs to be told but you have to cut costs. Hiring a ghostwriter or co-author is, no questions about it, an expensive proposition.
There are ways, however, to cut the costs by doing some of the work yourself. Before doing that work, however, you would do well to ask the writer you have hired about how to turn the work in in a format that s/he can most readily make use of. Here are some suggestions:
1. Write as much of the text as you can.
It does not need to be particularly well written — just as good as you can make it. Perhaps that will be in snippets or even in outline form. Type the text into a computer file to send it to the ghostwriter. (The ghostwriter would have to charge you to enter text into a computer file so this is a step that can save on ghostwriting fees right in the beginning.) Your writer can rewrite or polish what you send. What I love about receiving this sort of text is that it gives me your “voice” and a whole set of your vocabulary to use.
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Working With a Memoir Ghostwriter – Six Tips
Get the most out of working with a memoir ghostwriter
What a relief to have finally decided to start working with a memoir ghostwriter. The future of your relationship will depend, however, on how well and clearly you agree on the financial and procedural aspects of your collaboration. Be sure you come to an agreement on the following topics.
1. Work ought to be performed by the hour rather than by the project.
While it is tempting to choose a per-project fee, a project-fee arrangement is a troubling one. As the payer, you want more for your money. As the provider, the ghostwriter wants to minimize changes to the manuscript so as to be able to fulfill the project objectives in a way that is profitable for him/her. A project fee leads to conflict. A per-hour fee, while it would seem to lead to the ghostwriter stretching the project out so he can charge you more, usually this is not true. The ghostwriter is a professional with other projects to move on to after yours is done.
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Mechanics of Writing a Memoir: It’s not all Inspiration
Note: This is the 2nd article in a series of 4 on the writing process of A Sugary Frosting published in 2016.
Post 1: I Finish A Sugary Frosting: Notes on the Memoir Writing Process
Post 2: Mechanics of Writing a Memoir: It’s not all Inspiration
Post 3: Preparing for A Successful Book Launch
Post 4: Better Book Production is Possible
The mechanics of writing a memoir involve the work of writing a story and how life can insert delays & provide contemplative times, yet leave time left to write.
I started to write the memoir seriously in May of 2015. Since I continued to be active in the daily running of my business, The Memoir Network, I could commit myself only to writing 30 minutes a day—but, and this is important, to show up every day for the writing. 30 minutes a day may not seem like much, but it adds up to 3 1/2 hours a week.
It is not just 3 1/2 hours. It adds up to more than that because, as I went about my days—writing emails, taking notes for a coaching session, walking along the lovely river trail in our town—knowing that I would be writing the next day, my imagination would create text. When it came time to sit at my computer the subsequent day, I often had much of what I wanted to write already composed in my mind. In that way, I was able to create text more quickly in the allotted half hour then I might have otherwise had I sat down and written for 3 1/2 hours straight—not knowing what I would be composing that day.
Life happened even as I wrote
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I Finish A Sugary Frosting: Notes on the Memoir Writing Process
Note: This is the 1starticle in a series of 4 on the memoir writing process of A Sugary Frosting published in 2016.
Post 1: I Finish A Sugary Frosting: Notes on the Memoir Writing Process
Post 2: Mechanics of Writing a Memoir: It’s not all Inspiration
Post 3: Preparing for A Successful Book Launch
Post 4: Better Book Production is Possible
Memoir writing can be simple.
It was 2016, and I was in the very last days of the memoir process and polishing A Sugary Frosting / A Memoir of a Girlhood Spent in a Parsonage, the early lifestory of my deceased spouse, Martha Blowen. It was a time to make sure I had written what I wanted to write and to check grammar and spelling before it went out to a copy editor.
I had promised Martha that I would write her stories so that our grandchildren would know something about her. In May 2015, I began gathering the stories she had written of her life. My intent was to create a booklet of these stories. But, to be honest, it has never appealed to me to write booklets. I like to write books. That’s what I do and that’s what I do well.
As I read through Martha’s stories, in a few instances, I understood that some were fragmentary and needed filling out. I knew the story she was trying to convey but then I had lived with her for 31 years. Would someone who did not know her—our grandchildren, for instance—appreciate the tale? So, I tweaked the stories to make them more complete, more meaningful. Good work, I thought. [Free Membership required to read more. See below. ]
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Why You Should Not Nickel and Dime When Hiring a Ghostwriter
How much does hiring a ghostwriter cost?
If you are hiring a ghostwriter, of course, one of the facets you are concerned with is how much it will cost to have your memoir written. Your concern is appropriate.
What if you had a few useful guidelines to help you determine if the costs you are being asked to pay are in line with current rates? Well, you do below…
1. Above all, do not bring a nickel and dime attitude to the process of having your memoir written.
The process is not a mechanical one in which you can expect so many words for so many dollars. Your ghostwriter will be thinking of your memoir in the shower and while doing the dishes and perhaps when out to dinner. Being a creative person, your ghost is not likely to shut off inspiration and insight. S/he might, in the most unexpected moment, realize, “Oh, this character trait seems to have led to that result and perhaps it was not that other reason my client was alluding to that was the cause. I need to talk to my client about this.”
Your ghost’s willingness to dwell with your memoir beyond the writing time will improve your memoir, and it is not likely that your ghost will charge you for the moment of insight in the shower. [Free Membership required to read more. See below. ]