- Your unique take on management, leadership, strategy, or corporate culture could revolutionize the way your industry operates…
- You are ready to expand onto a national stage, but you need a platform…
- After a successful career – or career makeover – you’ve got some great stories to tell…
Publishing a business book, inspirational book, CEO memoir, or corporate history can provide tremendous benefits for you and your company.
It can:
- Position you as an authority or thought leader in your field
- Catapult you into public view
- Increase opportunities for public speaking and media appearances
- Expand the reach of your company into new markets
- Sell a product or service
- Strengthen your brand and corporate identity, which is particularly helpful in times of change
You’ve got good reasons to write a book, but can you really afford to take so many hours away from your career to work on a long and complex project?
It may be time to hire a business ghostwriter to get the job done now and done right.
If the latter is the case, then working with an experienced ghostwriter for hire may be the best option for you.
Contact me. I can help you find the best ghostwriters for your business book, inspirational book, company history or CEO memoir. The writers I work with have decades of experience ghostwriting or cowriting books. Many of the books they have worked on have won major book awards and appeared on bestseller lists, including the New York Times and Businessweek bestseller lists. One book, for example, now in its 3rd edition, is required reading for MBA students. It continues to influence future generations of business leaders.
Authors who’ve worked with our ghostwriters are accomplished people with busy lives: topical experts, business gurus, entrepreneurs, CEOs, bankers, ambassadors and coaches. They’ve all benefited from getting the expert help they needed to achieve their goal.
Our Writers Have Ghost Written Books Published By
- – Wiley
- – Harper-Collins
- – Hachette Book Group
- – Random House
- – Broadway Books
- – Free Press
- – Forbes Books
- – Simon & Schuster
- – Berrett-Kohler
- – Beyond Words
- – Morgan James
- – Entrepreneur Press
- – Their own, independent press
What a Business Book Ghostwriter Can Do for You
You’ve got the vision, the compelling stories, the big idea. That’s what makes your business book uniquely yours, even if it’s technically written by someone else.
By working with an experienced business book ghostwriter to bring your ideas to life, you can ensure your name is attached to a high-quality product that meets your expectations and fulfills your vision.
When you work with a business ghostwriter, you can choose the level of service you want, from help with initial research and organizing, to crafting a book proposal for submission to a literary agent, to the heavy lifting of writing and revisions.
These are some common ghostwriting services you may request:
- Interviewing you and others who will appear in your book
- Gathering supporting documents
- Researching factual details
- Organizing materials and creating an outline
- Preparing a book proposal to help you find an agent or publisher
- Writing original content with an authoritative and authentic voice and a tone that speaks to your intended audience
- Editing and proofreading to ensure your manuscript is grammatically perfect
- Making revisions based upon your feedback
Books our writers wrote, co-wrote or edited have won the following awards:
How Quickly Can a Ghostwriter Write a Book?
A professional ghostwriter is highly efficient and well organized. A ghostwriter may be able to complete an average-sized full-length book (around 250 pages) within 8 months. Some of our writers work even faster — four to six months. If you are publishing an e-book, which typically run 40 to 80 pages, your time to publication could be a few months. I do recommend that you give your project the time it needs to become well developed and polished, rather than setting too ambitious a deadline.
The exact timeline will depend upon the amount of research required, travel requirements, interviews, the length of the book, and other factors. Your business ghostwriter will review these details with you when you negotiate your writing contract.
What to Look for When Choosing a Ghostwriter for Hire
Your book is a reflection of you. It’s extremely important that you find a business ghostwriter you trust. Unlike some ghostwriting services that require you to make a commitment without knowing who your writer will be, I introduce you to potential writers and you get to decide who’s the best match, negotiating the project and working directly with the writer.
When you interview a ghostwriter:
- Start by asking what books they’ve written before and for whom. If your business is specialized, have they written about your topic before?
- Have any of their books won awards? Appeared on best-seller lists?
- What is a typical schedule? When will you have opportunities to review progress and approve or redirect content?
- How often will you meet face-to-face or virtually? Will you meet at your company headquarters or another location? Will travel be required? If so, the client pays for travel. Note that a number of our writers can travel to you at some point during the writing process in order to get a feel for the person and place(s) they will be writing about.
- Be realistic about your ability to contribute to the project. How much access can you give the writer? How much time can you devote to the review process? Ask the writer if that will be sufficient.
- Consider commissioning a sample chapter or an article to see if you like his or her writing. A trial run can be invaluable. However, if the voice doesn’t feel quite like yours, give the writer feedback and the opportunity to fine-tune that sample.
- Ask for references and call past clients. What was the working relationship like with this writer? Were they satisfied with the process? With the results?
“When we visited Lisa’s website, we had no idea about what we needed to get our book written. Lisa gave us direction and found us the perfect writer. Kelly captured our voices and vision and ran with it—down to the finest detail. She conveyed how deeply we care about helping people put together retirement strategies that bring peace of mind. The book is exceptional, and the relationship Kelly established leaves us wanting to write another book just so we can work together again!” – David & Nancy Ellis, Author of America’s Retirement Reality CheckPlease note, writers who are cowriters (their name appears in smaller lettering at the bottom of the cover) will be able to share titles of the books they wrote, and client names.
Those who are ghostwriters, whose names do not appear on the book, may not be able to share titles and authors due to non-disclosure agreements. However, they may be able to share a few titles or authors, titles of books they have published under their own name, or general information about past projects. In addition, all of our writers can provide samples of their writing.
What Does a Good Relationship Look Like Between a Client and a Ghostwriter?
Your ghostwriter is your partner in this process. It’s important that you feel comfortable with this person and that you trust him or her to treat the information you share with care.
A good ghostwriter is a great listener, able to ask thoughtful questions to help stimulate your thinking. Although you have ideas about how your book should be written, your ghostwriter will also have ideas about structure that may greatly improve your project.
Remember that your ghostwriter is an experienced professional and knows how to make the story compelling and marketable. In the end, though, it’s your story and you always have the final say about what goes into your book.
A good ghostwriter for your project will have some knowledge of your business. They won’t know it as well as you do, but they will know it well enough to avoid content mistakes and they will understand the readers you are trying to reach.
Your ghostwriter should be supportive and interested in your project. That doesn’t mean he’s a yes-man. She may challenge you, playing the role of devil’s advocate on occasion to help you see limitations or flaws in your plan.
A good ghostwriter communicates with you regularly so you know what to expect, and when.
Of course, your ghostwriter writes well – and they do their own writing! That seems obvious, but there are websites selling the services of a particular ghostwriter, then outsourcing the writing to less experienced writers.
That will not happen when you work with me. I know the writers I am recommending. I have worked with them. I know that they work with the highest ethical standards. If they have others on their team for research or to write sections of a book proposal, they will inform you of that, and they are entrusting the work to colleagues with specialized skills to complement their own.
Your relationship with your ghostwriter is absolutely confidential. There may be times when your writer needs to reveal your business relationship in order to gather information. The two of you should discuss when a non-disclosure agreement is needed from sources.
Does a Ghostwriter’s Name Appear on the Book?
When your book is published, it’s your name on the cover. You do not need to give credit to the ghostwriter on or in the book, although you may choose to do so. Sometimes you will see a ghostwriter listed on the cover as:
- Author Name, as told to Writer’s Name
- Author Name, with Writer’s Name
- Author Name, in collaboration with Writer’s Name
Some of our writers are co-writers, rather than ghostwriters. They do require that their name be on the cover at the bottom, in smaller letters, as “with Writer’s Name.” If that is the case, you will be made aware of that during the decision-making process and can let me know whether you prefer a writer whose name does not appear on the cover. However, sometimes it can be helpful to have the writer’s name added.
Whether you give credit or not, you should retain the rights to your story.
Getting Your Book Published
It’s up to you to decide on your publishing goal (traditional publishing house, private publication, or e-book). If you wish to go for a publishing house, your writer can support you in writing a book proposal before writing the complete book.
While no one can guarantee you will get a book contract, many of these writers have a superb history of success. Your writer will do their best to assess whether your online following and “author platform” is likely to be significant enough to interest a publishing house. I can also help with that assessment. If there are concerns, we can suggest ways to grow your reach, online and offline, before reaching out to a publisher.
How Involved Do You Need to Be?
Hard-working business executives often worry about the time commitment that may be required of them.
Truthfully, you do need to set aside some time to meet with your writer. The best business book will have a “voice” – a tone and an attitude that sets it apart. The more time you can give the writer early in the process, the more likely it is that he or she will be able to craft content that both captures your ideas and sounds like you. This will be particularly important if you will be using the book to launch a public speaking career.
The amount of time required of you is within your control, to some degree; as is the timeline for completion. If the process is well structured and the writer has the resources they need, your involvement could be as little as 2-3 hours a week. Some writers suggest more in-depth time up front.
If you are an excellent writer or a connoisseur of great writing, you may want to set aside 5 to 10 hours a week for your book project and may take great pleasure in finessing each page. It’s up to you.
Are You Ready to See Your Book in Print (or online)?
Contact me online or call my office at 401-477-0886 to talk to me about the kind of book you want to write and the kind of writer you are seeking. I can help you find a quality ghostwriter for a wide variety of business book projects.
