“Silence has been destroyed, but also the idea that it’s important to learn how another person thinks, to enter the mind of another person. The whole idea of empathy is gone. We are now part of this giant machine where every second we have to take out a device and contribute our thoughts and opinions.”
~ Gary Shteyngart
How Working with a Ghostwriter Can Strengthen Your Book
I recently finished working on a ghostwriting project and received the following compliment, “Working on my book with Debra helped me refine my ideas and think through why I do things as I do, as well as tease out many of the finer points. Listening to her questions and responding to them and clarifying the text gave me new insights and helped me find more stories and examples. As a result, not only is my book far stronger, but I have a far clearer grasp of what is unique about my approach and the value I deliver.”
Actually, that becomes a two-way street because I learn from the authors I whose books I write while I’m helping them.
This principle is even more powerful when the book you are writing is designed to help sell your services. I have read and edited several books that are interesting, but not yet fit-for-purpose as a sales tool.
If you note the last part of the sentence quoted above you’ll see the benefit from a sales perspective: “…I have a far clearer grasp of what is unique about my approach and the value I deliver.” This is one of the biggest challenges service businesses face: helping prospects see what makes them stand out.
If you are going to write a book to help grow your business, then surely, you want that book to be as powerful and effective as possible because no matter which way you look at it, a book is a substantial investment.
A Ghostwriter is NOT an Editor
An editor usually offers suggestions to strengthen your manuscript, and a good editor will point out logical or grammatical flaws, highlight assertions that need to be reinforced with citations, and call you out on anything that might be unclear.
A ghostwriter actually does the work of composing and clarifying your thoughts and producing the manuscript for the editor to critique. Authors and ghost-writers don’t have to follow the editor’s suggestions, but you should seriously consider them because they’re another filter to help you produce a more powerfully persuasive book.
When an editor calls my attention to a potential weakness, I’m grateful, although I may not agree. In fact, both authors and ghostwriters need to be humble enough to pay close attention to the criticism and also ready to have a discussion with the editor.
I’d have to say that one of the most important characteristics of a true ghostwriter is the ability to check his ego at the door. A ghostwriter isn’t there to assert his personality – his expertise, ‘yes’, his personality and philosophy, ‘no’. A second important characteristic is a willingness to take criticism – an increasingly rare attribute in a world that loves ‘encouragement’.
There are some ghost-writers who are hired to write ‘an authority book’ for individuals who actually don’t have any authority – they’re a different type of ghostwriter from the ones who are carefully selected to help you put your unique perspective and approach into book form.
What if You Disagree with Your Ghostwriter?
Your ghostwriter has expertise and experience. When I disagree with my author, I’ll explain myself as clearly and persuasively as possible. There are at least two sides to almost every argument and at the end of the day, it’s the author’s name that is on the book.
I may have a strong opinion about how something should be handled, but there are very few battles that I have to win. In one case, I canceled a contract and returned the money because I knew that my author was making a mistake… He came back to me some time later and acknowledged that his decision had been damaging and his book had ended up losing him business because of that choice.
Mostly, the disagreements are questions of style, or of whether to include certain information, or how to address matters of dispute. At the end of the day, it’s your name that will be on the cover, so the question is: “What do you want to do and say?” Hopefully, you trust your ghostwriter enough to listen to his arguments, and your relationship is strong enough that you can agree on a way forward.
Sometimes your editor will step in and help out: one of my NYT bestselling authors disagreed with me on how he should tell a particular story and we ended up going with his version… Until the editor queried the approach and the author decided to revert to my original version.
It’s Your Book – Unless You Are Co-Authors
At the end of the day, you are the person who will be commended or criticised for the output, not your ghostwriter. And make no mistake… Writing a book does attract criticism. It’s an act of courage.
That’s why you want a team of people to help you refine and strengthen your book in every possible way, so that it is as polished a representation of your ideas as possible – unless you deliberately choose to make it rough around the edges as a stylistic choice. Unless you are business partners or collaborators on the book, the author is the one who makes the call about any questions of content or style… That is even true when it comes to your editor and publisher.
It’s YOUR book! So make it work for you as you see fit.
