Ghostwriter for Self-Help Nonfiction Books

We begin by exploring our collaboration potential with a couple complementary video calls. Just as you want to be sure that I can capture your vision and voice on the page, I want to be sure that: 1) the idea is suited to the book form, 2) you have the expertise needed to fill the chapters, 3) you are willing and able to commit at least 7 months to the process, and 4) we enjoy our connection. Ghostwriting is a partnership in which I reflect your style and knowledge in writing, so we both need to feel that I can understand where you’re coming from. 

We will kick off our collaboration by discussing the book’s concept in depth via video calls. I like to refer to these as “around-the-world discovery” calls, which are lightly structured brainstorms. I’ll ask you questions, pursue nuances, chase curiosities, explore angles for your idea, clarify who will need this book, and identify how your content will “hook” reader attention. 

With a clear concept and audience, and a solid sense of your main themes, I will experiment with the chapter flow by creating a table of contents for you to consider. The goal is to offer readers a healing, growth-oriented, transformative journey through the course of reading the book. Together, we will refine the vision of how this journey unfolds in ways that align with your expertise and experience.

We will schedule calls that focus on one chapter at a time. I will arrive with a series of prompts to stir your thinking as you share your knowledge with me, as if I am your target reader. I will ask questions, seek clarification, identify where research is needed, and spur you on to share generously. As I do, I will take note of your natural speaking voice, which will form the basis of how I write the content. Calls will be recorded and transcribed. 

With the content in hand, I will propose an outline for the first chapter. We will discuss and refine the content’s flow together until it meets evidence-based protocols, industry best practices, and your experience of how your clients’ or students’ journeys unfold. 

Now that I have the book’s purpose, the audience’s needs, your expertise, and the unfolding process in hand, I will write a first draft of the chapter. It will get the content down, in my sense of your voice and also the tone that will best convey your transformative message. The first draft is not meant to be a polished final work; instead it will invite your own collaborative involvement.

You will review one chapter at a time, as soon as I complete the first draft. You can expect to consider the writing voice and tone, answer queries, respond to prompts, and make important corrections. This will require some devoted time on your part to ensure we have the content down in ways that will maximize the benefit to readers. We can do this through a document exchange, video calls, or both. 

I will incorporate your additions, feedback, and corrections to revise each chapter as we go. Along the way, I defer to your expertise, experience, and knowledge of both the subject matter and your audience. This is your book, and I honor the background and vision you are bringing to it. I do advise you along the way, but only from my extensive industry experience with self-help books and what works or doesn’t work in the book form. While I am open to fresh approaches, experimentation, and genre-crossing, I will always advocate for the needs of the reader so that the right balance is achieved between creativity and readability. 

While you are reviewing the content for each chapter, I will be either writing the next one or revising a previous chapter. We will work this way until the second draft of the book is complete. We will both review the second draft for flow, continuity, and a sense of evolving journey to ensure we have delivered on the promise to readers. Through a document exchange and video calls, we will discuss how the book can become even better and more effectively reach readers. Our goal throughout is to create the best book possible, which may exceed your expectations and hopes as my skills are applied to the power of your message. 

I will apply all that we discuss to the manuscript for a third draft. This will incorporate final feedback from you, my own content-honing processes, and our shared goals for the final book. You will have the option to receive the result with changes tracked in Microsoft Word, or a clean-reading version.