My Secret Life as a Ghostwriter

(And Why You Might Want To Hire One)

I have a secret life; I moonlight as a professional ghostwriter.

You may have conjured up an image of me typing by candlelight in the dark like some kind of nightcrawler horror-fiction writer…

But that’s not quite it.

‘Ghostwriting’ is a funny term, but basically, it means writing books or articles for other people, as though they have written them. I am their ‘ghost’.

The term is most commonly associated with autobiographies and memoirs, but ghostwriters can write for other mediums and genres too. I’ve written everything from full-length autobiographies to self-help books and articles about finance and psychology.

Essentially, I am like a surrogate. The embryo belongs to the client — I will grow the foetus and give birth to it — but the baby is 100% theirs.

The client comes up with the idea and I am the vessel for realising it’s potential and creating something tangible.

I may craft the shape and do my best to produce something in their image, but I do not have any interest in keeping the child. The client can publish, print or do whatever they like with the work. I am paid a fee and relinquish any ownership.

Why do people hire ghostwriters?

It’s a good question, with a myriad of answers.

Fundamentally, I think it’s the same reason that people hire accountants to do their tax returns or employ housekeepers to clean their homes.

We may not have the time, skill or motivation to do it ourselves, especially when it’s easy enough to outsource to someone else and get on with doing the things in our life that we prefer to do instead.

Time

Time is money and writing is more time-consuming for some than it is for others. While some people seem able to churn out beautiful prose effortlessly, others strain and drain their brains for hours trying to write a single paragraph.

Generally, it’s easier to talk than to type — so recounting memories to the person writing your memoir is going to feel easier and less laborious than typing out the words yourself.

They’ve Tried

Long-form writing requires commitment. You simply cannot write your memoir in a day, and if you could then it’s probably not worth writing.

It takes weeks and months of filing through memories — which we struggle to do on our own without prompts and questions — and crafting them into a coherent structure.

While personal writing can be a therapeutic and transformative process, it can also be frustrating trying to remember everything, or painful when resurfacing difficult memories. You may get stuck or linger on certain places for too long. When someone takes that responsibility out of your hands and is detached from your psychological theatre of emotions, it can be a real weight off your shoulders.

If it’s something you want to publish, a ghostwriter is also more likely to see, objectively, what the most interesting anecdotes and narrative plot points are.

A good ghostwriter will have a nose for nuance and identifying and nurturing the best stories, which is important to consider if you want people to actually read your book / article / blog.

Writing Is Not Their Forte

I have a terrible sense of direction. I literally do not travel anywhere without the google maps blue dot as my trusty guide. So, everyday, I praise the powers that be for the invention of GPS because otherwise I’d be a lost hermit with no social life.

Since I realised from a young age that orienteering would never be my strong point, I have not been ashamed to rely on the technology available to assist me. It can be liberating to realise that we are not — and do not have to be — good at everything.

I may have got A grades in English since I was 7 years old and regularly proofread for my family and friends ‘for fun’, but I still need to use the calculator on my phone to do basic multiplications.

If writing is not your thing, don’t sweat it. Ghostwriters exist and we are here for you. Your badass skills lie elsewhere, and that’s okay.

A Gift For Others

A beautifully bound printed book of all their favourite memories and photographs makes a very special gift for loved ones — most often wedding anniversaries, birthdays or retirement.

As an occasional writer for a leading memoir-writing service, I have seen the joy such a unique and precious gift can bring people.

It’s always a privilege to be trusted with people’s personal stories and help them realise their dream of having a book to hold in their hands. Whether they want to publish it or pass it onto their grandchildren.

English Is Not Their First Language

Every time I remember that Vladimir Nabokov wrote his monumentally successful novel ‘Lolita’ in English — despite it being his second language — I am so impressed I have to tell someone immediately.

Most people are not Vlad. His novel is remarkable because he mastered his second language more beautifully than most native English speakers can.

If you want to publish in English but don’t feel confident with the spelling, vocabulary or grammar, then hiring a ghostwriters can be a really worthwhile investment.

What Makes A Good Ghostwriter?

Preserving The Voice Of The Client

A good ghostwriter will adopt the voice and style of their client; their idiosyncrasies, sense of humour and use of certain words and phrases. It needs to retain their own voice, rather than the voice of the writer.

Of course, most clients actively encourage some creative license while keeping everything factually accurate.

A Good Interview

A good interviewer will get under the skin of your stories and ideas and ask you questions you had not considered yourself.

We don’t often get offered space to speak our minds freely for any length of time. When we do, we become a sounding board for ourselves and silences soon evolve into unexpected revelations.

As their writer, I need enough detail from the client in order to craft a book from their brain. Therefore, great interviewing skills are key.

Fortunately, I work in a profession where I interview people most days. I have sat in prison cells, trauma wards, skyscrapers of millionaires and on snowy mountain tops interviewing every kind of person imaginable about their life and what is important to them.

I am innately curious about people and love nothing more than helping people to tell their stories and feel validated, understood and worthy of having a voice.

Obviously, it’s important to find a ghostwriter who understands you and what you want, as well as someone that you get along with and trust. Otherwise, spending hours or weeks with them will not be enjoyable, nor will you feel able to open up to them.

The Craft

Unlike fiction, in which you are conceiving and concocting every sentence as you write, with ghostwriting, half the battle is already done. The story already exists in the client’s mind and just needs to be shaped.

When it comes down to actually writing, it’s about crafting the content into something well-written and engaging. While some clients may want descriptive poetic language, others prefer a more direct or clinical approach.

Either way, my job is to weave a structure and embroider the words in a way that keeps people interested and absorbed.

It’s important to have clear communication on this. Perhaps they can show you an example of a book or article that is similar to the vision they have in mind, or a blog post they have written in the past and want to emulate in style.

Personally, when writing other people’s memoirs, I often like to start chapters with a metaphor, as a way of drawing the reader in and painting a vivid picture, while acting as a microscope for the wider theme of the chapter.

In the end, it’s always reassuring for the client to know that they have the final say, so there should be no surprises with the final product.

It’s More Convenient Than Ever

I have interviewed people at home, in cafes, restaurants, community centres, over the phone, Skype and via emailed voice notes.

Technology has helped us be flexible and with social distancing looking to stay for the time being, it’s never been more necessary.

It’s up to you how you communicate with your writer. You can meet up in person and free-talk for three hours or your ghostwriter can ask you questions and more formally ‘interview’ you. You can meet once a week, once a month or just once.

You can email notes and ideas you’ve come up with and any research, articles or reports you would like integrated into the piece.

You can even do a mixture of all the above.

I would advise you to see how it feels and what works for you. It might take a little trial-and-error to find out what approach you prefer.

What Is It Like?

Being interviewed by your ghostwriter should feel enjoyable and easy — a free-flowing conversation. For most of us, talking is easier than writing. Both in the time it takes, but also in the mental strength required to force yourself to sit down and articulate what you want to say.

A good ghostwriter knows that there is no one size-fits-all approach to the way people communicate and tell their stories — each client is unique and has their own individual story to tell and way of telling it.

It’s important to be upfront with your writer about what you want to achieve and any deadlines you have in mind; that way you are both on the same page — which is a good place to be!

Why Do I Do it?

For three main reasons:

1. I love helping people tell their stories and achieve their goals. It’s a huge privilege and responsibility and I feel very lucky to get paid to do it. I love learning about life from different perspectives.
2. It pays my bills. While my day job pays the rent, ghostwriting pays the bills. For that reason I would not suggest anyone become a ghostwriter to get rich or have it as your main career. I’m sure a couple of people in history have made a career of it — writing autobiographies for celebrities and politicians — but most ghostwriters I know fit it around freelance article or copy writing, writing their novel or other creative / storytelling careers such as filmmaking, like myself.
3. It keeps me in shape. To get better at something you need to keep doing it. Like most writers, I hope to publish my own novel one day and writing for other people keeps my confidence and skills up. It also means I have an impressive portfolio of published work for them to put their trust in me. What’s more, writing for different kinds of clients keeps my writing muscles limber and flexible.

I’ve been a professional ghostwriter for nearly 10 years now and bringing other people’s stories and ideas to life through the wonderful medium of words is still an absolute joy and privilege.

If you’re interested in finding out more, you can contact me on Twitter @rebeccacoxon