Not gonna lie, money needs to be saved in order to get a professional ghostwriter, but that is a goal worth working towards.
Honestly, I’ve been thinking about getting a ghostwriter on and off. I do love writing and always will, but I need to come to the understanding that I would need help getting my point across in a way that works.
I know it feels like a ripoff, yet I honestly don’t care. This is for my sake and I need to meet someone who can capture my writer voice and more in a way that I feel like I am lacking.
I struggle with many things with writing, which is why I need a good professional ghostwriter to help me out in a way that I need.
Don’t get me wrong I am still going to write and always love writing, but I just need help and someone to understand where I am going with the story on a professional level.
That is why I want to hire a ghostwriter who primarily works in fiction. I don’t mind asking for help and getting assistance. I am not afraid to do that. Just afraid to keep writing in the dark and never knowing what could’ve been.
I will also continue to research ghostwriters and more before I set up some payment plans for myself to work towards.
Those are my thoughts on things.
What are your thoughts and feelings?
A ghostwriter writes the book for you; a book coach assists you in writing your book, telling you how to write it for biggest impact. Are you sure you want a ghostwriter rather than a book coach? And have you compared the costs between the two? I’ve no idea which would cost more, but I’m guessing a ghostwriter would.
And since you have no money at the moment, I have to ask this–and I’m totally hating myself for doing so, believe me–but have you tried using ChatGPT to help you write your book? That, at least, is free, although it destroys the environment and puts a ghostwriter and book coach out of work. ¯\_(ﭢ)_/¯
I’m sure. I don’t need a book coach. I need someone to capture both my writing style and voice for me. A ghostwriter can do that while writing in a way that I want. I don’t think a book coach can help in a way that I want.
There is no shame in using a ghostwriter! What I would suggest, though, is if you like writing and you just feel you need a bit of help, why would you go for a ghostwriter instead of an editor? Both services are expensive, but here’s some of the editing types that might help you:
Developmental editing - this type of editing takes a look at your story and gives you feedback on plot, characters, pacing, structure etc. I feel this is what you think you need?
Line editing - this type of editing sees a professional go through your work line by line to refine it. It’s very comprehensive. It maintains your voice and style of writing but polishes it to be the best it can be.
I offer these two services and have taken manuscripts from hard to read to fabulous. People from all walks of life with different levels of experience utilise these services, so I don’t see why you wouldn’t benefit. That way, it’s still your writing, your book, someone else just came in and polished it where it needed to be polished.
Actually, there’s different types of editing for each stage you’re in! Once you have a draft, no matter how rough, you can start considering editing - if developmental editing is something you’re interested in, I’d suggest this sooner rather than later, because you may find big chunks need to be changed or removed. Developmental tends to be cheaper than line editing (at least my prices are based on market rates, and that’s what I found), but it is still costly. Might be something to consider?
Hijacking this thread to ask a little bit more about this—for a series, would developmental editors prefer to work on all the books in one go or go book-by-book?
I’m considering hiring a developmental editor in the far-ish future to help with my pacing and consistency, especially across three books. I don’t want to overwhelm the editors by dropping nearly a million words on them even if I’m going to pay them bank but at the same time, there are many details and scenes that occur in the first book that will affect and play a larger role in the second and third books, and I’m worried that editing book-by-book will mean that the editor may not be able to give as much insight on foreshadowing or how well the future and prior scenes are connected. (Or not give as much advice on how to structure the first book so that the punches I’m holding will be dealt to their maximum potential in later books.)
I’m gonna be honest I feel this is something you’d have to approach each editor for tbh! Personally I would need breaks between projects, just because with my ADHD I can’t commit to one specific thing for months on end, but there’s also another option that I’ve actually done recently with a client - provide a detailed outline of the projects and get an editor to look over it for inconsistencies, errors etc. Obviously, this is only possible if you have an outline to begin with, and you haven’t strayed from it.
To be honest though, even if your editor needs to take breaks between projects, it’s not difficult to comment “hold on, 400 pages ago, X happened - now it’s this?”! So I don’t think you need to stress too much! <3 Just ask your editors how they’d prefer to handle it
And just to clarify, editors do keep notes, haha. Even if most people wouldn’t recall a random line from 400 pages back, it’s probably wedged in a note somewhere. I keep mine on my iPad and if the client wants a full review, everything big and small will be in the review to reference, too. We remember things!
I checked rates for ghostwriters in my area lol. For 20,000+ words, it’s £3500 a month. For five months, it’s upwards of £17,000, and it’s only non-fiction/ business services. I don’t think a ghostwriter is what you need.
A writing class & plenty of practice will help you get your point across.
I mean in tv the creator of the shows and the writers of the show don’t overlap completely.
it sounds like you want someone who gets your ideas and your perspective but who can communicate it more effectively than you believe you can?
I think a ghostwriter would work well for this. but its not ghostwriter or you can’t achieve that goal. it’s a skill that can be worked on.
there are two exercises that you can do
write like you talk aka write without trying to sound like a writer.
find a writer or any book novel etc idc where the communication of the writing is what you want to have (the ideas and content don’t matter); and write about whatever you want but copy that style.
and I think @Akje isn’t saying have chatgpt write for you; they are are saying chatgpt can give you insights and tips to help with your specific goals → though totally understand every artist/ writer/ person has their own boundaries when it comes to using AI.
Nope, nope…I was saying she should use ChatGPT to write the entire thing for her, although I admit now I was totally wrong to suggest that. I think I’ve been watching too many Audra Winter videos lately and getting the idea that a lot of writers today want to have written a book but don’t want to actually do the work and write it themselves. They want it to be a group activity where they hold staff meetings like she does and then write a book based on what their employees suggest. So I was thinking that Qualeshia, not having the money to hire 20+ employees to do that for her like Audra does, she could use AI for free to do the very same thing. But yeah, that was totally wrong of me. I regret it now. Sorry! (♯^.^♯)
Well, if you really want to consider this option, you should start by doing research on what exactly it’s like (maybe you already are, idk), maybe even contact some ghostwriters to ask about their process and see if it really is something you want to do.
There could be ghostwriters who take over your story for you, or there could be ones that work with you and write it for you? I have no idea.
I once had this crazy idea of a career change and after doing a lot of research on it, it wasn’t at all what I thought it was and definitely not for me (although not to say I might try it one day).
So, you might have some sense of a ghostwriter, but not fully. It would be great if you could contact some just to ask questions and shop around and see if this is what you want.
Once you have a draft, no matter how rough, you can start considering editing - if developmental editing is something you’re interested in, I’d suggest this sooner rather than later, because you may find big chunks need to be changed or removed. Developmental tends to be cheaper than line editing (at least my prices are based on market rates, and that’s what I found), but it is still costly. Might be something to consider?