Table of contents:
- Why Only Writing Isn’t Enough
- You Need a Built-In Publishing Expert
- Success Means More Than Sales
- How Your Book Is Produced Matters
- The Risks of Overlooking Publishing Expertise
- The Value of a Publishing Partner
Many aspiring authors hire book ghostwriters to help them produce a well-written manuscript. They want it to be well-received when it hits bookshelves, with great reviews and lots of word-of-mouth. So, they focus on writing skills when evaluating their ghostwriter options.
That makes perfect sense, but you’ll be disadvantaged when your book is published if you only consider writing ability.
Why Only Writing Isn’t Enough
Although you certainly want a ghostwriter who can write, whose sentences are not filled with spelling and grammatical errors, and who will make your ideas even richer and more potent, another skill may be equally important.
You Need a Built-In Publishing Expert
Or, said another way, you need a ghostwriter who has considerable publishing industry expertise if you want your book to have the best chance for success.
By succeeding, I don’t necessarily mean that it will be a New York Times bestseller, because only a small fraction of books published ever sell enough books to hit that esteemed list. That may be some authors’ definition of success, but for most, that goal is not realistic.
Success Means More Than Sales
Most of my clients understand that a well-written, edited, and designed book can be a marketing tool that yields more than just book sales. In fact, the ability to leverage a book to generate other opportunities may be more important.
Authors can use their book to land paid speaking gigs, consulting engagements, new job offers, joint venture proposals, investment opportunities, volunteer requests, and new buyers, just to name a few potential benefits.
How Your Book Is Produced Matters
Yet, whether you aspire to land on a bestseller list or not, how your book is produced will significantly impact its success. For that reason, you need someone who can:
- Educate you about your various publishing options
- Explain the pros and cons of each choice
- Identify potential publishers for you
- Introduce you to potential publishers
- Run down the associated costs
- Help you save money
- Weigh in with an opinion about cover and page designs
- Tell you about how other authors have approached your topic
- Advise you regarding what you can do to interest a publisher
- Recommend what you can do now to prime the pump for book sales later
- Answer questions as they arise, keeping your best interests at heart
The Risks of Overlooking Publishing Expertise
The reality is that you can have an amazing book that doesn’t succeed due to factors that have nothing to do with your ghostwriter. For example, maybe the cover is bland or hard to read. Maybe the publisher you chose didn’t set it up properly on Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). Maybe the print quality is poor and illegible. Maybe you didn’t build in ways to collect reader information, so you know who bought your book (because Amazon won’t tell you).
All of these situations are avoidable if you have a ghostwriter who can offer recommendations and guidance, in addition to helping you write a book that is even stronger than what you could have done on your own.
Finding a ghostwriter who can write well should be table stakes — the bare minimum you should consider.
The Value of a Publishing Partner
Your ghostwriter is your writing partner, that’s for certain, and if you find someone who can also be your publishing partner, your book has a much better chance of getting the response from your target market you were hoping for.