As many as 80 percent of all New York Times bestselling books are ghostwritten. Depending on the study you read, somewhere between 50 and 80 percent of bestselling authors relied on the services of a ghostwriter to produce their book.
That means that many of the best books on the market, and the best authors, relied on the skills of a ghostwriter.
Are you shocked?
If you are, you may misunderstand the role a ghostwriter plays in bringing a book to fruition.
Some people think that a ghostwriter is solely responsible for taking an author’s book idea and organizing the content, crafting all of the words, and delivering a fully-formed manuscript back to their client.
While that could possibly happen with a well-developed fiction idea, that’s not how nonfiction books come to be. With nonfiction, the expert author has to be involved in every stage of the writing of their nonfiction book, which is why their name is on the cover. It’s their concept, stories, and language on those pages.
Authors are in complete control of their book idea, structure, content, and tone. They are the CEOs of their publishing product.
However, many time-starved business leaders also know that working alongside a ghostwriter will give their book the best chance of success.
What a ghostwriter can do for your book
Even professional writers can benefit from feedback on their writing. That’s why there are writing circles, critique groups, and masterminds where writers share their writing and gather input to make it better.
Richer writing
It’s generally believed that a group will come up with better ideas or obtain better results than a single person working alone. We’ve all heard, “Two heads are better than one.”
That premise is why all authors can benefit from having another skilled writer and publishing expert working alongside them, pushing them to be better.
Your ghostwriter is there to ask pointed questions that bring out the best answers, which then become part of your book. Dumb questions get boring, obvious answers. Informed, curious questions often uncover insights that the author hadn’t recognized or maybe didn’t think were relevant.
A ghostwriter can help pull out interesting observations and realizations that help make the book more compelling and helpful. They can also help surface stories that are intriguing and unforgettable.
Your ghostwriter can provide feedback regarding what material helps move the story forward or illustrate a key point and what material diverges from the narrative or goes off on tangents that may be funny but not useful. When you’re so close to your content, it’s hard to accurately judge what is needed and what is extraneous — that’s true for all writers. A ghostwriter can help.
Whether your writing is superb or just average, a writing partner is going to help you polish it. They can help turn even a B+ book into A-level work.
Faster pace
Relying on a ghostwriter can also save you time.
With a ghostwriter assuming primary responsibility for drafting your manuscript, based on all of your input and background material, you can remain engaged at your day job.
You don’t have to set aside months of time, or dozens of weekends, to hide yourself away to get your draft down. Instead, you can choose to collaborate with a professional, who can help you get that draft done in a fraction of the time it would have taken you alone.
Insider publishing connections
Although your ghostwriter’s responsibility is primarily to help you craft a well-written book, the best ghostwriters are also well-connected.
A ghostwriter can save you time and money by putting you in touch with a dream team of publishing professionals. That can include publishers, editors, proofreaders, indexers, Beta readers, publicists, and graphic designers, among others.
Not sure of your best publishing path? Ask ghostwriter candidates what they would recommend and if they can set up meetings with publishers.
Want to get started in raising your visibility as a thought leader or industry visionary through publicity? Your ghostwriter should be able to put you in touch with some PR firms.
Your ghostwriter should be part writer and part publishing consultant.
What is beyond a ghostwriter’s control
While a ghostwriter can certainly help improve your book’s quality and pace of completion, there are some parts of the publishing process that they cannot be held responsible for, because they have no influence or involvement in it.
Bestseller lists
Many authors approach me for help in writing a bestselling book. They want a New York Times bestseller or a Wall Street Journal bestseller, they say.
But they have no idea what it takes to qualify for those lofty lists.
Let me tell you, book quality is not the deciding factor.
Some of the very best written books do not hit bestseller lists. That’s because bestseller status is based on book sales, which your ghostwriter has no control over.
How much marketing and promotion you do to support your book is what determines the likelihood of it hitting a bestseller list.
Conversely, books that don’t add much to the conversation can sell millions of copies. Those examples are typically authored by people with massive social media followings or established communities of supporters, and the community members buy copies.
It’s all about the marketing and support for a book. That’s what makes a bestseller.
Your publisher
As an author, you’ll make the decision regarding which publisher is the best choice for your book’s publication. Your ghostwriter can certainly make recommendations and introduce you to publishers they have worked with, but ultimately, that decision is yours.
You are your ghostwriter’s client and the publisher and you are business partners essentially, but your ghostwriter has no business relationship to your publisher. For that reason, they have no leverage or pull.
If you want to make changes to your book or ask if the process can be expedited, that is a question for your publisher rather than your ghostwriter. The same goes for any element of the book itself — ask your publisher directly.
That said, you and your ghostwriter working together is a much stronger team than you working alone, but that’s true about just about any business situation. It’s always better to have a thought partner, advocate, champion, or advisor than to try to make decisions on your own.
Which is why I believe that there are few situations, or few books, where an experienced professional ghostwriter can’t add significant value.