How It Works | The Ghostwriting Process
We provide publishers and our own private clients with editorial and ghostwriting services as co-authors and ghostwriters. Our team of experienced writers, editors, and researchers help individuals, families and companies through each stage of a project. We are story specialists working as editors, consultants, co-authors and anonymous ghostwriters. We work with publishers, agents, celebrities, business leaders, sports personalities and ordinary people with extraordinary tales.
Everyone can benefit from professional ghostwriting services and writing partners have existed throughout history. The ghostwriting process is a creatively intense and challenging endeavour. When both parties are committed, great books can get written this way.
Commissioning a ghost is like hiring a guide to accompany you on a hike as you explore uncharted lands. It is often a form of co-writing and a way of professionally developing your idea and learning at the same time. Our clients regularly write their second book on their own and work with us as their editor. A good ghostwriter is going to work with you as a mentor, a writing consultant and an editor all at once and they will lead you through the most economical process that can otherwise take decades to navigate.
We will consider each new project on its own terms, designing a unique approach based on the project’s nature and your publishing goals. It is a highly customised service that adjusts as it develops.
We invest our creativity in every project and commit to a rigorous, open and flexible process, reflecting high standards with the aim of helping you secure a publishing contract.
The Ghostwriting Process
1. Your first step will be to get in contact and fill out our enquiry form. We’d love to hear about your project.
2. Someone will get back in touch by e-mail or phone for a general chat to find out more. While the project is being considered we will start producing an outline document of your project as we get closer to understanding what it is. If you have any work already written, this is the time when you would submit it through. Getting a clear understanding of what you want is generally done before we enter contract or raise an invoice.
3. We will assign a team, most importantly among them – your lead writer – your ghostwriter for hire. We will chat through the process, timeline and contract terms and a paid instalment will be made upon signature of contract. Around this time you will have met a number of us online and in person. You will meet the founder and your project manager. Your contract will set out all rights, responsibilities, confidentiality, payment terms and warranties and these can all be discussed point-by-point so you understand how things work and who owns what.
4. At the first meeting, you and your ghostwriter will jump straight into conversation. Be ready for some deep dives from the get-go! This may be done in a workshop environment with our whole team depending on the project but it is normally quite intimate and private. We gather as much information as we can from you over a period that averages around 30 hours. If the project is a piece of fiction, development will be less linear and full of workshops and reviews.
5. As the conversations progress, we begin writing which will typically take the form of a step outline (outline or skeleton). This is a breakdown of the book into small sections and this becomes an initial blueprint for the project. We agree on the project’s steps in terms of content and tone and we start writing a first draft manuscript (evolving the outline into the first draft). It’s normal for us to write a few sample chapters or trial chapters to test out certain writing styles at around this stage. The book is written in sections, and you will be as much a part of this process as you wish. Commenting and approving the text in sections until it is complete is quite normal. All of this takes time and each project will have its own unique development story.
6. After a period of time we will have a manuscript ready. This is where you will need to invest more time in the process of review as we gather team feedback before we start any official editorials process. Due to how we operate, this is not as long as it can be with a traditional publishing house.
7. We spend time refining the writing from a first draft to a final polish. At this stage, we strengthen the proposal and start shortlisting agents and publishers to submit to.
8. We will submit the final polished book to you along with all other items and begin submissions. During this period, minor changes can still be made.
9. Once you have your manuscript, you will want to take advantage of our contacts in the literary, publishing and UK film industries. Our contacts are your contacts and we will help you in any way that we can to move the project forward into the market. We also submit to the agents shortlisted and wait for all responses. We help you negotiate any offers or run a 2nd round of submissions. In certain circumstances and with certain projects – self-publishing options can be considered but largely, our goal will be to secure you a strong publishing contract with a publishing company via an agent. For more information on this process please visit our publishing page.
Of course, the above process is quite general and no project will ever follow this method so cleanly. The creative process can be quite complex, even chaotic! Our job is to keep the order, streamline the process, manage development and leverage opportunities when they present themselves. We are development experts with experience managing the many moving parts that present themselves during the book writing process, and hiring a ghostwriter is the start of it all.
Visit the Ghostwriter FAQ for more information on this service and for writers looking to train and work in this field, our Ghostwriting Course is a yearly event with limited places.
Writer – Old English wrītan ‘score, form (letters) by carving, write’; of Germanic origin, related to German reissen ‘sketch, drag’.
Ghost – Old English gāst (‘spirit, soul’), of Germanic origin.