What we do
How it works
We assess your project, meet, build a plan, price the support and assign the writing team. We workshop, interview and develop an outline and start writing and keep editing until the text is print-ready in final draft. We’ll shortlist agents and publishers for the project and begin submissions and have a whole load of fun.
Who we are
We are story specialists working as editors, consultants, co-authors and anonymous ghostwriters working with publishers, agents, celebrities, business leaders, sports personalities and ordinary people with extraordinary tales.
The 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. 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 all 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. 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 ghost writer 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 initially (outline or skeleton). This is a breakdown of the book into small sections and this becomes an initial blueprint for the project. It is normal for us to write a few sample chapters or trial chapters to test out certain writing styles too. 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 journey.
6. After a period of time we will have a finished manuscript. 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.
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 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 moving parts that present themselves during the book writing process, and hiring a ghostwriter is the start of it all. Our clients regularly write their second book on their own and work with us as their editor which is the sign of a success. 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.
If contact forms aren’t your thing, email us at:
enquiries@londonghostwriting.com
For telephone enquiries please call the office and leave a message: 020 7193 8257
For all other enquiries: info@londonghostwriting.com