When hiring a ghostwriter

7 Things To Look

For

When Hir ing a Business

Ghostwriter

Compatibility

1

You and your ghostwriter should be a

good fit.

C o m p a t i b i l i t y i s ke y b e c a u s e w r i t i n g a

b o o k t a ke s m o n t h s t o c o m p l e t e , e v e n f o r t h e

p ro s .

You’re the expert

Your ghostwriter’s job is to showcase your expertise ,

not his.

If you and your ghostwriter are a good fit,

you will often start to think about old things in new ways.

When readers are absorbed in a story, their

intellectual resistance drops

Reliability

2

It’s easy to get sidetracked

when writing a book.

To keep your book on track, your ghostwriter must be

dependable, organized and deadline-driven.

Your time is precious

A reliable ghostwriter understands this fact, and works within and around your schedule.

Business expertise

3

Ghostwriters of business books tend to have (or

should have) business

backgrounds. It makes the process much

smoother and easier, and adds value, quality and depth to the

material being produced.

Ability to ask the right questions

4

Jargon and complexity is an inevitable by-product of being an expert in your field.

A good ghostwriter takes complexity and turns it into plain English so it is

accessible to a wider audience.

When the expert says something that sounds intelligent but appears opaque,

the ghostwriter must keep at it, asking the “dumb” questions (back to ‘fit” again)

until another, better way is found to express those thoughts so that every reader will understand.

Structure

5

At their core, most business books are simply an extended

argument.

Ultimately, a business book’s value is defined by how

persuasively the author Is able to make his or her case.

Structure is about developing a consistent and coherent theme.

Your ghostwriter should have the ability to organize and structure your book’s contents

so your argument builds and flows in a convincing way.

Ideally, a business book works on multiple levels:

Inspirational EmotionalIntellectualVisceral

Voice

6

Your ‘voice’ is as unique to you as your thumbprint.

An experienced ghostwriter knows how to put creative ego aside and

quickly discover your authentic written voice.

However, your voice on the page is likely to differ

from your spoken voice. Why?

Because even the most articulate speaker will appear a little less polished

when his or her (transcribed) words are seen on the page,

so a certain amount of polishing is always necessary.

Trust

7

You and your ghostwriter must

rely on each other.

Trust is mutual belief. Trust sometimes takes time to fully develop. That said, there doesn't

have to be love at first sight or even at last sight.

If you are committed to going ahead with your book, but have a concern

about your ghostwriter's ability to capture your voice…

… your prospective ghostwriter should be willing to show you

written samples from published books they have either co-authored or ghosted.

(Or possibly even write a sample page or two for you.)

To learn moreTo l e a r n m o r e a b o u t m e

a n d / o r t h e b o o k c o l l a b o r a ti o n p r o c e s s , s i m p l y c l i c k o n t h e l i n k b e l o w :

Jonathan Verney