There
are many good reasons for an author
to hire a ghostwriter. Maybe you have a
great idea, but lack the ability or
the time to turn that idea into a
readable — and marketable —
book. You may even be an accomplished
writer, but just have too many other
things going on in your life to put
the mental and emotional energy into
writing a book. Or maybe you simply
have a bad case of chronic writer's
block. You could do one of several
things: (1) leave the book idea on a
back burner and get to it
"someday" (though someday
never seems to arrive); (2) work on
it in your "spare time"
(which you never seem to have); or
(3) hire a ghostwriter.
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What
exactly does a ghostwriter do? Pretty much
whatever needs to be done to create
or finish a book! A ghostwriter
writes, rewrites, edits, researches,
etc., on behalf of, or in
collaboration with, another writer.
Ghostwriters can do anything from
writing a book completely from
scratch to rewriting or polishing an
existing work. At Schmidt Kaye &
Company, we've done it all. We've
written a nearly 400-page book that
began life as a 23-page
pamphlet...we've created a 250-page
book based on a series of audio
tapes...we've written books based on
clients' sketchy notes and outlines.
We've taken overly long manuscripts
and have trimmed them
down...too-short manuscripts and
lengthened them...disorganized but
promising manuscripts and completely
revamped them.
Sometimes,
in fact, there is a very fine line
between ghosting and rewriting. We
did extensive editing and rewriting
of a book for one client; at least,
that's how our services were
described in the contract. Yet he now
proudly introduces us to others as
his "ghostwriters." Other
authors had short manuscripts that we
embellished substantially. We guess
you could say that in those cases, we
did "mostwriting!"
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Does
the client write anything (besides
the checks)? Only if he or she
wants to. Very often, the person
whose name appears on the cover of
the ghostwritten book does no writing
whatsoever. In the case of many
celebrities, the celebs do nothing
more than lend their name to the
project. Do you really think former American
Idol star Clay Aiken,
who by his own admission has always
loathed writing, actually penned his
best-selling autobiography, Learning
To Sing? Of course not;
it was written by accomplished author
Allison Glock, and Clay just lent his
name, his story, and his smiling face
to the work. (It helped that Ms.
Glock is a Southerner herself, which
brought a note of authenticity to the
warm, down-home narrative.)
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Who
gets the credit on a ghostwritten
book?
That depends. For
the majority of the ghosting projects
we have done, the author's name alone
appears on the cover, and we are
credited on the title page, copyright
page, and/or the acknowledgments.
Such is the case with many
ghostwritten books on the market. As
you probably know, that's where the
term "ghostwriter" came
from in the first place; ghostwriters
work behind the scenes, invisibly.
We
(Schmidt & Kaye) are generally
acknowledged for our "extensive
assistance" or for being the
ones "without whom this book
would never have been
completed." For self-published
books that we designed and laid out,
we are of course given credit for
these specific tasks as well.
On the
other hand, many other ghostwritten
works have the name of the
author/celebrity and
an "as told to" or
"with" credit for the
ghostwriter (e.g., "by Johnny
Actor, as told to Grace
Ghostwriter," or "by Johnny
Actor, with Grace Ghostwriter").
In our
contracts, we always include a
stipulation on how we are to be
credited. It really is up to you; we
have no ego investment in seeing our
names on the front cover of a book.
We do have an ego investment in doing
the best job possible for you, to
create a book of which we can all be
proud.
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Who
owns the rights to a ghosted book
(and who keeps the profits on a
self-published work, or receives the
advance and royalties from a trade
publisher)? The client does,
unless specified as part of the
original working agreement. When we
ghostwrite a book for you, it is a
work for hire, that is, a piece
written for pay on your behalf. We
are paid for our work outright, and
you retain ownership, full copyright,
and control over sale of the work.
Once the work is completed to your
satisfaction, and we are paid in
full, the work is yours to do with as
you will. We almost never contract
for royalties or residuals. We look
at it this way: Our services are not
cheap. (Our ghostwriting fees begin
at $25,000.00; for more details, see
the Fees page.) Once you
have paid us for creating your book,
you deserve to keep as much of the
earnings from the book as possible.
Of course, if your book is wildly
successful and you wish to give us a
bonus, we probably won't fight you
too hard!
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One
thing we never do is work on
speculation — that is,
for a promise of a share in future
profits. The truth is that very few,
if any, full-time professional
writers can afford to do this, unless
the work has enormous commercial
potential. This generally means a
major celebrity will be credited as
the author. Even in the vast majority
of those cases, only a portion of the
work is on speculation.
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If
you do decide to use a ghostwriter,
you're in good company. According to
Wikipedia, here are just a few famous
ghostwritten books...
* Barbara
Feinman was the ghostwriter for
It Takes a Village and Other
Lessons Children Teach Us
by Hillary Clinton. Clinton later
won a Grammy Award for a
recording of her memoirs, Living
History.
* William Shatner used a
ghostwriter for his
science-fiction books.
* The novelization of Star
Wars was credited
to George Lucas but was written
by Alan Dean Foster.
Not only
actors, singers and politicians, but
also some of the highest-paid and
most well-known authors, use other
writers to help create their work
— in some cases, even after
they're dead! The famous novelist
Robert Ludlum, author of The
Bourne Identity and
numerous other intrigue/thrillers,
died in March of 2001, but he's still
"publishing" novels. (Which
makes you wonder, who's the
"ghostwriter" here?)
Actually, his past several novels
were ghostwritten from outlines he
had produced, presumably before his
death. Many other extremely busy,
prolific and very-much-alive authors
also produce outlines or synopses,
and then hand the project over to a
ghostwriter for completion. The
resulting book is no less
"theirs," legally or —
in our opinion — ethically, than
it would have been if they had
painstakingly labored over every word
themselves.
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How
much will it cost, how long will it
take, and how am I billed? Our ghostwriting
fee generally ranges from $25,000.00-$45,000.00,
which is in the middle range of the
market. This is for writing only;
interior and cover design and other
services, if desired, are extra,
although we almost always offer an
attractive "package deal"
for self-publishing authors.
Alternatively, we usually include a
book proposal in the "package
deal" for authors who intend to
approach an agent or publisher. (For
fee information on other services we
offer, please see our Fees page.)
The lower end of
the ghostwriting fee range generally
applies to nonfiction books of
200-250 pages. If the book is
extraordinarily long and/or requires
a substantial amount of extra
research, the price goes up
accordingly. Fiction is also usually
a little more expensive because the
development is rarely as
straightforward as a basic nonfiction
book. Travel expenses, if applicable,
are extra, but we generally do not
charge for supplies, postage, etc.
Turnaround:
The average turnaround time for
ghostwriting is four to six months
but can be as short as two months or,
occasionally, it can take up to one
year or longer. Much is dependent
upon timely feedback from the client.
Billing:
You don't have to pay the entire fee
at once. Because a ghostwriting
project generally takes several
months, we spread the payments out
accordingly. After the contract is
signed, we require a nonrefundable
deposit before we commence work. The
amount of the deposit varies,
depending upon the job, but it is
generally one-fourth to one-third of
the entire project fee. Subsequent
payments are generally smaller than
the deposit and are due at intervals,
usually monthly, with the number and
amount of payments being dependent
upon the estimated time frame of the
project. If the project takes longer
than the original estimate, final
payment can be withheld until
completion.
Payment
methods: We accept Paypal
(our preferred method), which means
you can safely use your credit or
debit card. Our Paypal link appears
below, and at the bottom of every
page on our site. We also accept
personal and business checks, money
orders and cashier's checks, in US
funds drawn on a US bank.
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An
ethics dilemma:
Is using a ghostwriter
"cheating?"
Ever
since there have been
ghostwriters, there have
been those who expressed
doubts about the ethics
of ghostwriting.
Wikipedia, the online
encyclopedia, describes a
ghostwritten book as
"deceptive,"
since the author named on
the cover is not the
actual or sole writer.
Our view is that there is
nothing inherently
unethical about having
someone else write your
book for you.
We
can't speak for every
person and every
situation, of course,
only our own experiences
with our own clients.
While we cannot take
responsibility for the
way our ghostwriting
clients might represent
the work we have
performed on their
behalf, in our
experience, the clients
we choose to work with
are not motivated by any
desire to deceive readers
but rather by a simple
wish to present their
ideas in a clear and
marketable way. Some
people need more help
with this task than
others. We offer as much
or as little help as
needed.
In
any case, the client's
contributions are
paramount. Even
with a totally or mostly
ghostwritten book, there
would, very simply, be
no book without that
person's unique ideas and
at least minimal input.
We create books from
ideas, notes, outlines,
research, and even
rudimentary chapters that
originate with our
client, and in some cases
from other products a
client already has on the
market (e.g., audio
products or shorter
printed or online works).
Our client is engaged
every step of the way in
the book's creation, no
matter how much or how
little actual writing he
or she does. We
communicate often
throughout the process to
make sure that what we
are creating is indeed
congruent with the
individual's ideas,
personality, and style.
After all, the client has
a huge stake in the
process and the end
product — not only
financial, but
professional and
emotional. It is a
collaboration in every
sense of the word,
although frankly, we
don't care if our name
appears on the cover or
not (as long as we get a
nod on the
acknowledgments page).
After
all of the arguments are
considered, however, you
might still be hesitant
about hiring someone else
to do all or most of the
writing and then putting
your name, and your name
alone, on the work. Maybe
it just doesn't seem
right to you. We respect
that and would never want
you to do anything that
makes you uncomfortable.
What are the
alternatives, other than
struggling through the
writing alone? You could
have us do the
ghostwriting anyway, and
simply list us on the
cover and title page as
co-authors, or give us
"as told to" or
"with" credit.
(See the section, Who
gets the credit on a
ghostwritten book?)
Even ethics purists seem
to view these
alternatives as
marginally less
objectionable.
Or
you could write the book
yourself and then hire us
to do the editing. But
that alternative might
not be feasible if lack
of time to write is your
big problem. Or if you do
manage to find the time,
but you're not really a
writer, our
edits/rewrites will
probably be so extensive
that the job will be more
difficult than it would
be if we just wrote it
from scratch, using your
notes, outlines, ideas,
etc.
It
would be wonderful if
everyone had the time and
ability to write a
splendid book. Since
that's not the case,
hiring a ghostwriter is
one way for busy people
to turn their ideas into
a readable book. In the
end, it's up to you to
decide if this sort of
"deception" is
acceptable to you or not.
Of
course, we do not
ghostwrite theses, or
school papers, or
articles for
peer-reviewed
professional journals, or
any other work in which
the whole point is to
write it yourself; that would
be unethical.
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If you're still
undecided about
your need for a ghostwriter, consider
this simple
(and perhaps painfully obvious)
point...
Writing
books is the ghostwriter's job. While it may seem
that we are just stating the obvious
here, it's actually a very important
point. And within this point may lie
the best reason of all to hire a
ghostwriter. Writing a book is very
labor intensive. It's not rocket
science, but it is an art, and like
any art it can be very consuming.
Creating a book can truly get in the
way of "real life" —
your personal and professional life
— and vice versa. If you've ever
tried to write a book, you have
probably found this out for yourself.
There are only so many hours in a
day, and time is the one valuable and
absolutely irreplaceable asset that
is in short supply for so many busy
people. You might not have the time
or energy for the painstaking labor
of writing a book, but a ghostwriter
does.
There's
no denying that ghostwriters are
expensive, but, to paraphrase the old
hit song, they work hard for the
money. If you have a good idea but
lack the time or the expertise to
turn that idea into a book, and are
willing and able to pay good money
for someone else to do it, then by
all means you should consider hiring
a ghostwriter. A ghostwriter can not
only make at least one aspect of your
life much easier and less stressful,
but, in today's highly competitive
book market, a good ghostwriter (or,
if you hire us, TWO good
ghostwriters) can be your most
powerful "secret
weapon"...and your greatest
ally.
7
SERIOUSLY GOOD REASONS TO HIRE US
