What is book ghostwriting?
Book ghostwriting is a professional service in which an experienced writer researches, structures and writes a book that is published under your name. You provide the story, expertise or idea. The ghostwriter provides the craft: structure, pacing, research and polished prose.
Ghostwriting has a long history behind memoirs, business books and bestselling fiction. It lets people with valuable experience, but limited time or writing experience, publish a book that reads professionally from the first page to the last.
Who hires a ghostwriter?
Our clients come from every background. What they share is a story or body of knowledge worth publishing, and the decision to have it written properly.
- Executives and founders building authority in their industry
- Veterans, first responders and professionals with stories to tell
- Experts turning a method or framework into a book
- Novelists with a plot outlined but no time to draft
- Families preserving a parent’s or grandparent’s life story
- Speakers and coaches who need a book to support their work
How our ghostwriting works
Every project starts with a discovery call and a writer match. Your ghostwriter then runs a series of recorded interviews, builds a chapter-by-chapter outline for your approval, and delivers the manuscript in stages so you can review and shape it as it develops.
Each stage has a fixed milestone and a revision window. Your project manager keeps the schedule and is your single point of contact from the first call to the final file.
Keeping it your book
A ghostwritten book should sound like you, not like the writer. We study your interviews, emails, talks and earlier writing to capture your phrasing and tone, and we calibrate the voice on the first chapter before drafting the rest.
Your ghostwriter signs a non-disclosure agreement, and the finished manuscript, copyright and royalties belong entirely to you.
A practical guide to hiring a book ghostwriter
Most people who hire a ghostwriter have never done it before. Here is what to look for, what it costs and how to keep the book sounding like you.
What a ghostwriter actually does
A ghostwriter turns your knowledge, memories or story idea into a finished manuscript. On a typical project that means recorded interviews, research, a chapter outline, several drafts and revisions based on your notes. You stay the author. The ghostwriter is the craftsperson who gets it onto the page.
Good ghostwriters spend as much time listening as writing. The first few weeks are mostly questions, because the book can only be as strong as the material you give them.
How much ghostwriting costs
Book ghostwriting fees depend on length, research and how quickly you need the manuscript. A short business book or guide costs far less than a researched 80,000-word memoir. Be wary of very low quotes. They usually mean a writer working on many books at once, or content assembled from other sources.
At Paladin Press you get a fixed quote after a free consultation, split into milestone payments. You see the full price before any work begins.
Questions to ask before you sign
Ask to see published work in your genre. Ask who owns the copyright when the book is done (it should be you). Ask how many revision rounds are included, how often you will see new chapters and whether the writer will sign a non-disclosure agreement.
It also helps to ask how the writer captures voice. If the answer is vague, keep looking.
Keeping the book in your voice
The best test is the first chapter. We write it early, share it with you and adjust tone, vocabulary and rhythm before drafting the rest. Your interviews, emails and talks give the writer the phrases you actually use, which is why most clients say the finished book reads like them on a good day.
