If you think ‘I’ve got a book in me!’,…

Do you REALLY have a book in you? As a ghostwriter, I get approached at least five times a week by potential clients, whom I’m always happy to hear from, so please do drop me a line! But very few queries turn into actual books, because the reality of writing a completed book is often different from what people imagine.

People often say: ‘You should write a book!’ as a response to a set of life experiences. While everyone, whoever they are, definitely has stories to tell, it takes something unique to turn them into an actual book.

So when someone asks me, ‘Can you help me write a book and find a publisher?’, I always ask myself several questions. Read more “If you think ‘I’ve got a book in me!’, read this” →

Dispelling the writing myths

Fame, fortune and acclaim, those are the dreams to lure many people into wanting to write. But how realistic is it? If I had a pound for every time someone said to me: ‘You could be the next JK Rowling’ or ‘This will be a bestseller and you’ll be rich from the royalties!’, I would be made richer than from any of the royalties I’m currently contracted to receive.

One certainty is, writing a book is unlikely to be a get rich quick scheme. B,ut if you still have a desire to write, you are not alone. Becoming an author is what 60% of British people told a YouGov poll they’d like to do for a living. It’s a job where your creativity can come alive and where you can share your experiences and record your thoughts for future generations.

We feel as if we have achieved some kind of perpetuity if we can only leave that damn book we want to write behind! Read more “Dispelling the writing myths” →

The Gift of Self-Doubt

When it comes to writing, self-doubt is part of the process, as much as typing, editing and re-writing are. But it’s the one emotion few of us writers openly talk about.

Recently I was at an event where someone told me that a multi-millionaire author who has had numerous Sunday Times bestsellers (the first was turned into a major film) openly suffers from crippling self-doubt. A baffling concept which also made me wonder; ‘God, if they doubt themselves, what hope is there for the rest of us?’

Self-doubt. Read more “The Gift of Self-Doubt” →

Want to speak to a ghostwriter? Then speak from…

This week, while I was interviewing my latest client, she expressed her fears about being ‘too honest’ with me. ‘You might think this sounds weird…’ she began nervously, as we explored her feelings about a particular part of her story.

But I was quick to reassure her I appreciated her honesty and no, nothing (and I mean absolutely nothing) would make her seem weird to me. Since I began ghostwriting in 2009, I have written 14 books, including four Sunday Times bestsellers, and I can hand on heart say any book’s success is thanks to the author’s ability to be profoundly honest.

Honesty brings integrity and authenticity to a story, which brings it alive for a reader. Arguably all memories are subjective, so there is no right or wrong. If you believe it happened that way, from your point of view, then it did! After listening to heartbreaking, cruel, brave, passionate, happy and shocking stories of unimaginable and imaginable situations, ghostwriters are able to hear the best and worse of the human condition. Read more “Want to speak to a ghostwriter? Then speak from the heart” →

Six emotions every writer will feel

‘Everyone has a book in them’ How often have you heard that phrase?

When researching who originally said this well- worn observation, Christopher Hitchin’s witticism cropped up in Google:

‘Everyone has a book in them, but in most cases that’s where it should stay,’ he wrote.

But of course it’s a ghostwriter’s job to help these stories be told, so I prefer author Jodi Picoult’s more positive take on the phrase:

‘Everyone has a book inside of them- but it doesn’t do any good until you pry it out.’ Read more “Six emotions every writer will feel” →