Your story, your writer

Ghostwriting Stages

Memoirs, life story, autobiography, family history,
self-help, how-to, biography, current affairs,
psychology, sociology, history... and more

Let's Work Together...

If you have already written some of your book, we can blend your work into the manuscript. But if we are starting from the beginning, these are often the stages:

1. Interviewing
2. Transcribing the interviews
3. Research
4. Structuring the story and creating a vision of the book
5. First (or rough) Draft
6. Second Draft
7. Fact-Checking
8. Third (or polished) Draft
9. Proofing
10. Typeset Draft
11. Back Cover Copy
    

 
Interviewing
In depth interviewing, in person, on the telephone, or video conferencing with Skype. Email support.

Transcriptions
After each audio-taped interview, a transcriptionist types out what was said and titles the sections for easy reference.

Research
Names, places, dates, descriptions are researched using books, the Internet, studies, published papers, and primary and secondary sources. Some of the research would be considered fact-checking. Both electronic and paper files are created for easy reference.
                                
Drafts
Depending on the complexity of the project, there may be partial or full drafts in between the standard three drafts.

First draft
The purpose of the first draft is quantity, not quality. Get everything down on paper that could possibly be in the book, no matter how unlikely the subject. You won't want to show this draft to your grandmother, friends or colleagues. The first draft is typically about double the size of the polished third draft.

Second draft
In the second draft, I cut out everything that doesn’t belong or work, and rewrite the manuscript in an organized, creative way. This draft can be shown to a limited focus group of helpful friends, family and professionals for comment.

Fact-checking
Fact-checking is a continuous process from the beginning of the project to the end. Particularly in nonfiction, this can establish your credibility and that of the story.

Third draft
The third draft is a finished or polished manuscript, ready for presentation to a focus group. It includes a thorough proofing.

Notes
Few books require a footnotes section, but academic, medical and historical books, as well as books that use many sources for verification, often do in order to establish and maintain credibility. Footnotes are created in an unobtrusive way by adding a small superscript number at the end of a sentence or paragraph and creating a reference in a Notes section at the back of the book.
Example: number two ² 

Bibliography
A bibliography is not always necessary, but they are becoming more and more relevant, and are even appearing in fiction novels. 

Index
In addition to the Table of Contents, readers like to see an Index. A good Index lays out the structure of the book. And the Index makes it easier for readers to find names, places and events. Libraries are reluctant to carry nonfiction books that do not have indexes.

Proofing
Proofing is another process that I conduct throughout the writing process until the last draft when a very slow, detailed proofing is performed, preferably by an outside party who has not seen the manuscript.

Typeset draft
This is often the draft that is electronically formatted for presentation to a book printer, but may also be another polish draft.

Book cover copy
 Preparing the copy that will appear on the front and back covers is an important
 marketing function.