writing a book
What Do Writing and Outrunning a Bear Have in Common?
By Marie Ellis Does staring at the empty void of a spotless Word doc activate your sympathetic nervous system? Sure, you’re sitting at your desk. Your cup of tea is releasing steam in a beautiful dance of calm. But your body thinks you’re running away from a bear. Or perhaps you’re the type of writer…
The Real Reason Not to Use AI to Write Your Novel
By Richard Lowe Everyone has an opinion about AI and fiction these days. Most of those opinions are wrong, or at least incomplete. The arguments I hear most are about craft. AI doesn’t understand emotion. AI produces generic prose. AI can’t develop character. All of that is true, but those are problems of quality, and…
Resisting the Pull of Generative AI
By Jeff Raderstrong AI’s writing abilities have dramatically improved in the last few years – it can produce compelling fiction and (in certain cases) humans prefer AI writing to human writing. Writerly responses fall anywhere from outright outrage to maybe-this-isn’t-so-bad. While the philosophical debate continues on, the reality remains: AI can write, maybe better than…
The 2025 Ghostwriting Industry Report
Despite being one of the oldest professions on record, ghostwriting as an industry continues to evolve and grow. This past year was no exception, thanks in good part to technological advances and shifts in reader preferences. Seven of the developments having the greatest impact on book ghostwriters in 2025 included the following: 1. Artificial Intelligence…
Does Cold Calling Work for Ghostwriting?
Contacting people who don’t know you to ask if they might be interested in your ghostwriting services is not a new marketing tactic, and it is still used today because it works. More than 100 years ago, Alfred Fuller, who later founded the Fuller Brush Company in 1906, began selling household cleaning brushes door-to-door. He…
Always Go to the Original Source for Verification
Most writers understand the importance of finding the original source of information before using it in a book, article, blog post, report, speech, infographic, or anywhere else it may be cited. Those who attended journalism school likely had it drilled into them, while others learned through other methods, such as books or workshops. The core…
Building a Ghostwriting Portfolio When You Can’t Share Most of Your Work
Ghostwriters face a marketing conundrum unique to the industry: How do you market your services when you can’t talk about previous clients? Many authors demand that their ghostwriters sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) and/or confidentiality clause that prevents them from talking about their work together. This means that some of the most capable and qualified…
4 Ghostwriting Industry Predictions for 2025
As we kick off a new year, now is a good time to reflect on changes within the ghostwriting industry that we witnessed or got a glimpse of in 2024 as a clue to what may come. Which trends are taking hold and which are just starting to emerge? Which ones will impact demand for…
Guest Post: The Transformative Power of Sincere Ghostwriting Collaboration
By Albo Devine Over the past 12+ years helping bring 25 ghostwriting projects to life— from paradigm-shifting nonfiction to gripping memoir to illuminating fiction—the most important ingredient I’ve discovered for success in a collaboration is sincerity. Believe it or not, this sincerity is always the same. Whether an author is a billionaire ‘somebody’ or a…
Tips for Hiring a Ghostwriter
By Erick Mertz Finding the right professional service provider for your needs is often tricky. This can be especially true when it comes to hiring a ghostwriter for your writing project. What makes hiring a ghostwriter so tricky? One reason is this: published rates are difficult to find. Then on the off chance you are…
How Does the Money Part Work with a Ghostwriter?
By Laura Schaefer I recently updated my website and asked a friend for her feedback. She said this: “It easy to understand the value you bring to the project of writing a book. What I don’t understand is how much potential money I would make if I wrote a book, and what percentage of that…
Even Geniuses Need Writing Collaborators
Guest Blog Post By Jennifer Locke “My Shot.” “You’re Welcome.” “We Don’t Talk About Bruno.” What do these songs have in common? Answer: They were written by certified MacCarthur genius Lin-Manuel Miranda. And, perhaps, they were reviewed by John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats before the rest of the world was exposed to these earworms.…