Book Coach, Ghostwriter, or Editor: Find the Right Help for Your Book

Oct 5

Most of the inquiries I get start the same way: “I’ve been thinking about writing a book.” She says she’s been wanting to write a book for a while and knows she has experiences worth sharing. The problem is, she’s just not sure how to begin. Or maybe she has a simple outline, but she’s been mulling over which stories to tell for years, sometimes decades. And the woman inquiring is looking for help, but has no idea who she's supposed to hire to help her figure it all out: book coach, developmental editor, or ghostwriter.

Those titles sound close enough to be interchangeable, and most of the articles you find on the internet explaining the difference were written by companies that sell exactly one of the three. I offer two of them, plus one that works alongside them, so let me give you the version I'd share with a friend over lunch, money talk included.

What a Developmental Editor Does

A developmental editor works on a manuscript that you’ve already written. You hand over a finished draft, all 50,000 messy words of it, and she reads the whole thing and tells you what works and where you can improve it. She looks for places where the story loses its thread or where you can connect the dots better for the reader. She shows you which chapters are doing real work and which ones need to go another layer deeper. She can tell you whether the ending you wrote is the ending that will make the most impact on the reader.

You'll usually get an editorial letter and a marked-up manuscript. Then you go away and revise, mostly on your own.

Typically, I don't sell developmental editing on its own. It's built into both of my offers, which I'll get to. If you already have a complete draft and all you need is a set of experienced eyes on it, you want a freelance developmental editor, and that's a different option from ghostwriting and book coaching.

What a Ghostwriter Does (and What Ghostwriting Actually Costs)

I like to say, as a ghostwriter, my job is to listen to you talk, and then I write. Kind of like a scribe, but one who knows how to pull your voice and personality into the words.

A ghostwriter interviews you for hours, sometimes dozens of hours over several months. She goes through whatever you've collected: journals, voice memos, old letters, that half-started Google Doc. Or if it’s a business book, she’ll ask you about your frameworks, methods, lessons, and case studies. Then, she writes the manuscript in your voice, and you approve it chapter by chapter as it's built, so by month seven you’re ready for an edit rather than a rescue.

One question I get is: “So, if I hire a ghostwriter, whose name goes on the cover?” The answer is: your name. Even though a ghostwriter writes the words, they are your words and your intellectual property. So you are the author, and you own the copyright. Nobody ever has to know I touched it, which is the whole point. I even sign a nondisclosure agreement as part of my ghostwriting contract. As the author, it is always up to you whether or not you disclose that you worked with a ghostwriter.

My ghostwriting offer starts at $30,000 for a finished manuscript of 40,000 to 50,000 words, delivered over eight months. That includes the outline, the full draft, a developmental edit, and proofreading. You’re also getting the experience of someone who has written half a dozen books, several of which have claimed the bestseller badge for their category on Amazon. With my ghostwriting service, I work with my developmental editor and proofreader for editing rather than do it myself because it’s always nice to get a fresh set of eyes on the manuscript. Once the editors send back their notes, I make the edits and send the manuscript to you for approval.

In general, I don’t like to rush books. Good books take time, and I want you to have the best book you possibly can. A compressed schedule is harder on everyone, but if you need your book done faster, I offer a rush fee. Five months is the limit, though. Any faster and it’s harder to give your book the care that it deserves. Current pricing is always updated on my services page. [LINK: services page]

If you’re thinking, “Whoa, I had no idea ghostwriting would be so much!” That’s okay, I understand. It can be a bit of a sticker shock if this is the first time you’re looking into ghostwriting. I would have felt the same way. But now that I know how much work goes into interviewing, writing, editing, and producing a well-written book, the price makes sense. Could you find a ghostwriter who will write a full-length book for $5,000? Maybe, but you're buying something written quickly by someone who hasn’t spoken to you long enough to understand your book. Or worse, they’ll use AI; it will sound like crap, Amazon will reject it, and your credibility gets ruined.

What a Book Coach Does (and What Book Coaching Costs)

A book coach guides you while you write the manuscript yourself.

With my writers, I always start with structure, because that's what makes or breaks a book. We figure out what your book is actually about, which is seldom what you thought when you started. For memoir, we decide which years of your life belong in it and which ones belong in a different book. For self-help, we find the best way to take the reader through your methodology so they come out transformed by the end. We build the framework before you draft, so you don't write 40,000 words and then discover they were the wrong 40,000.

My book coaching is a high-touch service. We meet up to twice a month, two hours at a time, for eight months. Each session is recorded and sent to you so you can listen as you get the ideas down on paper. You write your chapters, then send them to me so I can read them and help you elevate the writing. In months seven and eight, I run two full rounds of editing on your manuscript (one high-level and one sentence-level) and send the final draft to my proofreader.

Coaching starts at $16,500 for the eight months. When you get your manuscript back from the proofreader and finalize the edits, your book will be ready for formatting and publishing. Yay! I see “published author” in your future.

Book Coach vs Ghostwriter: The Cost and Time Question

Whether you hire me or go with another ghostwriter or book coach, the price gap between those two services can be large, and it comes down to what your time is worth. With coaching, you’ll need roughly six to ten hours a week of your own writing time for five months, then editing for the last two. (The first month is spent nailing down your detailed outline.) Ghostwriting buys back those hours, freeing up your time to work in your zone of genius.

With that in mind, the question becomes: What is my time worth? Time is worth different amounts to different people at different points in their lives. You get to decide what’s right for you.

Should You Hire a Ghostwriter or a Book Coach?

Price is what everybody asks about first, and I’m no exception. Skip the sales pitch and just tell me the price! (That’s why I’m up front with my pricing.)

But here’s another question: do you want to have a book written for you, or do you want to write one?

Those are two different desires, and both are legit. Some people—coaches, leaders, and entrepreneurs, for instance—simply want the book to exist. They know a book can help them build their business, get their message out into the world, or help them get on a TEDx stage (which was the case for one of my clients). The writing itself holds no appeal and never will. For those people, hiring a ghostwriter is a clear-eyed business decision, and I'm glad to help.

But for many of the women who write to me, writing the book themselves is the dream. She's carried this story for thirty years, and something in her wants to be the one who puts it on the page. When she hands the writing over to me, she gets a beautiful book but misses the thing she was actually after: the process of writing.

If you’re on the fence, book a discovery call; I can usually figure out which one I'm talking to within ten minutes.

Do You Need a Book Coach, a Ghostwriter, or an Editor?

Do you have a finished draft? Then you likely need an editor, not a book coach or ghostwriter.

When you picture yourself writing this book, do you feel dread or excitement? If you feel dread every single time, with not a single shred of excitement, then ghostwriting is the best option. But if the thought of writing your own book sounds thrilling, but you feel a little apprehensive, then hiring a book coach is the answer.

Do you have a hard and fast deadline? Depending on how much time you have, you may want a ghostwriter. If you can set aside the necessary time to write and edit, then book coaching is a good option.

Have you started and stopped more than twice? That's a structure problem, not a discipline problem. A good book coach can help you fix the structure so that the writing flows. (Or book my Outline Intensive, to get your detailed outline mapped out so you can get to writing.)

Why I Suggest Most Writers Hire a Book Coach Instead of a Ghostwriter

I’ve ghostwritten half a dozen books, and I can honestly say that I'm good at it. I’m not saying that to brag, but my clients have been extremely happy with my work. Yes, I still struggle with imposter syndrome sometimes, but when you reach a certain age, you stop playing small and start accepting the compliments. Books I've written have hit bestseller in their Amazon categories, and that’s no small accomplishment. (I would really love to tell you which ones, but—NDA).

Ghostwriting pays considerably better than coaching does. Yet I still send most of the women who contact me toward coaching. Because when someone tells me she's been carrying a story since 1994, and her voice changes when she describes one particular afternoon in it, she doesn't want a manuscript written for her. She wants to be a woman who wrote a book, the woman who was brave enough to say: I am a writer. I would never want to take that away from her, and I am honored to be the person walking beside her while she does it. Besides, I know how healing and cathartic writing can be.

Still Not Sure Whether You Need a Book Coach or a Ghostwriter?

That's normal, and that’s why I have another option. It’s called an Outline Intensive.

The Outline Intensive starts at $2,500 and takes two sessions. Before we meet, you fill out a prep workbook, then we spend two hours on your story. The next day, I spend a few hours building your outline from our conversation, and then we spend two more hours walking through your outline chapter by chapter. You leave with a finished blueprint, up to 20 pages in a Google Doc, and a clear view of whether you want to write it or hand it over.

If you decide within ninety days to do either one with me, I’ll credit what you paid toward your ghostwriting or book coaching.

Start with the Outline Intensive [LINK] or tell me about your book [LINK] and I'll tell you honestly which of the three you need, even when the answer is none of them yet.Most of the inquiries I get start the same way: “I’ve been thinking about writing a book.” She says she’s been wanting to write a book for a while and knows she has experiences worth sharing. The problem is, she’s just not sure how to begin. Or maybe she has a simple outline, but she’s been mulling over which stories to tell for years, sometimes decades. And the woman inquiring is looking for help, but has no idea who she's supposed to hire to help her figure it all out: book coach, developmental editor, or ghostwriter.