So You Want to Be a Ghostwriter?
My ten-step guide to everything you need to know
A friend of mine contacted me recently as she was interested in exploring a memoir idea. She wanted to know how you go about pitching a memoir. I first, of course, directed her to this piece that I wrote last month – my ten-step plan for getting a narrative non-fiction deal.
How To Land a Six-Figure Book Deal
The theme of January’s Write With Me Club was ‘beginnings’ and we’re just a couple of days away from me revealing the theme for February – I can’t wait to see White Ink members next Monday for our next online get together. Upgrade here to come along and join us.
It is worth me mentioning, that if you have a non-fiction project or memoir that you would like to get off the ground, you can upgrade to a gold membership with me which will give you a 45-minute one-to-one where we can talk through your project and I can help you shape it. I always forget to mention how to work one-to-one with me.
Free subscribers can do that here:
Otherwise, drop me an email: annawharton@substack.com
But back to ghostwriting, the memoir that my friend wanted to shape into a pitch was a ghostwriting project, people seem curious about the life and work of a ghostwriter, so I thought I would write a ten-step guide to becoming one.
Firstly, some housekeeping, here is what you need to know about me in case you don’t already. I have ghosted nine (I think at last count) memoirs, some of them have been Sunday Times Bestsellers, one was longlisted for The Orwell Prize, there have also been among them a Radio Four Book of the Week, A Richard and Judy Book Club Pick and a Spectator Book of the Year 2023. I have also managed to bag three six-figure deals based on proposals that I have written, and so you could say I know my onions on this topic. You can find out a little more about me and my books here.
But there is a little more to ghosting than you might imagine, below I will explain all you need to know to become a ghostwriter. I hope you’ll understand why this post is for my paid subscribers only, it takes a while to put useful pieces like these together, and so see it as an act of reciprocity, I share wisdom with you in exchange for you supporting my work for the price of a slightly expensive coffee, enabling me to keep on writing posts like this one.
And so, how to be a ghostwriter: