Tips to Hire a Ghostwriter for a Business Book

Even when you know writing a book could be the exact thing that you need to do to help more people grow your business and be more well known in your industry, finding the time to sit in front of a computer and typo that material just might not be possible. A ghostwriter might be the way to go if you want to get that book done. But how do you get the right writer and make sure you get everything you need to succeed? If you're thinking of writing a business book and hiring a writer to help you, then, then this video is absolutely for you. Hey there. I'm Julie, the book broad of Book Launchers, your professional self publishing services team. When I wrote my first book, More Than Cash Flow, I got a taste for the power of what a book can do for a business. The training and education company that I ran at the time benefited from full workshops, shorter sales cycles into our $10,000 a year mastermind, and so much more. Our real estate investment business benefited from people just calling us out of the blue with capital to invest. And it also helped us build trust quickly with people who were considering investing in our properties. So I know the power of writing a book for your business, whatever that business. But I've also seen business owners write a book that did very little for themselves or their business because while they did put time and energy into the book, they didn't write the right book for their goals. Writing a book that you're going to be proud of and that gets results for your brand and business is hard work. And it takes a lot of strategic decisions that you have to make right from the day you make the decision to actually do the book. You see, the first step is not hiring somebody to write the book. Even though that seems logical. Going out and just hiring a writer is first of all, not as easy as it sounds. And second of all, it creates a lot of potential for problems. One of the reasons I started Book Launchers was because so many people write a book and then figure out how to market it. And that's not the order that sets you up for success, especially when you're writing a business book with business oriented goals. So first, what is the intended outcome of the outcome for this book? You're not just teaching someone how to plan for retirement. When someone follows your method to plan for retirement, what is going to be different or better or improved in their life? Perhaps it's retirement planning with real life in mind. So you're accounting for kids in school, medical bills, and caring for your parents in the plan. So you're Confident not just tomorrow, but also that today is covered. You're not just explaining, you know, how your fitness method makes you lose weight and feel better. It's helping you be able to get down on the floor to play with your grandkids and have the energy you need to keep up with your friends in your weekly walk. You have to get clear on that outcome of the outcome that is specific to your reader, and that has to happen before you write the book. And while some ghostwriters might get into the nitty gritty hook building that covers this, it is more about marketing than writing. So a lot of writers won't do this. You can still have a good book without getting this part clear. But you don't want just a good book. You want a good that look, you want a good that is. Buh. You can still have a good book without getting clear on this part, but you might not have a book that is good and easy to market that achieves your goals. All right, next thing you need to figure out. How will the book tie to your business and your business goals? This is a very strategic part of the process, and I won't say no. Ghostwriters are going to help you with this, but most are not equipped to help you figure this part out because it's the first step in your sales funnel. Or maybe this book is a relationship builder or it's the tool you're going to use to gain brand recognition or get speaking engagements. If that's the case, how will it do it? What do we need to make sure the book does so you can achieve that? And if it is for speaking engagements, what does the book need to say in order to land those speaking engagements? These are strategic thoughts that need to be sorted out before you're writing or hiring a writer. Next up, what level is your audience at with your subject? I mean, who specifically are these readers? Where are they at when they find your book? What problem are they trying to solve and how have they tried to solve it before? Great ghostwriters will touch on some of these things, but a lot of these decisions are strategic and really are things you have to decide and then communicate to the writer. Now that's why we at Book Launchers start all our clients with a story expert or someone who will chat brand strategy before we pair them with a writer. We do this to get clear on all of the above things. We also do this so there's a clear writing plan in place for the writer. And it also makes it easier for us to identify which writer is the best fit for the book. And along the way we have an author concierge who's in contact with our marketing team to make sure we're keeping the end goal in mind throughout the entire book process. Now, you don't have to hire book launchers to do your book. There's plenty of services out there that do some of the things that we do. But you may want to think twice before you just pay a freelancer or a ghostwriter only to write your book for you. Especially if you're planning to self publish. Because you still have the entire publishing process to go through and you have to be the one that project manages the entire process. And if you're too busy to write a book, then you're most certainly too busy to make sure you're getting the right people at the right time and that they're focused and know your end goal and that they're focused on how you're going to get your your book into readers hands. Remember, when you hire a ghostwriter, you're only paying for a manuscript, not a book. It's not edited, it's not designed, and it's not set up for distribution. So time is your most valuable resource. Like most business owners or professionals, you need a full service company that's going to scoop you up and carry you to the finish line with your strategy and marketing plans surrounding everything. And that's why I started Book Launchers. Because we focus on helping you write publishers and promote a business boosting book. Everything we do sets you and your book up for marketing success at the end. Because guess what? We're there with you, pitching you and your book for media. Live appearances, articles, speaking engagements, podcast interviews, running Amazon ads, submitting you to libraries and bookstores, book awards, and so much more. If your book succeeds, we ultimately succeed even though you keep all rights and royalties. So no matter what you do, when it comes to this process, you need to expect to pay a decent rate for your reader. Readsy posted a great article which I'll link to below on how to charge as a writer, and their Recommendation was about 35 cents per word if you're a relatively new writer. So if you're hiring a publishing company like Book Launchers or piecing it together yourself, you can realistically expect to invest at least $15,000 to $30,000 into getting a decent manuscript and then another 10 to $15,000 into the rest of the process. And. And that doesn't include marketing. Now there's other considerations too, like whether your writer will get credit, royalties or be responsible for writing other materials like book proposals or book descriptions and more. You also have to think about how much research you are going to ask the writer to do and how easy are you going to be to work with. Are you going to be a great resource for the material? And by the way, if you want your writer to be a New York Times bestselling author or have a ton of street cred, then you got to triple those rates above to get that manuscript. And when you realize how much work goes into writing a great book in the voice of someone else, you'll understand why that is the case. Now, all of this is a lot to consider before you hire a writer. Besides, we haven't even talked about what makes a good writer. And how do you know if someone is a good writer for you? That's a little bit of a tricky question. Often people say I need a writer that's an expert in my subject. But is that really true? Because if your reader is not an expert, then you need to be writing a book that your reader can understand. In that case, it's far more important that you have a writer that can capture your voice and understand your reader than it is to have somebody who's at your level of expertise. One test I like to recommend people do to test a writer is record a story you want told or record a short process that's integral to what you do. You can then send that to a prospective writer and pay them to turn it into an article. Now, an article is not the same as a book, so you're not looking for a great article writer. This test is simply to see if the writer can successfully capture your voice and your intent. We do an equivalent of this after we pair a writer and an author. We have what's called a voice test, which is usually the first one or two chapters of a book. Now, before you hire that writer, make sure you've gone through the process of thinking out your book. If you need help, grab my book, Self Publish and succeed because it will set you and your book up for success with all the professionals you need to hire. And it's less than $20 and you're going to save yourself a lot of time and potential mistakes, or even easier. Just work with us and our vetted, trained and experienced team who will help you please plan the content for your book with your business strategy in mind. We'll write it with you. We'll pair you with our marketing team while you're in editing, so we'll do the research on those keywords your categories, your competition and pricing. And we're going to take all of that research into account with the finishing touches. And then we also have the team that will take it to the finish line and help you sell it to your readers. Your business book will not grow your brand or your business if you're not finding audiences to get to know you and your book. Our team will research influencers, pitch podcasts, set up live appearances, get libraries to carry your book, find media to interview you and feature you in articles and so much more. Book marketing is a team sport and preparation for the main event starts before you write your book. Whether you're writing the book or a ghostwriter is. But if you do it all yourself, just subscribe to this channel and turn those notifications on so you get all the help you need for your do it yourself process. There's tremendous value in working with an end to end team who has marketing in mind from the beginning, but I know it's not for everyone, so I really do try to provide all the resources to help nonfiction authors succeed. Oh, one word of caution before you do hire a writer on your own. We have redone more than a handful of books written by other writers for our clients because the client was unhappy with how the writer wrote the book. The common complaint is it doesn't sound like me or the writer went their own direction. Remember, just because the writing is technically sound and flows well doesn't mean the book is written in your voice. It's not really your book if it's not your voice. And if someone writes in a totally different style or has their own opinion on a subject than you, then you have a mountain of work to do to redo it. Believe me, in one case we just started over. Redoing a book is sometimes harder than just starting from the beginning and doing it right the first time. So no matter who works on your book, you have to read it while they write it to make sure it's capturing your voice and it's to going going the way that you want it to go. And you have to be ready to have hard conversations with your writer if they aren't doing what you need them to do and you've hired them directly. All right, if you want us to help you, you can go ahead and reach out@booklaunchers.com apply if you're hiring your own writer and you have questions. You can post your questions in the comments below and I'll answer you here. Now, did you already find a great ghostwriter and you want some tips to work with them effectively. Well, this video right here is what you need. If you're good there and you're looking for the freshest content we've got, well, that one is right here for you. Either way, I'd love to hang out a little more. So please, go ahead, click the video and I'll see you there.