How to work with a Professional Book Ghostwriter Part 3

Here’s the third installment in my ‘How to Work with a Ghostwriter’ series.  These articles will give you the lowdown on what you need to know and do – before you hire a ghostwriter. If you missed “How to work with a ghostwriter Part 1 or Part 2, just click the links.

Okay, so by now you know that these articles are designed to help you write a remarkable, entertaining and truly memorable book – by walking you through the planning and organizing steps you need to take before you start working with a ghostwriter.  The more you do at this stage of the process, the better your book will be, and the smoother the writing process will go.

On any given topic, there is already a dominant story that exists. So it’s important that you look at, and understand that story. In other words, who else has written books on your subject? You need to know as much about the competition as possible – but you’re not here to judge, or negate someone else’s work.  Instead, you want to look for these three things:

1. The history. The story you’re going to tell (and again, it doesn’t matter if your book is fiction or non-fiction) has to connect the dots for your reader. Your  book needs to provide a clear and contextual beginning, middle and end – so that your reader feels connected and like they’re a part of what’s going on.  Without this, your reader will feel an emotional disconnect – and you’ll lose them.
2. The larger meaning. Just like explorers of old, you need to discover what information in your topic is out there, what your reader expects to find in your book and then figure out how you can deconstruct it, recombine it, reinvent it – so your reader learns something new, and sees the new, bigger meaning in what you have to say and share. Information alone has lost it’s value, because there’s so much of it and it’s so readily available. Your goal is to write a book that has real meaning and relevance to your reader – and because of that opens them to the possibilities of what could be.
3. Where your thoughts, ideas and message fits in the scheme of things. Every society – every culture has its own rules and customs. From the time we were children, we were taught to look at things as ‘good’ or ‘bad’, ‘black’ or ‘white’. We also instinctively look for those invisible connections – how one thing connects to another, in a logical sequence of events, so that they ‘fit’ together. Your readers expect this, and for your book to be accepted, trusted, enjoyed and shared – you have to show how and where your book fits in the grand scheme of things.