April 5, 2018

If you are new to my blog, my name is Robert Bruce Woodcox.  I am a ghostwriter, best selling author and Pulitzer Prize nominee for fiction in 2012.

If you are interested in the art and science of ghostwriting and are curious about how that whole process works, you've come to the right place.

The best place to start to get answers and ideas is to use the "Search" function to the right of this panel and type in March 31, 2018. That will take you directly to the beginning of the story. If you're interested in random stories, ideas, solutions and answers, start anywhere. 

If you haven't already been there,  you can visit my full website at: http://www.theghostwriter.net

You can also comment on any discussion by clicking on the comment link at the end of each post.

About Confidentiality Agreements, Credits, Fees and other must know elements of a relationship with a ghostwriter.

NDAs
Confidentiality or "non-disclosure" agreements, or NDAs are your first order of concern if you are about to embark on a book (or for that matter, anything which involves you giving proprietary information and knowledge about your ideas to another person),

You should NEVER discuss your book project whether that is a memoir, novel or business book in detail with ANYONE until you have a signed NDA from that person in your hands. (If you want the customized agreement I use, just email me at: ighostwrite@icloud.com. Or visit my site: www.theghostwriter.net)

A non-disclosure agreement is a binding contract that protects you from having your ideas, intellectual property, research materials, etc., from being stolen from you and used by someone else without your permission.

Simple as that. You can also find templates on line by googling: Confidentiality agreements. There is no need for you to sign this agreement, as it should be written only to protect you from someone poaching your ideas. 

Credits
In the "old days" when few people knew what a ghostwriter was, much less used one, a ghostwriter never received credit for his or her work. And that is as it should be. I am different than many ghosts in that I really don't care if I get a credit for helping you with your book or not. I love my work, I enjoy the adventure of collaborating and brainstorming ideas and copy with another individual. I also enjoy helping them get their books published. For all this, I am paid handsomely. I sometimes even feel a little like a young rookie major league ball player who is happy to be paid to play the game he loves. That's not to say it's easy work, it's just the difference between passion and punching a time clock.

In today's world, the cat is well out of the bag. Most people assume either right or wrong that most celebrities in show business, politics and elsewhere have used a ghostwriter to write their memoirs or other stories. The difference between today and say, just 20 years ago, is that many celebrities or others, often relish giving co-authoring or "with" credits to a ghostwriter, especially if that ghostwriter is a kind of celebrity in his or her own world as well. There these people, there is a cache to telling the world you have your own ghostwriter and if that ghostwriter is well known with plenty of high end memoirs under his writing belt, then so much the better.

If you read the above portion of this blog, you'll see how important it is to have your ghost sign a non-disclosure agreement. This agreement should also include specific information on credits. Will the ghost have his name on the cover of the book as a "with" or "co-author" or not?

In most cases, it doesn't hurt you to include "something" about your ghost whether that's on the cover, or in the acknowledgments or elsewhere. On the other hand, if you choose not to include your ghost, that is perfectly fine as well. After all, it is your story, your details, six months or more of your life sharing all that information and bringing ideas to the table for inclusion. Either way, the most important thing is to set clear rules on credits in your NDA BEFORE you begin to do anything.

FEE

My fee structure is simple. I base my fee on $1 dollar a word. It doesn't matter whether you want to write your memoirs, a business book or a novel, the fee structure is based on this simple logic.

However, the total fee can vary because the length of various types of work vary. Generally, unless you are an extremely well known celebrity in show business, politics or other higher profile professions, a memoir generally runs about 75,000 to 90,000 words or the equivalent of about 275-350 pages in book form. However, word count and page counts are not the same thing. For purposes of the fee, all money discussions are based on word counts. The reason for this is that various writers and editors use different size and style type fonts and page margins. Thus, some books with larger fonts or wider margins can run at different page counts. With word counts as the basis for the client/ghostwriter goal and renumeration, there are no gray areas. 

Business books usually are not that long. They are more marketing oriented and are usually best written more to the point without need for a lot of story telling or character development. Business books can run as little as 25,000 to about 65,000 words but of course, there are exceptions.

Novels, or other fictional works tend to be the most lengthy for various reasons both financial and critical. A typical novel by current publishing industry standards usually runs from 75,000 to 100,000 words or more.

The point is, once we discuss your needs, what your goals are and what the potential market is for your story, then it is relatively simple to zero in on a flat fee. When I say flat fee, I mean there are no other hidden costs. My fee is charged in three increments, each in advance of the first, second and third sections of the book. So, for instance, if your book is an 80,000 word memoir, each section of the book and prior payment would be $26,666 dollars. 

Additional costs, that are agreed to up front outside this writing, editing, interviewing fee, include: travel to you, hotel and food and the cost of transcriptions of interviews. Other than that, one fee covers my travel "time," interviews with you and others we determine we need, writing, research, editing and all the other behind the scenes heavy intellectual lifting a ghostwriter does to bring your story to life and to market!

In all, the efforts I put forth in helping you to turn your story into an intelligent, entertaining, informative and "sellable" book involves hundreds of hours of labor.  Perhaps labor isn't the best choice of words for the magic that transpires between a very good ghostwriter and his client. I always say, "We only write as well as we think," and so "labor" is a relative effort--labors of the mind, the body and the spirit, would be more appropriate.

How long will it take to complete your book?

Of course, each book project is unique to some extent. Generally though, a memoir, business book or novel can be completed (written and edited) in about six months. However, lengthy novels and even memoirs that are more "legacy" books, can take months longer. The important thing to remember is that you should know, and have it in writing, how long your project will take before you begin.

Having written more than 40 books, I can tell you that a six month time period is usually sufficient.



You can always visit my website at: http://www.theghostwriter.net for more tips, answers and details or email me at: ighostwrite@icloud.com