PASQUALE RUSSO

Along with penning statements, messages and articles from executives, I’ve helped key leaders at top corporations to bring their ideas to life in digital apps and in print.

When I began leveraging these same skills in a “side hustle,” I ended up helping six nonfiction authors to publish 10 different books. Three of these satisfied authors asked me to collaborate with them on other books. At the time, I was still working a day job.

How did my ghostwriting help these authors? While every project is a little different, all of them involved strategic listening, asking questions, sharing thoughts about the main concepts and how to best present ideas.

Here’s what typically happens on a ghostwriting project:

• The author comes with ideas that may or may not be written out. The most successful ones typically have some raw materials: a rough outline of their topic, summaries of talks they’ve given, articles they’ve published and partial drafts they’ve started. Regardless of their progress, we focus on their ideas, how they’re unique and how they fit into the author’s goals.

• After our discussion, one of us may decide that the project isn’t a fit. Some of that’s chemistry, background and interests. For example, I’m not interested in many sports, so I’m likely not the best partner for a golf or soccer book. Some of the issue of fit might come down to whether our schedules are open. If we make it past that, we focus on the details of getting started.

• If I’m collaborating with an author who’s writing, I suggest tools and ideas about how to organize info. In this case, I work as an editing partner who might edit or suggest restructuring what they’ve written, ensuring it’s clear, concise and as error-free as possible.

• In most cases, however, I handle the writing chores, presenting the info as they would. The author gets regular drafts that we discuss and modify.

• As needed, I’ll also research examples to illustrate important concepts.

• For self-published authors, I can help define cover art, create the back-cover summary and the author’s bio.

• For authors interested in working with a traditional publisher, I write the book proposal sent to agents and publishing houses, which summarizes the book’s selling points. If the book is acquired by a publisher, that’s when I typically finish the writing. (Non-fiction proposals only require a chapter or two, along with a detailed outline and a business case that positions the book as unique.) 

In short, I collaborate with you to move your book project forward, spotting what’s needed and doing the work required to publish a quality manuscript.

What’s a quality manuscript? The writing is relatively free of grammatical errors and typos, the concepts are clear, the information is well organized, and—most importantly—it echoes the voice of the author, not the stamp of the ghostwriter.

Maxwell Perkins, who worked closely with Ernest Hemingway, Thomas Wolfe and F.Scott Fitzgerald, expressed this goal so well:

“The book belongs to you. All I want to do is to bring your work to the public in its best possible form. My job, my only job, is to put good books into the hands of readers.”