How Will A Ghostwriter Make The Book Sound Like Me?

How Will A Ghostwriter Make The Book Sound Like Me?

From the desk of professional ghostwriter, Jennifer Merrill Locke

You’ve spent the last several decades building a brand and establishing your “known” factor.

You’ve got stories: those you tell your audience, those you tell potential clients, and those you only tell your closest friends.

You’re a complex, multi-passionate person, and you’re nervous to work with a ghostwriter because of this nagging thought:

How the heck is a stranger supposed to capture who I am on the page? How will a ghostwriter make the book sound like…me?

This is a question authors ask me all the time.

I get the fear factor. You’re afraid of being reduced. Over-simplified. Misrepresented.

The last thing you want is to come off on the page as: pompous, ill-informed, a jerk, a sap, or…fill in your own blank here.

It’s scary to entrust your life story–your voice–to a collaborator you’re meeting for the first time.

Yet we ghostwriters have some tricks up our sleeves.

One of our superpowers is quickly adapting our writing style to an author’s voice, so that the author reads the work and says:

“Wow, you nailed it here. How did you do it?”

Without further ado, here’s how:

We’re listening for the things you care about.

If an author mentions their love for Bob Dylan, let’s say, I’ll probably sprinkle some Dylan lyrics into the chapter I’m writing.

If they grew up in Pittsburgh and had Steelers’ season tickets, I might find a way to mention the Steelers’ historic 1978 season and Superbowl win.

If you tell me your favorite movie, there’s a high likelihood I’ll quote a pivotal scene.

Want to know a secret? I delight in this–finding natural, surprising ways to sprinkle the text with things that make your heart sing…without pulling focus from the book’s subject matter.

It’s part of the fun of the job.

We’re listening for how you say things.

Do you speak fast? Slowly? Are you a fan of a well-placed curse word? Have you spoken in colloquialisms since you were ‘knee high to a pig’s eye’?

When I meet with authors, I’m paying attention to what they say and how they say it.

(I’m also paying attention to what they don’t say…where there might be more to the story, where I may need to gently press for details to paint a scene more vividly or more fully develop an idea.)

Your ghostwriter will probably want to record your meetings. (I do!) I produce transcripts of each call, and these help me ensure I am relaying the author’s words accurately.

But before I ever look at a transcript, I’m training my ear to the author’s voice. Think of how an orchestra tunes to the first violinist before the conductor waves her arm to start the concert.

I’m tuning to the author’s voice from our very first conversation.

We solicit feedback from you.

How do I know if I’ve captured an author’s voice? Simple: the author tells me!

Getting the voice right is the most important part of the ghostwriter-author collaboration. We do not pass ‘Go’ before we accomplish this. Voice supercedes everything else.

Once an author and I have a solid outline and it’s time to start drafting the book, I write one or two chapters (typically the introduction and/or chapter one). Then, I send the material to the author with this crucial question:

“Where have I gotten it wrong?”

Anything the author doesn’t like–or doesn’t believe best represents them–has got to go. Whether or not I like it doesn’t matter one bit.

Now–this is not to say that I won’t gently push back on an author’s feedback from time to time.

But that only happens if I think the author wants to cut material that will impede the reader’s understanding or lessen the impact of the work. We work together to reach a compromise.

As I tell my authors: our goal is to make a great book.

Reader experience comes first, before anyone’s ego. What I, as a ghostwriter, like is only important insofar as I’m representing the person who will matter most in the end:

The reader.

Capturing an author’s voice comes down to this: creating the clearest, truest version of their message for the person holding the book.

Finding the voice and crafting that message? That’s nothing short of a joy.

Learn more about how we find and define your voice. Speak with our team about your book and concept. (click here)