Many people think that writing a book is sitting down, starting at page one, and writing it straight through to the end before going back and editing it from start to finish.
My Type A brain would love this, but it’s just not the case. Books are born through iteration.
This is true whether you write it yourself, hire a book coach, or partner with a ghostwriter. There will always be detours, iterations, and moments that take you off the linear path. And there should be. It means you’re being thoughtful and thorough in your approach.
You may be wondering, “Why hire a ghostwriter if I’m still going to end up iterating through the process?”
A good ghostwriter can shoulder a lot of this iteration burden for you. They help make the process more efficient and relieve a lot of the mental load.
But the fact remains, books are not a linear process. The curvy paths help lead to an engaging and fully-formed book. So why can’t we just strong-arm our way to a linear process?
Discovery Through the Process
Books force authors to really think about what they believe, why they believe it, and why they want to share these stories and insights with the world. It’s a very introspective and cathartic process, whether you go it alone or partner with a professional.
I actually believe this introspection happens more in-depth with a ghostwriter or book coach. These guides are asking you questions like “Why?”, “Tell me more.”, and other probing questions. They force you to think in ways that you otherwise may not if you’re running on autopilot.
As you go through the process, you’ll discover things about yourself, about your system, and about your viewpoints on the topic you’re writing about.
This will take us off the straight path, but this is a welcome detour! It adds depth and refinement to your stories and teachings. It helps the reader overcome objections you may not have thought about before. It helps make your book more relatable.
The process of introspection leads to key moments that lead us to rethink old ideas, ask more questions, and tell more stories.
A Cohesive Project
Unless your book is a collection of essays, the entire thing needs to be tied together. Earlier chapters are earlier for a reason. Later chapters build on these earlier chapters. This seems obvious, but it’s important to the process.
As you dive into the creation of the later chapters, you may realize that you need to beef up earlier chapters. There may be more background knowledge that you need to provide or there may be stories that you’ve remembered as you continue to teach on the topic.
Any insights from the introspective process that we talked about earlier may cause the structure of the book to shift for cohesion purposes. Maybe the order of the chapters changes. Maybe a new chapter needs to be added.
You’ll also have more clarity as words and ideas make it to the paper. Again, this will happen no matter how you approach your book. Gaps and inconsistencies become more clear when everything starts to come together on the page, and you can more clearly see where you need to go back and iterate. And you may not see this right away. An editor will help point this out as well.
This takes a different form if you’re working with a ghostwriter. As a ghostwriter, I tried to ask as many relevant questions as I can in the interviews. But I, too, gain more clarity and a better view of where things stand with the book once I start writing and reviewing. To be proactive before you even look at the draft, I’ll come back to you in the interviews to get more information that helps the quality, flow, and overall relatability of the book.
How a Ghostwriter Helps
While books are an iterative process no matter how you go about them, ghostwriters help straighten the path and alleviate so many of the detours. The way we do this is two-fold.
First, we’re professionals. This is literally our job. So we use our knowledge and expertise to make the process as efficient and effective as possible. We use our experiences to help you bypass unnecessary detours and iterations.
We also take on the brunt of the iteration. We start by being proactive. It’s not our first rodeo. We know what types of questions to ask and where to prompt for more depth during the interviews. We’re also the ones getting it on paper. We are able to first assess what gaps need to be filled and provide you with specific direction on what additional information we need to fill those gaps. We’re then the ones doing an entire readthrough of the book before we even hand it off to you, accounting for any remaining gaps or lack of cohesion.
After all these initial iterations from our side, you get to read it. Based on your feedback, we will then support you on another iteration of the manuscript.
Basically, we get one step ahead of you in keeping the project organized and moving.
If you want someone who can shoulder some of the non-linear messiness of writing your next business or leadership book, let’s chat! Book a free strategy session using the button below.
Disclaimer: This blog should not be construed as providing, or intending to provide professional financial, legal, psychological, or other professional advice. It is simply meant to share my experiences with those who may find them relatable and helpful.