Not surprisingly those with a story to tell want to know what the procedure is and what the likely cost will be. Let us deal with the procedure first as without it the fees are irrelevant. First of all you need to set your story down; preferably on your computer. Think of it as the longest letter of your life. Structure it. Fiction or memoirs, do keep trivia to a minimum; save your imagination for the exciting bits.
Never worry about how the writing looks to you; a good ghost will edit and correct; add flair, pad it out and sex it up so people want to buy and read it; buyers will want to tell their friends what a great book it is.
Your computer tells you how many words you have written. It will need to be at least two-thirds of its completed size; I can turn 40,000 words into 60,000. Yours could by 80,000 words and I can edit it to 60,000 words. Get my drift? Work out the ghost-writing fees at €20 per 1,000 words.
Size isn’t terribly important. The very successful Mills & Boon range are about 55,000 words each novel. The average paperback is about 80,000 words. Blockbusters are usually unnecessarily big.
I ghost your story in 10,000 - 15,000 word sections, each part of which is paid so you don’t end up with a big bill. You receive each completed segment as the book progresses. On completion it will be 95 percent completed. This leaves just a little tweaking; we both go through it with a fine toothcomb.
At that point it is your book to do as you wish with; self-publish or seek a publisher. My recommendation is that the completed novel or biography is e-mailed to Keidi Keating. Keidi’s speciality is publishing and marketing your book.
She has what she calls her Ruby basic publishing package, which is adequate for most authors. Her competitive fee is £600 or €700. For this your book is typeset and you get a full colour cover design and the proof sent to you for final approval before going to print. It will then receive its ISBN code, which means your book is easily and universally identifiable as your copyright. You receive 20 published copies; order more if you wish.
Your book will also be made available to purchasers through the internet via Amazon and other online sellers. My clients get free conversion to Kindle. 80 percent of books are sold via Amazon Kindle. They do the mailings.
Will you cover your costs or make money? There are no guarantees in publishing but I will be honest with you if I think its potential is zilch. Obviously every copy you sell reduces your outlay. At some point you can smugly say you covered your costs; after that every copy you sell puts the mark-up in your bank account. It is a viable business and there are many first time authors making a good income from their investment. You can rest assured that both I and Keidi will hold your hand every step of the way. Good luck! – Michael