I loved today’s interview. I was finally able to lure out of hiding Debbie Dragon – the ghost writer to the gurus. Debbie has written literally thousands of articles, ebooks, reports, blog posts and assorted other writing projects. Debbie is also the ghost writer we rely on every week to transcribe our interviews, write summaries and ghost write articles to be submitted to article directories. She has an incredible wealth of knowledge about how to work with people to create quality books that will sell.
I’d like to share with you a few of the things we learnt today but first let me tell you how Debbie is looking after our members. Please visit Debbie’s website for a free report on writing an ebook with a ghost writer. You can find it here:
Special offer for GOLD members
While you’re there you will see that one of the services that Debbie offers is a transcription package. This includes transcribing of an audio with definitions added, summary page created like the ones we use to help our members find info in a transcript quickly and an article. This usually costs $115 but GOLD members of Wonderful Web Women receive a $30 discount for as long as you remain a gold member. Remember this is with a quality writer so you will not have to spend another hour editing and doing quality control.
How To Get The Best Quality E-book Written By An Expert Ghost Writer
Here are the main steps to follow when working with a ghost writer. The main point that carried through Debbie’s call today was the importance of clear and honest communication. As long as you are working with a professional, the quality of your finished book depends very much on the quality of your communication. These tips will help
1. Be clear on your target market
It is not enough to say “poker players”. The writer needs more information to be able to pitch the book at the right level. A better example is “Poker players who have played at casinos for years”
2. Give a clear outline
The more detail you can give the better. Debbie talked about how much info is needed to write a book but the clearer you can be, with a table of contents and clear outline, the closer your book will be to what you are looking for.
3. Research
Be clear on how much research the writer will need to do. Usually the writer will research the book for you. Debbie gave a good tip about how to be sure that the information the writer provides is accurate. Amongst other things – insist the writer give you a list of all the sources they used for information so you can check.
4. Be clear on the size of the finished product
Some of our listeners shared stories of contracting writers for a certain number of pages and then finding that half of the pages were contents lists, headings and titles. Debbie suggested contracting on word count rather than page count. She also went into quite some detail on the number of words needed for articles, blog posts, ebooks and reports. Too much detail to include here but take the time to check out the interview recording as well as the mastermind recording as Debbie stayed behind for ages to answer detailed questions.
5. Work to Milestones
Nothing could be worse than receiving the finished book and it is completely different to what you wanted. Insist on the first chapter to be delivered so you can make sure you are both thinking along the same lines. It is better to rewrite this first chapter a few times rather than have to rewrite the whole book.
6. Capture your voice
Let the ghost writer know if you want the tone of the book to be formal, casual etc. If you have something else you have already written, send a copy to the ghost writer so they can write in your voice.
The Tip Of The Iceberg
As you can imagine, with a 60 minute interview and then almost another 60 minutes of questions and answers this is just a little of what Debbie shared with us today. The recording of the interview is already in the gold members area for you to listen to and the transcription (yes, done by Debbie) will be available within 2 weeks, usually sooner. I’d love to hear of any experience you have had with ghost writers or writing ebooks. Leave you ideas here on the blog or go over to www.wonderfulwebforum.com and discuss this topic with other members.
Cheers
Janet
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