Our Diary

In our ongoing series of sharing what exactly it is we do here at Book Architecture, we’ve unpacked what both a Phase One and Phase Two of developmental editing looks like, with the former being about manuscript evaluation and the latter being about manuscript revision. But what about the clients who don’t have an existing manuscript? What if they’re looking to us to generate that?

What we’re talking about, then, is ghostwriting.

Ghostwriting is a term that can have a lot of negative associations, but while I have ghostwritten dozens of books in as many disciplines, I’ve never once ghostwritten someone their philosophy. To me, that is the core distinction. With that out of the way, let’s get into the nuts and bolts of what this looks like.

The First Draft: How to Generate Material

When a ghostwriting project commences, I begin by digesting all of the material that already exists on the topic, be it the client’s emails, video presentations, white papers, haphazard notes, general research, or beyond. Then, we begin to generate new material with purpose, but openness. Zoom-based video interviews that I go on to transcribe often form the heft of this step, but I might also send the client a series of email prompts to which they are encouraged to respond in an unselfconscious way (i.e., no copy editors here). They might keep notes on their phone of anything that comes to them, or in a journal that they will later type up and send to me. Whatever helps to run up the word count is the goal for the first draft. At the end of this stage, we have a glorious mess of between 50,000-70,000 words…the length of an actual first draft.

Between The First and the Second Draft: The Outlining

Time spent here in analysis both allows the creative mind to rest, and pays huge dividends for a reorientation to a successful second draft. Without forcing it, the end goal of this interim stage is a detailed outline which accounts for all of the best material that has been generated that serves as my personal roadmap for moving forward. 

The Second Draft: Bringing the Best Parts Up a Level

Draft two simultaneously focuses on what is truly working (something that was identified during the previous analysis), on new opportunities for generating first draft material to be woven in, and of course, on what can go. During this phase, the client becomes the editor, reviewing drafts and offering comments through whatever mechanism is comfortable for them.

I will usually begin this draft the same way we began the first draft, with interviews that will be transcribed. Only this time my questions have grown much more focused. 

Between The Second and the Third Draft: Working with Beta Readers

This is usually when I will bring in between three to seven beta readers, a term used to designate individuals who read a work before it is finished and offer feedback.

Beta readers should be distinguished by their variety and yet identified by the fact that they would be readers of the eventual book. I can recommend and hire beta readers on the client’s behalf, or they may have people they are connected to personally or professionally that they want to bring into the process, or both. Beta readers are then given a questionnaire with ten specific questions to weigh in on. 

The Third Draft: Hit it and Get Out

The first draft is about getting it down, and the second draft is about making sense. The third draft is about making it good. Beta reader responses can contribute powerful information to this last stage of the drafting process. The client and I can populate a punch list of changes that we want to make and sections we want to improve.

The best way to keep the momentum here—an inevitable challenge at this juncture—is to keep the subject matter of your revision fresh. Or, as a mantra for this draft might read: “Hit it, and get out.” Where we land at the back end of this could be called the polished draft, and it is this draft that will go to copy editing.