An interview with our acclaimed author and ghostwriting specialist about our manuscript ghostwriting and editing services…
Q: Supposing a client has already been impressed with a free custom sample from E&M Ghostwriting Services, but is apprehensive now that the ghostwriter has officially begun work on his or her book manuscript. What words of comfort can you offer?
We can offer more than just words; we can offer an actual look at the manuscript being written! Many other ghostwriting companies are so eager to have booked a new client that they just take off to their cave for six months and write a first draft, leaving the client blind to the whole process. The inevitable result of that approach? Disappointment on the client’s part, and a massive, stressful rewrite on the ghostwriter’s part (unless the ghostwriter wants to risk being sued!). We keep the process open and collaborative. It’s the client’s project, not ours, so the client’s approval and satisfaction are essential. To gain satisfaction and approval, we send every 10-50 pages that we work on to the client and ask for feedback.
Q: How can a client be sure that the manuscript is written in his or her “voice”?
An expert ghostwriter is like an expert actor: He or she should be able to do a convincing impersonation of virtually anybody. However, the proof is in the pudding. The page alone will testify to the ghostwriter’s skill. It’s a purely intuitive process: Either the client senses him or herself, or the ghostwriter has missed the mark.
Q: When a client is having manuscript editing done, how can he or she be sure that the work will be changed in a sufficient manner?
First off, there’s a difference between “editing” and “editorializing.” A good editor will refine and enhance what’s already there. A bad one will impose unrelated values and content from outside. When E&M Ghostwriting Services is editing your work, the essential content remains identical. Strictly the form is altered. It’s a matter of replacing weak, limp sentences with tight, muscular ones. It’s a matter of giving a jolt of life to a piece with a sluggish pace. These are the editor’s objectives; anything content-related pertains more to ghostwriting.
Q: But supposing an editing client actually wants the content to be worked on?
In that instance, you’re dealing with more of a rewrite than an edit. A rewrite goes deeper, and can address matters of tone, rhythm, and flavor, as opposed to pure matters of grammar, syntax, and even spelling, which an edit concentrates on. Rewrites can even impact the characters and story. It all comes down to what the client wants. However, if the call for rewriting goes deep and wide enough, then perhaps ghostwriting is what’s really called for…in which case the client’s draft will be used more as “notes” than as a working draft.