Write and edit
Book ghostwriting services for Australian authors
You have the story, the expertise or the life. A ghostwriter turns it into a manuscript in your voice, with your name on the cover and the copyright in your hands.
What it is
A writer who sounds like you, not like a writer
Ghostwriting is interviewing, drafting and rewriting until the book reads as though you wrote it on your best day.
We start by listening. Most projects begin with six to twelve recorded conversations, because the way you explain something out loud is usually better than the way you would write it. Those recordings become the raw material: your phrasing, your examples, your order of thought.
From there you see a chapter outline, then a sample chapter, then the draft in instalments rather than one intimidating delivery at the end. Memoir and business books are the two we are asked for most — there is more on how we approach memoir and biography publishing if that is your project. If you are still deciding whether to write it yourself, our guide to self-publishing versus traditional publishing is the honest version.
- Your name on the cover, your copyright, no credit to us
- A signed confidentiality agreement before the first interview
- Draft delivered in instalments you review as we go
- Two rounds of revisions on every chapter
What's included
What a ghostwriting project includes
Four things every project gets, whatever the subject.
Recorded interviews
Six to twelve sessions, transcribed, so your own phrasing survives into the book.
Outline and sample chapter
Approved before full drafting starts, so a wrong structure costs a week, not a year.
The full manuscript
Drafted in instalments, with two rounds of revisions on each chapter.
Confidentiality in writing
A signed agreement covering your material, your identity and the project itself.
How it works
How a ghostwritten book gets made
Five stages. You approve each one before the next begins.
- 01
Scoping conversation
Week 1A call about the book, the reader and the length. We tell you whether ghostwriting is the right answer or whether editing your own draft would serve you better.
Your part: An hour on the phone and anything you have already written.
- 02
Interviews and research
Weeks 2–6Recorded sessions, transcribed and indexed, plus any documents, diaries or notes you want in the book. Your writer reads everything before drafting a word.
Your part: Six to twelve conversations, plus whatever material you can dig out.
- 03
Outline and sample chapter
Weeks 6–8A chapter-by-chapter outline and one fully written chapter, so you can hear the voice before committing to the whole book.
Your part: Read both and be blunt. This is the cheapest moment to change direction.
- 04
Drafting
Months 3–7Chapters arrive in batches, usually fortnightly. You comment, the writer revises, and the next batch builds on what you approved.
Your part: Read each batch within a week or so, and keep the notes coming.
- 05
Final manuscript
Month 8A complete, line-edited manuscript ready for proofreading, design and publication, with the source files handed over to you.
Your part: A final read, then decide whether we publish it or you take it elsewhere.
Portfolio
Books we have designed and produced
Cover and production work from author projects. Every title is shown with its real author.
Given
Elayna R. Gallea
Discipline
W. J. May
Death Is a Girl
Autumn Knights
The Weight of Rain
Clare Mahoney
The Lighthouse Cat
Marnie Delacroix
The Reef at Night
Helena Voss
Related services
What usually comes next
Packages
Where ghostwriting sits in our packages
Ghostwriting is quoted separately, because the work scales with the length of the book and the number of interviews. The packages below cover what happens after the manuscript exists.
Manuscript
Get the writing right before you spend anything on design.
for a 60,000-word manuscript
- Written manuscript assessment
- One round of structural editing
- Line edit and final proofread
- Australian spelling and style sheet
- A call with your editor at each stage
Publish
Everything needed to turn a finished manuscript into a book on sale.
for a 60,000-word manuscript
- Everything in Manuscript
- Original cover design, print and ebook
- Typeset interior for paperback and ebook
- ISBN registration and legal deposit
- Retailer and print-on-demand setup
- A printed proof copy before you sign off
- You keep the rights and the royalties
Publish and launch
For authors who want readers to find the book in its first month.
for a 60,000-word manuscript
- Everything in Publish
- A launch plan with dates and owners
- Author website with an email sign-up
- Retailer advertising for the first 90 days
- Review and bookshop outreach
- Monthly sales reporting for six months
Every quote is confirmed after we read your manuscript. Prices in Australian dollars and include GST. Longer books and illustrated books cost more, and we will say so before you commit.
Questions authors ask
Ghostwriting: questions authors ask
Yours. A ghostwriter takes no credit, no byline and no copyright. The manuscript is work for hire: you own it outright when the final invoice is paid, and you can publish it with us, with someone else, or not at all. We also sign a confidentiality agreement before the first interview.
Expect a five-figure project for a full-length book. The price moves with length, interview count and how much research is involved, so we quote after the scoping call rather than from a rate card. Shorter books, and books where you already have a partial draft, cost considerably less.
Six to nine months for a 60,000 to 80,000-word book. Interviews take four to six weeks, the outline and sample chapter another two, and drafting runs four to six months with you reviewing fortnightly batches. Rushing it usually costs more, because the rewriting happens at the end instead of as we go.
Bring it. A half-finished draft often means the job is editing and structural rewriting rather than ghostwriting, which is cheaper. We will read what you have and tell you which it is. If the voice in your draft is strong, we work to keep it rather than replacing it with ours.
Then we fix the voice before drafting the rest, which is exactly why the sample comes early. You get one rewrite of the sample included. If it still is not right after that, you can stop there and pay only for the work done to that point rather than being locked into the full project.
No. We turn down projects that need claims we cannot verify, books that attack a named private individual, and subjects where we have no competent writer available. We would rather say no at the scoping call than take a deposit for a book we cannot write well.
Still have a question? A real publisher will answer it.
Start your publishing journeyA clear way forward
Tell us about the book in your head
A scoping call costs nothing. You will leave it knowing whether ghostwriting is the right answer for your project, what it would take, and roughly what it would cost.
- 1
Tell us where your book is now
- 2
We read it and recommend the next step
- 3
You decide with a written quote in hand