"Of all the advantages that ghostwriting offers ...
... one of the greatest must be the opportunity you get to meet people of interest."
Andrew Crofts

WHAT IS GHOSTWRITING?

Not everybody is a writer. Many people have great stories, but they lack the skills, the time or the discipline to translate these stories into the written word. That’s where people like me come in.

By definition, a ghostwriter is a person who is hired to author books, manuscripts, screenplays, speeches, articles, songs, blog posts, stories, reports, white papers, or other texts that are officially credited to another person.

I am an accomplished non-fiction ghostwriter, writing up to three books a year under commission.

As my client, your book could be:

  • Your personal story (your biography, or memoir) — You may have experienced something traumatic, adventurous, strange or wonderful during your lifetime that you feel would be of interest to, or inspire, others.
  • Your family history — Many people leave this Earth without a written legacy of their life’s journey. What a wonderful gift to leave for your children, your grandchildren, and beyond.
  • Your company’s story — Did you start a business that has exceeded your wildest expectations, and you would like to share your experience, your knowledge and your expertise? Perhaps you would like to create a book specifically for your employees or your customers? Imagine how wonderful it would be to have them open the book and read their stories about how they helped to build the company.
  • An inspirational or self-help book — If you are a trained professional who wants to share your wisdom through a book, this is the perfect platform to do it. Your book will become your most valuable business card, giving you credibility that will extend far beyond any other personal branding that you have created during your career.
  • Or it might be something else entirely.

As your ghostwriter, you will share your story with me and I will turn it into a manuscript. Although you pay me to write your book, you are the author and your name will appear on the front cover. It would be entirely up to you whether you disclose that your book was written “with” me when your book is eventually published.

HOW DOES THE GHOSTWRITING PROCESS WORK?

Should you decide to partner with me as your ghostwriter, the process would work more or less as follows:

  • We would begin by signing a confidentiality agreement. You would more than likely be sharing information with me that would go beyond the boundaries of the book and I would want you to feel assured that the information shared would remain confidential.
  • We would then collaborate to create an outline of your book, unless you already have one. If you have prepared a timeline of events or points that you would like to include in your book, the process of writing the book will move along far quicker than if we are spending hours and hours exploring topics. The more prepared you are, the better.
  • In order to formulate the content for your book, I would need to “interview” you, based on the outline of your book. You will share your story with me, I will ask questions, and I will record your words. Depending on the length of your book, the interviewing process could take anything from two full days to a week, to up to a month. This can be done in the comfort of your home or office, depending on where you live, or we can meet over a video-conferencing platform like Zoom.
  • If you’re an exceptional storyteller, you could ask a friend or family member to interview you and then provide me with the audio recordings.
  • Transcribing the audio recordings to text is a time-consuming but critical part of process. It generally takes me four to five hours to transcribe one hour of recorded interview time.
  • The audio transcripts will form the backbone of your book. Using the transcripts, I will dissect and reorganise the raw data into chapters and begin weaving your story together, rewriting your transcribed words in a format that would please the reader while ensuring that your authentic voice is maintained throughout the book.
  • Further research (either independently or with your assistance), if required, will be performed and added to the book.
  • I will produce an initial draft of each chapter, which I will return to you to read and provide feedback on.
  • Based on your feedback, I will continue to edit the work until you are satisfied with the final product.
  • When you are satisfied, I will prepare the final manuscript which you would be able to use to submit to publishing houses, or prepare to self-publish online as an e-book or offline as a printed book, or both. Please note that this will not be the typeset version of your book and you will need to submit the Word-based manuscript to a professional typesetter for it to be professionally converted into print and ePub format. I recommend Gregg Davies from Gregg Davies Media. He does the most incredible work, both with book jacket design and typesetting. You can check him out at www.greggdavies.com.
  • I am also able to work with you to self-publish your book on Amazon (in e-book and paperback), IngramSpark (in paperback, for distribution into the international book trade), and other online and digital bookstores. Please take a look at the Self-Publishing section of my website for more information.


All my work will be synchronised to a shared Dropbox folder that you will have full have full access to at any point in our journey. Doing this ensures that you always have a copy of the most up-to-date version of your manuscript, copies of your audio recordings and transcripts, and everything else related to your book.

Once you have decided that you are ready to go ahead and we have a written agreement and deposit in place, you will be assured of my undivided professional attention from start to finish. Because ghostwriting a book is a collaborative effort, you would need to be prepared to allow me to climb inside your head and live there for a while. Writing your book will take a minimum of four months of focussed attention, and then the fine-tuning and editing and proof-reading still needs to be added to the mix.

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO HIRE A GHOSTWRITER?

Employing the services of a ghostwriter can be a costly exercise and may require selling a kidney on the black market, so please take a look at the My Rates section of my web site before making contact with me. Writing a book involves an enormous investment of time, energy and creativity, and I take the process extremely seriously.

I bill by the hour and the entire ghostwriting process, from information gathering to transcribing our recordings to writing and producing a finished manuscript, can take in the region of between 250 and 320 hours for a 220-page book. This may be longer if the interviewing process needs to be extended, if additional research needs to be carried out., or if your content is complex to work with.

If you’d like to work with me as your ghostwriter, I’d love to hear from you. Please complete the form below. It will be sent directly to my email inbox at phillipa@phillipamitchell.com and I will respond within 48 hours. A copy of this form will be sent to your email address once you hit the submit button.

Alternatively, you can contact me directly by email by clicking here.

Recent Projects

While much of my ghostwriting works remains private, written for personal or family reasons rather than publication, here are some books that have made it into print:
In memory of Bruce Finnemore, author of "Views From the Southern Cross"
Bruce Finnemore

I have had the privilege of working with so many wonderful people. One of them was Bruce Finnemore.

In June 2018, I received a call from Grant Finnemore to ask me whether I would help his dad complete the writing of his life’s memoirs. You see, his dad, Bruce Finnemore, had recently been diagnosed with motor neuron disease, and it was aggressive. Grant told me that Bruce probably only had a few months left to live.

 
And so, we began. Because I was busy with two other books at the time, l asked that Grant spend time with Bruce and gather the audio recordings of as many of his dad’s adventures as he could; it would not be long before his dad lost the use of his voice completely. It was a race against time.
 
The audio recordings came. Over a period of four months, I worked day and night to turn them into a book. What a marvellous storyteller Bruce was. I laughed my way through many of his stories, and marvelled at his in-depth knowledge of the bush, of South African history, and of genealogy. I learnt so much. There were other times where I had to stop briefly, remove my headphones, and brush away the tears, times where I’d hear him choke up as he spoke about his family and his incredible love for his wife, Margie, for Grant and his wife Ania, and his grandchildren. I remember how, in one of the audio recordings, he struggled to maintain composure as he spoke about how he and Margie had so many plans for the future, but that she would need to fulfil those dreams on her own now.
 
Throughout the writing of this book, Grant would send me messages of gratitude from his father; gratitude for taking the time to being his dream of writing a book to life. All along, I was the grateful one. Being chosen to help a dying man and a family accomplish this gigantic feat was an incredible honour.
 
In December 2018, Bruce got to hold his book in his hands for the very first time. At that stage, he could barely speak. He was completely wheelchair bound and had lost most of his nerve function. Yet he still grinned his naughty grin and wanted to appear as normal as possible as he sipped a glass of celebratory wine through a metal straw and prepared to pose for a few photographs. As I hugged him goodbye that night, he wept. I knew that it might be the last time I’d see him. I drove home in silence. Life is so unpredictable, I thought. One day you think you have a lifetime ahead of you, the next you’re being told you only have a few months to live.
 
In early March 2019, Grant told me that he had planned a book launch at Skoobs at Montecasino later that month. I was over the moon. Bruce wasn’t giving up that easily.
 
When I arrived at Skoobs for the book launch that evening, Grant told me, extremely apologetically, that his father would not be in attendance. Nor would his mum. She was at Bruce’s bedside. Time was running out like the final grains of sand through an hourglass, and the family felt that it would not be fair to bring Bruce to attend the event.
 
My heart sank. He had come so close, but the disease was winning.
 
The book launch went ahead. Deborah du Plooy, in her always-beautiful way, made sure that every guest felt welcome and gave an opening speech that had me fighting back the tears. Grant read from the book (wearing his storytelling hat each time he did), and even played an audio recording of one of Bruce’s narrations. The guests were entranced. The applause was heartwarming.
 
Liam, Grant’s oldest son (who was 12 at the time), came up to me and thanked me for helping write his grandfather’s book. My heart melted. What a special child. I knew that his grandfather meant the world to him.
 
Near the end, we had a lovely Q&A, where guests asked Grant and I questions about the book. How I wished that Bruce was there.
There were tears, there was laughter. There was so much love and respect in the room.
 
Bruce’s adventures are done, and it’s time to close that final chapter. My heart aches for his family.
 
What a special human being.
 
Postscript: Bruce often questioned whether people would find his stories interesting. He definitely had nothing to be concerned about. Views from the Southern Cross is available from Amazon stores worldwide in paperback and on Kindle. The book also has its own website with sample chapters and loads of extras: viewsfromthesoutherncross.com

We met while you were ghost writing Bruce’s book. I so enjoyed getting to know you and your story. You were incredibly kind and empathetic towards all of us and helped to make a dying dream become a reality, for which we will always be thankful. Since then, I’ve watched your journey of helping so many others with interest and gratitude, knowing what it meant to us. Thank you for being the amazing person that you are.

Ania Finnemore
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