Roddy Doyle co-wrote Roy Keane’s autobiography, and American author J R Moehringer did similar services for Prince Harry and Andre Agassi. So what does it take to be a ghostwriter? Co Wicklow-based Sue Leonard has been helping people tell their stories since 2010.
Don’t you have your own stories to tell?
Of course. Leonard also works as a features writer and columnist but added ghostwriting to her resumé after the last recession. Since then she has co-written 12 books, including two chart-topping best sellers.
I can write! How do I get the gig?
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Leonard learned on the job but suggests taking a course in memoir writing to get going. See if it’s for you by writing a parent or grandparent’s memoir for them – which could be a wonderful experience, or quite the opposite, depending on your own familial relationships. With a published book of interviews under her belt, Leonard simply asked publishers if they need a ghostwriter. “Penguin, and Poolbeg Press both said, ‘yes,’ and it went from there.”
And then I just start writing?
There’s a little more to it than that. Leonard says it’s useful to think of it “like an 80,000 word interview, but one with good structure and narrative. It should read like a novel”. Moehringer said his 250 hours with Agassi “sometimes resembled psychoanalysis”, so you need to be good with people. “Along with good, clear writing skills, you need brilliant people skills, endless curiosity, and empathy. There will be tears,” Leonard says. “Theirs and yours.”
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What if you fall out with your subject?
“I don’t think ghostwriting would suit an opinion journalist or anyone with exceptionally strong views,” says Leonard. “There are sometimes disagreements about which stories should go in the book, and when other family get involved,” she says. You also have to be able to keep secrets, not only about your subject, but sometimes it’s even a secret that you wrote the book in the first place.
So who’s book is it?
Undoubtedly the subject’s. They have the last word, “it is their story, and they who always have their name on the contract”.
Speaking of contracts ...
You can make a living as a ghostwriter, which is good news. If the subject is readily available, and things are straightforward, it takes around 12 weeks, if you’re organised and know what you’re doing. “Money wise, each project is different depending on whether it has been commissioned by a publisher,” Leonard says. “These days, thanks to a great agent, I get a generous fee upfront, whether or not the book finds a publisher.” Whether the book going is to a publisher or being self-published, make sure you have agreed on a time-frame and fees, in writing, in advance.
Anything else to look out for?
Leonard says that the best thing about ghostwriting is “living in someone else’s head, and seeing the world through their eyes,” and that the most unexpected things are “the openness, honesty, and trust your clients treat you with. And the friendships you can gain. You have all the joys of collaborating, then of writing a book, without having to make it all up. But,” she says, “be very careful who you take on. Avoid anyone who wants to write a memoir to gain revenge on someone. You have to trust them, and their ability to tell the truth.”
Sue Leonard’s latest published memoir, If Memory Serves Me Wrong, with Ronan Smith, is published by New Island. Find courses and hints at writing.ie, irishwriterscentre.ie and at suejleonard.com
