Ghostwriter
Join Our Team as a Ghostwriter
Do you love writing and get excited about learning? More importantly, are you skilled at speaking with people to find out what is cool about them or what they know that other people don’t, and turning it into a manuscript? Of course, you need to be good with words to be a writer, but you really need to be great with people to be a #noboringbooks ghostwriter.
If you have experience writing non-fiction books for other people and you can help a sometimes scattered and overwhelmed mind organize and focus around a goal to complete a manuscript … then please keep reading!
We have many things that make up the Book Launchers way, but the three most important things we do in the early phases of helping a client write are covered here:
- Hook of a book: https://youtu.be/JUzi4qGH0-A
- Elements of a marketable book: https://youtu.be/VwtYvIU6DOo
- 4 Ways to Start a Chapter: https://youtu.be/_z8mFkhvi1M
Finding the best person for this role is the most important thing. The work is done remotely and on a contract basis, so as long as you’re in North America, we are happy to consider you for the position.
What is your role?
We are looking for a skilled writer who can take a project to a finished first draft of a manuscript. When you’re introduced to an author they will have already gone through multiple exploration calls with our Story Expert to get clear on their audience, develop a hook for the book, and set up an outline. You’ll be introduced to the client in a warm handoff, and be given support from the Story Expert to guide the author through the plan. Sometimes you’re rewriting existing material, but most of the time you’re taking the outline and then speaking weekly with the client to get the first draft done.
We don’t expect the first draft to be amazing, but we do want you to keep the hook clear throughout, include stories to engage and entertain the reader, and make sure the book speaks to the ideal reader in the voice of the author. The rest, we’ll work through in content edit and beyond.
Our book projects move fairly quickly compared to traditional ghostwriting roles because we do a lot of the heavy lifting upfront to plan the book out, and we don’t require an edited manuscript to be turned in. There is also minimal research required because the content comes from the author. Most of our writers work on 3-5 projects at a time (some are also writing coaches with us if that interests you, you can mention that when you apply).
Our hashtag is #noboringbooks so it’s important that every book has emotion, story, and be reader-focused. We also like to think about marketing the book when we’re writing it (or, helping our clients write it)!
You will need to have a positive presence on the phone as you will need to connect with each author over the phone on a regular basis. You’ll need to be eloquent and concise in email communications as you will be sending updates and asking questions via email.
Bonus points if you have a strong creative mind for marketing so you can help craft a book that will help the author reach their goals and appeal to their end reader. When a book is complete we handle book review pitching, book store, and library distribution, speaking engagements, live appearances, media and more so the quality of the book and the ability to be well received when marketed are essential to the entire process. And this begins with you!
Book Launchers helps entrepreneurs and professionals to publish high-quality non-fiction books. But, this is not a traditional publishing company. Our authors retain all control and ownership over the content and keep all royalties. We provide the team and the guidance to help our authors write and publish, AND achieve their business objectives through their book. It’s not just about selling books (although we help them with that too!). It’s about using a book to build a business, boost a brand, become a recognized expert all while sharing valuable expertise and experience with others.
You’ll build relationships with the unique and experienced people who want to become authors. You’ll learn about all kinds of professions, personal stories and businesses as you take the author through finishing the draft of their manuscript.
Our process has five phases:
- Pen to Paper (Writing Your Book)
- Process (Editing)
- Publishing (Design, Layout, & Set-Up with Printing and Distribution)
- Platform (Building the business around the book including website, social media, and other services offered around the book)
- Promote (Selling the book).
Your job is to support the author entirely through Phase 1, providing check-in points with the author as well as Book Launchers as per your contract (most contracts are for 3-5 months depending on the scope of the project).
When the book leaves your care, it’s ready for content editing.
Specific Tasks Include:
- Working with the author to develop a plan and schedule to draft the book as per the outline and hook you’ll be given. This is not as simple as it sounds. Many entrepreneurs and professionals will want to put WAY TOO MUCH into one book, while others won’t give you much to work with and you’ll need to work hard to coax information out of them. You MUST be able to chat with an author and uncover the material that needs to be in the book. Ultimately, the team at Book Launchers will provide you support, but you will be responsible for delivering the book according to the milestone schedules to the author for review and to Book Launchers for final approval. This means your ability to interview an author and uncover the important ideas and concepts vital to their message is the next most essential skill you need besides your way with the actual words!
- Write the first draft of the manuscript. You are not expected to edit the book, however, you and the author will be reviewing the material together as you write it so it will be developed as you go. You’ll also be sending it to the Book Launchers team after Chapter 1 and the mid-point milestone so the team can assist you in developing the material further if necessary.
- Provide weekly progress updates to the Book Launchers team. We want you to succeed in making our client happy and in writing a solid first draft so we want to stay in regular contact around your progress and you’re connecting to the author.
The ideal candidate for this role has written non-fiction books for other people (And can provide some writing samples of that work), or has a depth of experience writing and has written their own non-fiction books.
If you have not written at least two non-fiction books, please do not apply for this job.
This currently is a CONTRACT POSITION. You will be offered work on a project by project basis.
If this sounds like a perfect fit for you then here’s a bit about us.
Book Launchers officially opened to authors in September 2017.
It’s a great time to join our small but mighty (and growing team). Founder, Julie Broad, is a Top 20 under 40 award-winning entrepreneur, an award-winning OVERALL Amazon #1 bestselling author (her first self-published niche non-fiction book actually topped the charts of all the millions of books sold in Canada on Amazon and stayed there for 36 hours and was in the Top 100 overall for 45 days), and she’s a recognized expert on self-publishing, branding, and marketing.
The company is based out of Las Vegas, but many of the team members are located all over the United States and Canada.