I'm a bestselling ghostwriter - ask me anything (that I'm allowed to answer!)

[Notevenonaweekend]

I have signed a few confidentiality agreements in my time, but I'll still try and answer stuff.

Have written over 20 bestsellers, worked with most publishers, in charts at the moment, love my job - happy to answer general writing and publishing stuff too if I can!

Also, as this isn't work for me, if I end up with loads of typos, just remember I've been writing all day and I have terrible eyesight

endofthelinefinally - there are lots if you just Google ghostwriter. I'd encourage you to go down a few pages though as the first results are generally paid for companies that don't necessarily have that personal touch. I tend to tag most of my Twitter stuff #ghostwriting or #ghostwriter or #memoir, and I'm sure many of us do. Also, if there is a book that is in a genre you see yours (or you family member's) as being in, then look to see who ghosted it.

Nameless - sometimes people give me research to read as they know what the background needs to be, sometimes no research is needed, sometimes it's all online.

I don't read as much as I used to, and I don't read the genres I write really! If something is selling lots, then I will read that as publishers are quite conservative and like to commission work that is doing well already. With private commissions, there tends to be more research and more reading round things, I'd say.

Yes, there have been projects I haven't liked for one reason or another, but at least it teaches me what to avoid!

have u ever written for a youtuber/influencer?

@insearchof88 Mills and Boon, which is now Harlequin. I've heard pay is very poor indeed. It's different because you're paid an advance and then commission, but I read somewhere someone was making $6000 per book.

I have heard that certain household name celebrity chefs ran out of ideas years ago, yet they keep churning out books due entirely to the services of ghosts and researchers who write both their books and their recipes.

I was told this is essentially true by someone who was a chef and had worked at various good restaurants (Michelin starred with famous chefs). Not that the celebrity chef has run out of ideas necessarily, but that the majority of recipes in their books are written by unknown chefs paid to create new recipes in the style of the celeb chef. It makes sense - amongst running a restaurant and all their celeb activities, are they likely to be making up a hundred new cookbook recipes every year or two?

Can you tell us how approx much you would be paid overall for a book that sold well (advance and your income from sales) and how long you would have been working on it?

How do you find the 'voice' of the celebrity? Do you think your own voice shows through, could somebody who knows you well recognise it in a book they didn't know you had written?

A question about fiction ghostwriting: as a child I loved the Sweet Valley books (long running teen series with many hundreds of books, in case you missed out :)), however I always wondered- every single book said "created by Francine Pascal" on the front, and "written by" a different person inside. Every single book, including the first one published. How can someone "create" a series but every single book be written by someone else? What would the role of the creator be? I can understand fiction writers getting a ghostwriter to write a follow up book, but the first one seems strange!

Haven't been here for ages - and have new name - so missed the follow-up questions. Will do that now

have u ever written for a youtuber/influencer?

Yes - always NDAs on those!

A question about fiction ghostwriting: as a child I loved the Sweet Valley books (long running teen series with many hundreds of books, in case you missed out ), however I always wondered- every single book said "created by Francine Pascal" on the front, and "written by" a different person inside. Every single book, including the first one published. How can someone "create" a series but every single book be written by someone else? What would the role of the creator be? I can understand fiction writers getting a ghostwriter to write a follow up book, but the first one seems strange!

Did she die maybe before the first one was published? I don't know the details, so am only guessing! Or, sometimes, writers do just come up with an idea - no time, no interest in the genre but their agent/publisher wants it - so, they do genuinely just give the bones of it for others to write.

It is odd though, I agree with that.

Can you tell us how approx much you would be paid overall for a book that sold well (advance and your income from sales) and how long you would have been working on it?

if it is for a publisher - not private commission, - it really varies. Some ghosts will write for royalties alone if they are trying to get established. The higher the advance, the less chance of royalties.

I've heard of £500 advances, some are really shocking. The vast majority of books I've worked on have seen my income come from the advance - I'd rather have that in hand than guess how many it will sell.

I've had books I've had to write in a couple of weeks, some people don't have a deadline so would rather pop in and out to it over a year or more.

This sounds ridiculous. And you probably hear this from many people. I think I would be quite good at writing. I have an interesting life story to tell. But I'm scared that people may find out who I am. I'd like to give writing a try or should I find somebody that would write my life story for me.

How do you find the 'voice' of the celebrity? Do you think your own voice shows through, could somebody who knows you well recognise it in a book they didn't know you had written?

I don't think they could as I just take on the voice of whoever it is.

I speak to the person a lot, hours and hours of interviews, which means I get their tone, their favourite words and phrases (usually have to cut back on how often they are used as people are rarely aware of how often they say the same thing), their dialect if they have one, how they talk about people (such as loved ones), pet names for family . . . so many things. Then I just 'become' them I guess.

This sounds ridiculous. And you probably hear this from many people. I think I would be quite good at writing. I have an interesting life story to tell. But I'm scared that people may find out who I am. I'd like to give writing a try or should I find somebody that would write my life story for me.

You'll never know until you try - but a lot of people come to me because they do try and just can't manage. You need to write a lot and read a lot. If you write it yourself, or engage a ghost on a private commission, you never have to use your real name, you can be as anonymous as you want!

This sounds ridiculous. And you probably hear this from many people. I think I would be quite good at writing. I have an interesting life story to tell. But I'm scared that people may find out who I am. I'd like to give writing a try or should I find somebody that would write my life story for me.*

And, yes, I hear it from 90% of people! They'd do it if they had the time, they were good at English at school, they KNOW they have a bestseller on their hands, their friends all tell them it's fantastic . . . again, fine if you go for a private commission, but publishers (and ghosts) hear this all the time, and they rarely believe it.