To write a book about my life?

[ghostwriterwanted]

I've been through a lot and I'm 30. I have three children. I was married very young and have been through huge trauma but I have over come it. I want to write about it because it's my story of addiction withdrawal and redemption

I don't have the discipline to sit still and write, I have adhd,

Is there a way to tell my story to a writer and work together with them? Thank you
And also is this really fucking big headed of me to think people would want to know my story of how I over came addictions?

I can understand you wanting to write a book but am not sure what your USP is. Addicts from wealthy backgrounds have been gossip column fodder for years so hardly anything new. Jamie Churchill, Tara PT and countless offspring of Hollywood stars.

That's why I don't know if it could be written in the first person.
I don't want to share that and leave that as a legacy to my children. That's why I've asked about ghost writers. That's why I've told you I was pathetic. Not sure if you're trying to make me eat humble pie, have unresolved personal issues with addiction in your family, or are just a bit curt.
Either way this is exactly how people end up under the cover of something when they have an addiction. Because there's no warmth or assistance waiting for them.

Hmm this is what I'm wondering but my story is a domesticated story as I have been a house wife
I wouldn't be brave enough to share my face I don't think
I just know as an addict reading and knowing you're not alone and there are options really helps to heal. I feel these books are niche and usually read by someone with a personal connection to the story. I wasn't taking cocaine in London dancing. I was at home. And on prescription drugs.

Thank you Polly, yes I think I could fictionalise it to make it more readable, it would give lots of scenarios to write a story about but then I could preserve my families dignity. who all think I'm badass by the way!!!

I am a writer and have done some ghost writing in my native language (not English). I charge per word rather than per day, but it would probably work out to be around £200-£250 per day if the material doesn't need a huge amount of re-jigging. It will cost you many thousands of pounds if you want to write a standard sized autobiography of around 80-100K pages.

I think in your situation you should not do an autobiography, but perhaps a shorter memoir. You would then include just the parts that are related to your struggles and it doesn't need to be factual, just from your point of view. Alternatively, write a fiction novel with elements of your story included. You can then keep the most vital parts and make it less identifiable by mixing in fiction. That way you are also not sharing information on others around you who have not asked to be written about.

So you think you are the only privileged, rich person to have gone through addiction and hard times? You’re already coming across as very self indulgent. Also, when I buy a book I don’t do it specifically to support the author like you just stated. I do it because I will (hopefully) find the content interesting.

I am not here to invalidate your struggles. Your struggles are your own and real, however at aged 30 I doubt it’s interesting enough to write a book. There is no USP.

This is SO helpful.
I didn't know the difference between an autobiography and a memoir. I had pictured it as a snapshot of a time in my life, rather than my whole life

I wonder if I could write like a 200 page little skinny book about a mother, I'm really grateful for your post. I' haven't used my brain for seven years and it feels so good to be thinking again.

I think write a blog or Substack. You need to get your story down, it will be cathartic. If someone wants to read it they will find it. Also recommend a short creative writing course. You can write memoir (s?) in these.

I would say, just write. Write down everything. It will be a very cathartic experience and, who knows, you might discover you have a talent for writing and you can rewrite and edit and play around with it. Worry about whether it's worth publishing once you've done the donkey work. It will not be time wasted.

And well done on overcoming your addiction.

@ghostwriterwanted Sorry, didn't mean to say 80-100K pages, I meant words!

It might actually be more interesting to read your story through the eyes of a child whose mother is in the sitation you were in. The child will also evoke more sympathy which is something the reader wants to feel. Because as you have seen in this thread, there hasn't been much sympathy for you and you are being belittled because you grew up privileged and have come out the other end. For many this is a non-event because of your background.

A ghostwriter would be thousands and thousands of pounds. If you manage to get an agent onboard, who then sells it to a publisher, you'd get an advance. As a debut author, that's unlikely to be a large amount. 15% (typically) would be your agent's cut. Whatever's left would still leave you in the red.

What about royalties? Well, to get royalties, you'd have to earn out your advance, and 3/4s of books never do that.

I wouldn't turn to self-publishing for a memoir either. It's an oversaturated market and you'd need more £ to advertise, get a cover, etc.

If you want to tell your story, maybe some addiction recovery forums?

Don't know if anyone else has mentioned up thread, but there's a very accessible book by Cathy Rentzenbrink called 'Write it all Down' which is a guide to memoir writing. Disclaimer: I haven't written my memoirs, but I enjoy scribbling stuff down from my past and trying to make sense of it.

Congratulations on addressing your addiction OP.
ADHD is not a block to writing. This is your story. Take ownership, take responsibility, write it yourself. Jot down pieces as they come. It takes time and committment. Do the work. Someone can help you put the jigsaw puzzle together at the end. Don't look to someone else to write your story.

I don't think @ButterflyOil was curt at all, they made very valid points about the people around you. Addiction in any form is not just about you and that has to be taken into account when writing something that many people are going to read.

You may enjoy writing a memoir.

I will say please, please, please do not do that thing where, once it’s published, you badger everyone you know to read it, write an Amazon review, publicise it on their social media.

I no longer read books written by people I know. It’s awkward if I don’t like the book and I don’t want to spend loads of time publicising other people’s stuff.

I sort of agree with ButterflyOil.

More broadly, please consider how you will react if other people (not necessarily those connected to you) don’t like your book. I’ve hated books / films / albums that others thought were wonderful.

Even really good writers get bad reviews and they need to be thick skinned about them.

Something for you to think about before /if you go ahead.

My sibling has written a book, although unpublished, about their childhood and how they came through it and are now successful in a top career etc. unfortunately us other siblings are absolutely mortified to have our childhood possibly out there for all to read. It's caused a huge rift. So please think about the wider implications and how it effects other people.

I find it odd that you are a mother of 3 and ‘haven’t used your brain for seven years’ what do you mean by that?

How long are you clean/ sober, OP?

I think it's the kind of book that would have more impact the longer you are successfully in recovery, maybe?

Pearl Lowe’s book is very much like this, very privileged child with loving supportive parents, private schooling and lots of opportunities but making some bad choices with drugs and neglectful parenting.

Tbh if me saying have you considered others around you leads to that sort of response then i’d be pretty wary about being supportive of this project.

I asked a simple question and in response you’ve insinuated i’m one of those horrible unsupportive people or trying to get at you. Literally all I asked was have you considered the impact this could have on those close to you. If that was too much for you then maybe you’re not ready to be considering putting this part of your life out there for public consumption in whatever format.

You could use a translator where you speak and it types the words?

If you're well off, look at companies like Storyterrace. They provide ghostwriters basically.

I think if you enjoy writing (which I'm not sure you do as you don't feel you'd be able to write it yourself) it could be a nice little cathartic project.

But I don't think I can see the angel that would hook readers. You're 30 now and haven't used your brain for 7 years, so since you were around 23? Is that when your addiction started? You also mention marrying young and having children, mildly interesting to you I suppose but it's not exactly unheard of or different unless you were some kind of child bride.

I'm just not that sure that a young "housewife" taking prescription drugs in her own home is enough plot to prop up an entire book. Nice for you to order your thoughts and maybe act as a little therapy for you but I'm not really sure who your audience is.

Maybe do it as a blog at first, see if it's popular that way rather than spending loads of money on it first.

As others have said, hiring a professional writer to ghost your story will be VERY expensive - I have several friends who do this professionally and their rates vary from £300-1500 a day (one in particular has ghosted for some very famous celebs and is highly respected in the industry!).

There are, however, a lot of very supportive writing and editing forums out there - on Reddit, for example - where people will often review and proof-read your work for free or for a minimal payment (some will obviously be better than others). You could then, if you chose, self-publish.

Why not try starting to get some words down on paper? For what it's worth, I would not be your target audience, but people clearly buy these things, so give it a shot.