Anyone been a Ghostwriter for this company...?

[writemyname]

Seen an advert for a company called LifeBook. Seems they produce memoirs for elderly people. They employ freelance "interviewers" who record the elderly author and these interviews are then sent to a Ghostwriter who turns them into chapters and eventually a book. It doesn't pay a huge amount but wondered if they were legitimate? I don't want to link to their website in case it breaks any MN rules. Anyone know of them?

I've checked their website for you....it looks pretty legitimate. What stood out to me though were the "monthly meetings" with writers.

As an editor and copywriter I would not need months to ghostwrite the story of someone's life.

I appreciate they may want to allow the clients time to recall and enjoy their memories but still...seems a bit like overkill to me and would delay payment a lot for those doing the writing!

They could do telephone calls just as easily...the site says they send writers "local to you". Which again seems like a massive waste of time. It essentially means they must have a tonne of unused writers on board at any one time.

Yes I think it's weekly meetings but looks like there's about 12 of them so someone goes and sits with the interviewee and then that material/interview transcript gets sent to the ghostwriter. I think they must just hire as they go. So they get an old person in Manchester and then hire someone to interview them in Manchester and then the ghostwriter gets sent stuff (they can be anywhere). I'm trying to work out whether it's financially viable - looks like the interviewer gets about £400, haven't seen what the Ghostwriter gets. I think The Ghostwriter is expected to write something after each interview whereas I would prefer to get a whole chunk of stuff to work with and then direct a couple of interviews to clarify stuff, fill in gaps, strengthen weaker parts. I have no experience in ghostwriting though and don't know how these things work with the celebrity autobios but assume that the interviewer and ghostwriter are one and the same in those circumstances? I wondered if I could try being a ghostwriter as I do have a little experience in writing and thought this might be good experience.

Well I would say that unless you're pretty speedy it won't be financially viable...they won't pay an awful lot as they'll want a decent profit too. But you could enquire and see what you think as it would at least give you more experience.

I agree with you that it would be annoying to get odd chunks instead of all information at once though.

Any other Ghostwriters here that can give me their thoughts on this?

I can't see how this would work. I do ghosting and I like to do all the interviews myself - otherwise I just wouldn't have a 'feel' for the person. I would absolutely hate for someone else to do the interviews for me.

However, it's unlikely that the projects mentioned above are for anything other than vanity publishing, so my main concern would be that the 'clients' are being fleeced.

I don't think the clients are fleeced but it IS a business. I imagine that it's the Ghostwriters and Interviewers that end up out of pocket? It looks like it's fairly straightforward on paper but I can't help thinking that you would end up putting in more hours just to make the end product as good as you could.

I would love to know the calibre of the people they employ and whether anyone is actually making a living out of it. Or whether you would do it once and then never again! Would like to hear from anyone who has actually done it.

I can't see that successful ghosts would do it. It might be a way in, to build up a c.v., but even then . . . you wouldn't be in control of the interviews and it isn't the way major publishers work so they perhaps wouldn't find any relevance in it.

I do still wonder about the morality of it - fair enough if someone is rich enough that they won't miss the money, but I always tell clients this if they want a private commission: go take the money out of the bank that it would cost to employ me, actually look at it, think how long that took you to save. If seems like nothing, fair enough - if not, do you really want to spend it on this?

tipstyloolah thanks for your input. I've got a feeling that children buy it for their elderly parents a lot of the time. They seem to big up the "social" aspects of it. Someone will visit your mother and sit with her and listen to her life story and then you get a book. I guess if you lived far away from your parent it would be a way of ensuring they have a visitor every week! I'm sure, to be fair, that it could be an enjoyable process for the author but am not so sure of the benefits for the writers and interviewers. And I don't know whether the ghostwriters are expected to "write" or just shape up a transcription without too much finessing?

Do you Ghostwrite for well-known people? (you don't have to reveal who!). I've always wondered what that process is like when you are faced with someone like Katie Price or David Beckham. Am sure it's rather tricky and quite a skill to write coherently whilst retaining the author's tone (and vocabulary!!) And it must be shrouded in so much secrecy.