Why do people hire a ghostwriter to write about their lives?

Andreja Bogdanovski

Sep 23

6 min read

Updated: Sep 24

Andreja Bogdanovski during an outdoor interview in Podgorica, Montenegro, 2019 — Not your usual interview spot, but the person I interviewed asked to do it in the main "Independence Square" in Podgorica (the capital of Montenegro). 2019

“Oh, that is very interesting,” was the comment I received from an older lady sunbathing on a lounger on my holidays, who suddenly stood up to ask me questions about memoir ghostwriting while I waited for my Greek coffee and chatted to a new friend about where the industry was heading.

It is often the first reaction I get whenever I say I work as a ghostwriter, in other words, writing other people’s life stories.

I'm not sure whether people genuinely consider it an interesting job when they comment, or if it's simply a matter of British politeness.

But regardless, I accept (and hope) that the comment may also signal curiosity and eagerness to know more – as ghostwriting is often cast behind the veil of secrecy, celebrity and Hollywood stories, and, honestly, it is the way it is often described in the media.

Over the past few days, wherever you tune in on TV or scroll through social media, you can't miss Earl Spencer’s memoir about Princess Diana. This seems to have triggered another wave of discussions about Prince Harry’s “Spare” memoir, which we all know was written by J.R. Moehringer, his ghostwriter.

The initial hurdle

Most people pause whenever the word ghostwriter comes up. Not that they are afraid of ghosts, but because they’ve been exposed primarily to one version of ghostwriters – those writing for celebrities and politicians.

While ghostwriting may sound new, it's not a recent invention. The premise that ghostwriting is associated with politicians has a solid foundation – many political figures in the past and today still employ ghostwriters and speechwriters as part of life in politics.

Over time, the profession has become closely associated with Hollywood and with celebrities who wanted to share part of their life journey with their core fans, but also as a PR exercise - to shape and correct the public narrative surrounding them.

Among the general public, an interesting shift happened during the pandemic; many people were prompted to reflect more deeply on their lives, families, and mortality.

At the same time, ghostwriting and publishing became more accessible, with memoir writing and independent publishing services increasingly available to people outside the traditional world of celebrity publishing,

Who comes to me for ghostwriting?

This article may be especially useful for people who have already thought about writing a memoir but feel they would benefit from some outside help. That's why I think this blog post might help demystify the process and explain what working with a ghostwriter actually involves.

I’ll start directly with the first and probably biggest misconception mentioned above– that only celebrities, politicians or “high achievers” seek a ghostwriter to write their memoir.

This is simply not true.

I have not (yet) worked with a celebrity, but from the enquiries I receive, I’ve noticed that most people come to me for completely different reasons. Here are some of the most common:

· wanting to tell their own story and their own version of events;

· adult children wanting to preserve and protect their family history or to give a memoir as a lasting gift to their parents;

· wanting to leave a legacy and be remembered;

· having started writing about their life themselves, but not having the time to finish it;

· having experienced trauma where telling their story can become part of a healing process;

· having overcome adversity;

· having lived a life with strong purpose and conviction, whether through public service, faith and religion, international aid or something else entirely;

· not enjoying writing, or not wanting to deal with the editing and publishing process;

· wanting their memories and life story to be passed on to future generations;

· simply, having lived a life – even if it seems “ordinary”.

Big life transitions and milestones (retirement, a career change, losing someone you love) also prompt deeper introspection and make us reflect more on our life journey.

I realise, as I type this, that the list can be quite long.

But I suppose that only proves my point – that people write memoirs for all sorts of reasons, not only because they have achieved something extraordinary or because they are famous.

The list also shows how varied the motivations can be and that there is no clear-cut, contrary to some preconceptions.

But one common denominator remains: in most cases, people realise they need some outside help and support to turn their life story into a book.

How can a ghostwriter help you tell your story?

In a nutshell, having a ghostwriter write about your life or certain aspects of it can immediately unlock the long-dreaded “one day I will sit down and write” that you’ve probably been putting off for a while.

Working with a ghostwriter can take a lot of the burden off your shoulders when it comes to structuring your book, finding an overarching theme, developing your voice in writing, and handling scene development and chapter ideas.

I normally write a draft outline of the memoir (manuscript), sketching out the book in several chapters based on our initial discussion. I start with a brief discussion of the person’s life and the specific episodes they want the book to focus on. The more input you provide to the ghostwriter, the more collaborative the writing becomes.

Another big headache that working with a ghostwriter resolves is the worry about publishing and editing your book. This can feel paralysing, as dealing with printing, typesetting and layout design can be overwhelming and largely technical, which is a whole different ball game.

Depending on your contract and the service you choose, the ghostwriter you hire can likely take care of this part of publishing your story. This is why, when choosing the right person, it is worth checking whether their service covers only the writing itself (the delivery of a finished manuscript), or whether they offer a more comprehensive, white-glove service, similar to FirstMemoir’s.

That is, in fact, one of the advantages of working with a boutique ghostwriting service like mine. You work with the ghostwriter from start to finish, rather than having your project passed from one person to another (i.e., one interviewer conducting interviews, another writing the manuscript, a third managing the project, and a fourth handling finance).

A good ghostwriter will tell your story in your voice

There is another matter that I believe sets apart the type of ghostwriter you employ for your project.

The essence of great ghostwriting is capturing the client’s voice and reproducing it faithfully throughout the book, so that readers feel they are hearing the story from the person they know, and not from a completely different writer they’ve never met.

So, ideally, you should be hearing comments from friends and family along the lines of:

“I like how you described this part;
"I remember this story” or
“I can really hear your voice in this part of the book” and even
“I can imagine you saying exactly that to the rude shop assistant.”

Journalists are exceptionally well suited for this job

People with a journalistic background are often particularly skilled at capturing your voice.

We’ve conducted countless interviews and distilled hours of conversation into reports ready for publication, often within the strict word counts our editors have given us (not an easy task at all!).

No matter the story's complexity, we make it accessible and readable, keep it succinct, and know when to stop.

In fact, in the emerging world of ghostwriting for startup founders, entrepreneurs, and business owners, ghostwriters capture a business leader's voice mainly through direct interviews.

These conversations let the ghostwriter pick up patterns of speech, personality, and verbal and non-verbal cues they can use in their writing.

Ghostwriters with previous journalism experience can see where the story is going during the interview phase and ask the right questions.

This can be particularly helpful when moving between chapters and progressing the story. Journalists are trained to understand motives and the “why”, while at the same time moving the story forward, giving it a flow and momentum – truly a necessity when writing a book.

Does a ghostwritten memoir have to be publicly available?

There is probably a second misconception that can hold some people back from going ahead with a ghostwritten memoir: the belief that the finished book must be widely circulated and publicly available.

In my experience, this is not the case most of the time.

Many of the people I have worked with have had only a small number of copies of their memoir produced, primarily for themselves, their children, close friends and family.

A privately commissioned memoir can remain private and need not be written for the general public. If need be, additional copies can always be printed and arranged.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with a memoir being deeply personal and produced solely for the client. That can, of course, change later, for example, if the person who commissioned the book decides that they would like their life story to be shared after their death as part of their legacy.

Ultimately, this depends on the client’s vision for the book and the main reason behind its creation.

For others, depending on their main reason for writing the book, wide circulation might be seen as the ultimate goal. This can be because they want to share a great achievement or a life lived with a strong sense of purpose, or because telling their story publicly is a part of a healing process through which they can reclaim the narrative of their lives.