International Good News!
Publishing Perspective’s Editor-in-Chief Porter Anderson reports the Mellon Foundation has granted a US$150,000 general operating grant to Words Without Borders.
Called “The Home for International Literature,” Words Without Borders provides English translations of contemporary international literature to educators in 143 countries. More than 700,000 readers, students, and teachers, representing 140 languages and 143 countries, visit WWB Campus’ online magazine every year to read the published works of over 4,600 writers—all free of charge.
Kudos, Mellon Foundation—and congratulations, Words Without Borders. In this book-banning era, I extend a hearty, “Thank you for your service!” to all involved in this wonderful show of literary solidarity.
Acquisitions as Usual
By Eric “Kata” Schuyler
The past few months in publishing have been filled with major news stories, from high-profile mergers to significant industry shifts. However, this past week has felt like a return to business as usual.
Reagan Arthur’s return to Hachette Book Group to spearhead a new imprint at Grand Central Publishing, focusing on a select list of four to six titles annually, emphasizing quality over quantity, is refreshing. Meanwhile, Macmillan’s announcement of 23rd Street Books catering to the growing demand for adult graphic novels is an exciting development for myriad fiction franchises—especially if they succeed in their aim to explore diverse narratives and innovative storytelling methods. Penguin Random House’s acquisition of Boom! Studios highlights the increasing importance of comic books and graphic novels. Boom! will even retain its editorial independence, ensuring its unique voice and creative freedom remain intact. Lastly, RBmedia’s acquisition of Dreamscape Media, renowned for its high-quality audiobooks across various genres, will bolster RBmedia’s already impressive catalog, strengthening its ability to deliver a wider array of audiobooks to an ever-growing audience.
Interesting, but they all signal strategic-yet-typical expansions. Are these moves merely routine adjustments, or are we in the eye of a storm, with more significant upheavals yet to come?
One great thing about ghostwriting is that wherever the industry goes, we’re there, helping non-writing authors craft their best-chance manuscripts. Whether it's a new imprint, a strategic acquisition, or an innovative expansion, ghostwriters play a crucial role in shaping the literary landscape, ensuring that compelling stories and ideas continue to find their way to readers.
Worlds Apart
Canadian big-box book chain Indigo Books and Music CEO Heather Reisman admitted to Publisher’s Lunch that yeah, the pandemic nearly crashed her company. It cost Indigo $160 million (CA) in cash, which, along with her $120 million (CA) “wrong decision” to retire, “basically cleaned the cash off my balance sheet.” Un-retiring, she vowed to shift the focus back to books to regain its profitability and wants to explore “the connection between reading and brain development in a world where attention spans have declined.”
I say, “Ye, Heither Reisman!”
On the same day, we learned of former Hachette UK executive Ursula Doyle filing a discrimination complaint over the social-media harassment she’s been experiencing since publishing Kathleen Stock’s Material Girls, a “gender critical” title that butts heads with current social-evolutionary trends. Rather than protect her, she says, the company allowed a working environment to form that was hostile to her and “anyone else who shares my views.” They even allow trans women to use the women’s bathrooms at the office. She became so ill with “stress and associated conditions,” she had to resign—and now is suing.
Scrambling to recover from the pandemic, scrambling to return to the days of yore—what a perfect encapsulation of the book business as a mirror of today’s world, eh?
How Long Can You Tread Water (hahaha)?
That’s a punchline from an old Bill Cosby routine, in the bygone days when he was America’s Favorite Father and a side-splitting comedian.
The bit isn’t funny anymore. Nothing’s really funny anymore, is it? Everything’s sad, frightening, tragic, and outrageous.
And frozen… not in the good, Olaf from the film Frozen way. In the nothing is moving way. The world is standing still. Small businesses are stuck in limbo. Everyone seems to be holding their breath until November 5th, when we find out if calmer, saner heads prevail, and the United States continues as the greatest democratic experiment in the world’s history… or falls prey to lies, propaganda, and strong-armed tactics to become just another has-been nation ground under by despots and tyrants.
Poor Addams, Jefferson, and Franklin. Their bones must be shattering from all their grave spinning.
Lest we forget, though, in all the universe there is no such thing as a one-sided coin. The other side of our current standstill is the unavoidable Elliott Wave spring forward. Business may be molasses slow right now, but think of all the connections to be made, the good will to be spread, the helping hands to offer, and the satisfaction to be gained by staying calm and pushing ahead with the firm conviction that we’ll get through it all… together.
Leading forward from that perspective, here’s a Secrets of a Ghostwriter tutorial out in the open, free, no paywall. Yeah, like a lot of you, our business is at rest. We have a stack of clients eager to work with us “in just a couple of months,” when we all exhale. Until then, this is my contribution to the community’s good.
How Do I Get Clients to Pay Me $35,000 and More to Ghostwrite Their Book?
That’s the number one question of all time, the one I’ve been asked more than any other in every speech, presentation, webinar, and casual conversation over the past, well, decades.
Here’s the definitive answer that I’ve never before shared with anyone other than Ghostwriting Professional Designation Program students—because it actually introduces everything covered in the program, the basis of all someone must intuitively know or learn by either trial-and-error or through deliberate training.
When people come looking for a quick way to launch their lucrative professional career, I typically tell them how to present themselves to their already established circle of influence. It’s the easiest and simplest answer… but it’s also only the tip of the iceberg. After all, if their current circle of influence was inclined to pay them $65,000 for their one-book project, they’d already be doing just that. And the writer, editor, or ghostwriter would already be positioned to command it.
On that note:
Wambtac’s Ghostwriting Professional Designation Program (GPDP) trains ghostwriters the world over. In fact, we are the only ghostwriting training program that covers the techniques, strategies, psychology, mindset shifts, and publishing standards for successful manuscripts and satisfied clients. Learn more & sign up at ghostwritertraining.com.
Think about that iceberg.
What people see above the water are Professional Authority and Fees. What they don’t see below the surface are the mechanical, creative, professional, and business skills pros have, our theoretical knowledge base and finely honed mindset, or our constantly growing stock of ghostwriting psych.
So let’s unpack all that, starting with the one thing those of us on the premium end of the ghostwriting spectrum have in common.
Authority
I’m not referring to the type of authority that comes from a post-grad degree, a loaded weapon, or one’s name on the door. I’m talking about functional easiness. Patience and facility. A mastery that’s projected, not peddled. Evident, not explained or defended.
I bolded and italicized it, but I cannot emphasize it enough. Functional easiness. Patience and facility. A mastery that’s projected, not peddled; evident, needing no explanation or defense. That is the definitive answer. And it includes all aspects of the term’s definitions: 1) The power to determine, adjudicate, or otherwise settle issues or disputes… in our case, primarily with regard to the services we offer and the fees we expect. 2) Jurisdiction, or the territory over which influence extends; I confine mine to development, positioning, creation, polishing… and publishing guidance—not production. 3) The right to control or command not only the fees I expect, but the terms under which I work.
My authority is such that, although some authors cannot afford me, none has ever told me I’m not worth what I charge; I’ve even had clients remit more than their invoice. That’s partially due to my visible expertise of “insider” industry knowledge and a palette of editorial and entrepreneurial skills. More comes from imperceptible expertise: my analytical perspective, indefatigable mindset, and, of course, bedrock ghostwriting psych. But the clincher is the entire package.
That package includes recognizing that how I format and style documents, manuscripts, letters, and even emails reinforces my deconstruction-skill value. Sounds silly, doesn’t it? Basic ghostwriting-psych.
Knowing and adhering to algorithm requirements as if it’s second nature makes me look knowledgeable and prepared without my having to say a word. It’s just so obvious I’m one of the best—after only three decades of trial and error!
I can wax poetic about the pros and cons of traditional, hybrid, service, KDP, and self-publishing until my potential client gets a MEGO (my eyes glaze over) syndrome.
I do it on purpose. That’s a ghostwriting-psych sales-funnel tactic. I sooo know my industry.
Does your visible expertise include knowing the difference between KDP and Amazon Advantage? Explaining the tax advantages of purpose titles?
Is your imperceptible expertise broad enough to easily spot the four key sales points to include in your author’s book proposal or one-pager? Do you understand how to weave them into the Q&As every podcaster, broadcaster, and live host wants at hand?
Can you grok and empathize with why an author willing to pay $120,000 for a title can covertly have no intention of ever taking it to the marketplace?
I can do all the above.
And that’s the point. To command premium fees, we must know it all—not just the bits and pieces we’re familiar and comfortable with, because our authority isn’t based on our writing ability, the prizes we’ve won, or even the number of bestsellers we’ve penned under our own byline.
It’s Not About Us… It’s Never About Us
I imagine most of the people who are still reading this tutorial are good writers. Heck, some may be absatively superlative!
But… so what? Look at the stats.
Approximately ten percent of any given population consider themselves writers; this is certainly true of Americans. Approximately ten percent of those are good. Really good.
Working with just the approximately 260.8 million adults in the United State (about seventy-eight percent), that means 26.08 million people consider themselves writers, and maybe 2.61 million are good.
At least 2,610,000 people in America are high quality writers. I do not personally know half that many people.
But as 2M Communications’ Madeline Morrell has rightly claimed for decades, only 200-300 writers are good enough to be considered professional ghostwriters. To command—not request, but command—premium fees.
Because those two to three hundred know that being a good writer is the bare minimum they bring to the game. As ego-crushing as it may (temporarily) feel, it’s the one thing in their tool kit considered a “given.”
What isn’t a given? Insider secrets.
Knowledge Power
The amount of disinformation, “false news,” and misdirection about the book business is heartbreaking—especially since so much of it comes from well-respected, oft-cited, established, or even venerated sources. But any pro worth their salt can easily recognize the differences between internet/consumer information (most of which is advertorial) and real creation, acquisition, production, supply-chain, and ROI facts.
Myth: Writer’s Digest is the go-to reference for aspiring authors. Fact: Publisher’s Weekly, Publishersmarketplace.com, and Book Industry Study Group are where the pros go for reliable industry information.
Myth: Traditional publishers don’t pick up new authors. Fact: Traditional publishing needs a constant influx of new authors.
Myth: A “final draft” means the manuscript has been rewritten to its peak and is ready for editing and submission or self-publishing. Most writers think it’s their second draft, the one they rewrote and had professionally edited. Fact: A “second draft” means the manuscript has been revised from its author-satisfying presentation to industry-acceptable standards, reviewer appeal, and reader expectations.
Myth: Having an Amazon bestseller is just as good as being on a New York Times bestseller list. Fact: No. Just… no. Good lord no. Amazon relies on algorithms to categorize titles and has so many different categories the system can easily gamed to capture a niche bestselling ribbon. NYT uses raw sales data to mark something a bestseller.
Myth: Politicians are trying to destroy editorial freelancing. Fact: Actually, they are. But not to get rid of independent writers and editors, as so many freelancers and freelancer organizations claim. No, they actually want freelancers to operate (and pay taxes) along standard business lines. The United States of America was founded, after all, as a corporate entity.
Did you not realize that? Most people don’t. Read “Is the U.S. Government a Corporation? The Corporate Origins of Modern Constitutionalism.”
Why is it important to know? Because it adds to our toolbox of imperceptible expertise.
This Business of Books: A Complete Overview of the Industry from Concept through Sales, 5th Edition is a good starting point for editorial-service providers who want to add industry truth and insider knowledge to their data-and-skills toolbox. They should also:
Read Publishers Lunch to learn about book-business deals, trends, agents, and publishers. Read Publishing Perspective’s newsletter to find out about the industry around the world.
Explore Bowker.com to discover what ISBNs are all about and BISG.com to become immersed in the industry’s inner workings.
Study how BISAC Subject Headings correlate to Amazon, BN.com, Goodreads, and other online bookseller categories.
Follow Kindlepreneur for Amazon’s latest author pro-con machinations.
Obviously, I cannot possibly reveal everything necessary to develop premium-fee authority in this one post but let me pique your interest with two more essentials.
Deliberate Thought and Human Nature
These are enormous subjects, gargantuan. My pipedream is to one day convene an ongoing workshop just to play with their fundamentals and colossal applications. But where would I find others to join me?
That said, make no mistake: when you encounter people who exude authority and command respect without prompting, you’ll find their personal operating system relies on deliberate thought and human nature. In Ghostwriting Professional Designation Program, we approach them using the admittedly narrow paths of creative analysis and ghostwriting psych.
Creative Analysis
Four-step thought process (critical thinking, debate protocol, abstract reasoning, and focused ingenuity) used for Manuscript Assessment as well as Ponderings that support perception growth, implementation, and reflection.
In the simplest terms possible and focusing strictly on editorial considerations, the four creative-analysis steps translate to
Extrapolating a nonfiction’s core point, memoir’s agenda, or fiction’s premise; the author’s intentional or inadvertent emotional/psychological input; and the desired emo/psych outcome
Deducing the author’s apparent and/or unadmitted impetus or rationale for penning the work
Identifying the manuscript’s content disruptions, deal breakers, and fundamental sales points
Recognizing the book’s unaddressed and/or unrealized marketplace possibilities and value
In more elaborate terms and moving beyond an individual literary property, their applications are almost limitless—and add massive weight to professional authority as well as ability. Used correctly in conjunction with mechanical, professional, and ghostwriting-psych skills, creative analysis invariably demonstrates expertise, confidence, and personal posture—in other words, authority.
Ghostwriting Psych
Intentional identification and manipulation of human nature; applicable to manuscripts, project proposals, and project management/troubleshooting.
It’s human nature to subconsciously associate “jack of all trades” with “master of none,” even though the rest of that Shakespearean quote is, “but oftentimes better than a master of one.” Most people aren’t even aware of that final phrase, or their own subliminal reaction to seeing a list of services in which no single ability takes prominence. ‘Tain’t right that the mind jumps to a mistaken conclusion… but ‘tis definitely human nature.
It's the same thing with trying to submit the lowest bid. Just like that, the bidder is pegged as a freelancer—but not with the connotation many hold dear.
Regardless of how the myriad court cases play out, “freelancer” is innately associated with “lesser.” Again, it may not be morally right or even remotely reasonable, but it is fact.
It doesn’t even matter that freelancers seldom prevail in court, if for no other reason their contracts do not explicitly spell out that they’re NOT working-for-hire, they’re NOT at-will employees… and that’s probably because no client would ever sign such a document.
It’s human nature to undervalue independent services, and no amount of arguing or reasoning or demonstration can change that reality. In fact, contesting it merely reinforces the perception. Ipso facto, while there are likely well-paid freelancers, they are the notable exception, not the rule. Their own stance undermines their authority.
Recognizing a reaction as simply human-nature lets us manipulate it. Not by being sneaky or dishonest, but by understanding where the other person is coming from—a recognition developed via creative analysis.
Clearly, this discussion could continue for pages and pages; deference would need two or three chapters all to itself. Nothing about deliberate thinking and human nature—or even their reduced creative analysis and ghostwriting psych protocols—is a one-and-done proposition. After watching, extrapolating, and deconstructing for decades, I’ve barely scratched the surface—yet I command whatever price tag I want thanks to the processes I’ve identified and the realities I’ve accepted.
Are my concepts the only way to position oneself to charge and receive premium fees? Of course not. They’re merely the way I do it. Which is why I teach it. Other people teach their own methodologies. One-size-fits-all is as ludicrous as a one-sided coin.
My team and I will continue our reports and commentary on the book business, we’ll continue to offer insights, theories, and skill-building information on writing, editing, and ghostwriting novels, memoirs, and nonfiction titles.
Most will be behind paywalls, of course. It’s human nature to devalue or dismiss information that comes for free.
Once again:
Wambtac’s Ghostwriting Professional Designation Program (GPDP) is the only direct path to acquiring the techniques, strategies, psychology, mindset shifts, and publishing standards for successful manuscripts and satisfied clients ghostwriting in existence.
Classes begin in August. Email for details.