Laura Cross
Today, I’m pleased to host Laura Cross, author of many ghostwritten books as well as her new Complete Guide to Hiring a Literary Agent: Everything You Need to Know to Become Successfully Published. In January, you posted great questions about ghostwriting (Thanks everyone!), and Laura has some eye-opening answers.
Before we get to them, though, we have a winner for the PDF copy of Laura’s Complete Guide to Hiring a Literary Agent book. The winning question came from Suzanne Pitner. Congratulations, Suzanne! Laura will be emailing you your prize. Enjoy!
And now on to the questions and answers:
DayByDayWriter: How much ghostwriting is done in publishing?
Laura Cross: It’s estimated that more than 80% of published books are ghostwritten.
Karen Strong: I was once approached by a company who wanted me to do some ghostwriting for them, but I wasn’t sure about how much to charge. What is the going rate and what should a writer beginning in ghostwriting charge for their work?
Laura: Book ghostwriting fees range from $10,000 to $100,00 per project — $10,000 being the very low end and $100,000 usually paid to more established writers (“celebrity” ghostwriters earn $250,000+ per book). Many ghostwriters determine their rates based on how much they can command per hour (based on experience, portfolio and demand for their services). Once you determine your hourly rate, you can translate that fee into a per page rate, a per word rate, or a per book rate (based on how much time it will take to research, organize, outline, write, edit and revise a project.)
So how do you calculate the time needed for a project? Some writers can write one standard manuscript page in 30 minutes, others require three hours. Some can conduct research and organize a project on the topic of neurosurgery in 80 hours, while others need five months. You need to be aware of your own skills and strengths. Over time, you will have a good understanding of how much time is required for any given project. For instance, I know that for most 200-page prescriptive non-fiction books on the topic of business or finance, I require (remember, each writer’s requirements will be different) about 275 hours of time (around 60 hours of research, organization and outlining time, one hour of writing time per page, and one hour of editing/revising time per 15 pages).
Suzanne Pitner: How does a writer get a ghostwriting gig if he or she doesn’t have a published book yet? Are other writing credits enough to land a job?
Laura: I ghosted more than 30 books before my first “credited” book was published. You don’t need to have a book published under your own name to become a ghostwriter. Create a portfolio based on your magazine and newspaper articles. If you have not yet been published, collect your blog posts and expand them into full articles or book chapters, or use excerpts from your unpublished manuscripts. Define your specialty (business,
& Book Giveaway Comments Contest!
Laura Cross's family and friends in Detroit, Michigan knew she would move on to bigger and better things when she began writing and performing plays for them as a child. Actually, they hoped she would move on to bigger and better things--they were tired of being her only audience!
When Laura packed up the moving van it was to head to California where she earned Certificates in Writing and Feature Film Writing for the UCLA Writer's Program. Laura's writing life has included magazine writing, script reading for production companies and literary agencies, leading writing workshops and blogging about screenwriting and non-fiction writing. She's also written some absolutely fabulous nonfiction books but sadly, as a ghostwriter, she has to keep the titles under wraps! Laura divides her time between Los Angeles and Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Find out more about Laura by visiting her websites:
www.scenariowritingstudio.com
www.truestoryink.com
www.aboutascreenplay.com
Friend her on Facebook
Follow her on Twitter: @ScreenplayChick and @TheScribeChick
The Complete Guide to Hiring a Literary Agent
By Laura Cross
This book is for every prospective author who has sought to have their manuscript transformed into a printed book. It guides you through the process of contracting a literary agent and convincing them that you are in fact the next great bestseller. From formatting a query letter to ensuring your manuscript looks presentable, every step of the process from inception to execution will be laid out in vivid detail for you.
Both published writers who have successfully found and acquired an agent and literary agents who are inundated with manuscripts and requests in the thousands every year, have been interviewed for this book and have provided their personal stories, tips, and tricks as to how you can get into the publishing industry through an agent. Finally, once you have found your agent, you will learn how to read contracts, accept offers, and understand what details will be handled exclusively by your agent.
Paperback: 288 pages
Publisher: Atlantic Publishing Group (June 2010)
ISBN: 1601384033
Notes: The print version comes out in June 2010 and you can pre-order it on Amazon. The e-book version is available for purchase on Laura's site, where you can also download a free sample chapter.
Book Giveaway Comments Contest!
If you received our Eve
Manuscript update: I’m going to reward myself with this treat when I get the perfect query letter and synopsis written.
Writing a novel isn’t easy, and we writers should reward ourselves when we reach a goal, no matter how small. Here’s one suggestion, Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies:
Imagine these cookies speckled with brown whole wheat grain.
Chocolate chip cookies from scratch have been a staple in our home for years. We even have a special tin, and all our friends know there’s always some in there. I use the regular Tollhouse recipe on the back of the Tollhouse Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips bag, but I’ve tried to make them a little better for us over the years with a few substitutions:
- Replace the granulated sugar with Splenda. The difference is neglible.
- Remove the egg yolks and use just the egg whites. With between 9 and 10 minutes in the oven, the cookies have a nice crisp outside and chewy, cakey inside.
- Add some more flour. I buy free range eggs, and they seem to be bigger than regular eggs. So to compensate, I’ve had to add in some more flour to keep the right consistency.
Now here’s my latest discovery:
- Replace 1 cup of the total flour with whole grain flour and use regular white flour for the rest of the required amount.
Over Christmas, when I made a bunch of cookies that were a bit more healthful than the usual recipes, I found an awesome recipe for Whole Grain Snickerdoodles. I got the idea for the whole grain flour substitution in the chocolate chip cookies from those snickerdoodles, and it gives the chocolate chip cookies a really nice texture — not to mention having some whole grain flour in there is a little better for you.
So, next time you achieve one of your writing goals, no matter how big or small, try these for a (somewhat) healthful treat.
How do you reward yourself?
Write On!
P.S. If you’ve got a burning question about ghostwriting, you’ve got until Sunday night to enter it to be answered by writer Laura Cross, and have a chance to win a PDF copy of Cross’ informative book Complete Guide to Hiring a Literary Agent: Everything You Need to Know to Become Successfully Published. Cross’ answers to all the ghostwriting questions — and the winner of the book — will be on the blog on Feb. 12.
P.P.S. I’m going to the Austin SCBWI conference tomorrow, so next week look out for reports about the speakers, including Arthur Levine editor Cheryl Klein; Farrar, Strauss and Giroux editor Lisa Graff; Bloomsbury editor Stacy Cantor; agent and former editor Andrea Cascardi; agent Mark McVeigh; agent and blogger extraordinaire Nathan Bransford and many, many more.
2 Comments on Writer treat: Whole wheat chocolate chip cookies, last added: 2/1/2010
Manuscript update: Still perfecting my query letter and synopsis. I’m attending the Austin SCBWI conference on Saturday — so excited — and hope to have a fantastic, shiny, brilliant query letter and synopsis ready to start sending out to the conference speakers soon after.
Yesterday, I wrote about why it’s important to write the perfect query letter and synopsis, and then I read a really great article on the subject and wanted to share.
One thought before I do: Your query letter and synopsis are supporting players to your manuscript. Ultimately, it’s your manuscript that will get an agent to sign you as a client, so working hard and as long as it takes to make your manuscript perfect is essential. But once that’s done, don’t short-change this next part. Even though the query letter and synopsis are supporting players, they are the first ones on stage, and if they don’t shine with brilliance, your audience won’t stay for the full show. So, take the time, do the work, no matter how frustrating it can be. If necessary, shelve your query letter and synopsis for a few weeks, just as you would your manuscript, to make sure it’s the best it can be before you send it out.
When I was submitting my first novel to agents, I worked hard on my query letter and synopsis, and my first query letter got a good many requests for the full manuscript — the goal — but it also got many no thank yous. Later in the process, I revised the query letter, and my ratio of requests to no thank yous rose enormously on the side of requests. (Ultimately, my first manuscript got back very positive comments about my writing, the story, characters, etc., but the agents I submitted to said they felt it wasn’t right for them right now. As I had finished my second novel and started revising it, I decided to stop submitting my first book and start again with my second, which is what I’m doing now.)
Ok, now for the sharing part. Writer’s Digest just posted a really great article about query letters by literary agent Ann Rittenberg, Basics of a Solid 3-Paragraph Query Letter. Ann gives an example of a query letter that worked for her and dissects the parts of a query letter and how they should be used.
But what I like best about Ann’s article is the statistics she gives at the beginning. They might be daunting, scary even, but they’re the reality, and the way to look at them is as a challenge. Let’s face it, with these statistics, the odds are against anyone getting a request from a query letter, but people do get requests (see above) and books from debut authors are published every year. There’s nothing to say that it can’t be your book or mine, as long as we put in the work that’s necessary.
Read Ann’s article but don’t feel discouraged. Feel energized, charged up that you are now closer to getting that request, closer to being a debut author, because you have something other writers must not: You have the keys that Ann is giving you about how to write a query that will get a Yes.
Coming next, more on writing a brilliant synopsis.
P.S. You’ve got til the end of this week to enter the contest to win a PDF copy of Laura Cross‘ book Complete Guide to Hiring a Literary Agent: Everything You Need to Know to Become Successfully Published. Go to my
0 Comments on More on query letters as of 1/1/1900
Manuscript update: Three fellow writers have very graciously agreed to read my latest revision, which I finished yesterday. Thank you, to them. Once they’re done, I’ll do one more read-through, going through their notes and fixing anything else I see, then I think it will be ready to send out. So next week’s goal will be to get a good query letter written.
I’ve written before about the benefits of being part of a critique group. There’s the camaraderie, the support in an otherwise lonely activity, the comfort in being with others in the same boat as you, and, of course, there’s the critique itself.
That last one is the most important benefit of a critique group, but only if the members are really critiquing.
Good critiquing is priceless, but good critiquing isn’t always pretty. By that, I don’t mean writers should be nasty about their criticism. We all want to strive for constructive criticism. But what I mean is that identifying flaws is a part of good critiquing.
Andrea Brown Literary agent Mary Kole has a great post on her Kidlit.com blog today about the need to grow a thicker skin. She points out that some critique groups meet only to hear how wonderful each others’ writing is. I like to hear good news as much as the next guy, but as Kole says, no one learns if they’re not told what they have to work on.
Now, sure, some critique group members are going to have less experience than others and might not be able to pick up on problems as easily as more experienced members. But that’s why it’s good to be in a critique group with members with all different levels of experience.
But even less experienced writers are readers — or should be if they’re writing books — and as readers, they should be able to contribute criticism as much as any book fan.
The important thing is that critiquers critique. If you’re part of a critique group, you’re making a pact to help others make their writing better, and to do that, you have to point out where they’re going wrong. If you don’t, you’re wasting their time and yours.
On the part of the critiquee, it’s important to just listen and write notes when getting your critique. Don’t let emotion, pride, stop you from listening. And don’t let emotion let you take the critiques for anything other than what they are: someone else’s opinion. Some of the notes you get are going to help you make your work better, some won’t. As the creator of the work, you can make the decision of which is which when you go over your notes later.
It’s always tough to hear people criticize your work, but without that criticism — constructive criticism — your work will never get better. No writer can see every flaw in their own work by themselves — that’s why there are editors. And if an unpublished writer can’t listen to the opinions of others, digest them and figure out which will make their work better, they’re going to have a hard time being published, because published writers work side by side with editors — who give their own educated, knowledgeable, experienced criticisms.
Oh, and by the way, when I say that critiquers are doing their job when they point out the flaws, I don’t mean critiquers shouldn’t point out the good parts too. We all need encouragement as much as we need to know how to improve. The best critiquers are those who can find both good and bad things to say about another’s work, and saying the good first is always a great way to help someone grow.
Got any other critiquing tips? Tell us in the comments.
Also, I’ve had some great questions about ghostwriting sub
Revision update: I didn’t work on my revision at all over the weekend, and coming back today, with just two days away from the story, I felt out of it. I must make time on the weekends from now on. I did get some good stuff done this morning, however, and I’m looking to tomorrow’s session. Still hoping to be done by the end of the week. Fingers crossed.
If you haven’t read a mention of this yet, I’m interviewing Laura Cross on Feb. 12 about ghostwriting. Laura, the author of Complete Guide to Hiring a Literary Agent: Everything You Need to Know to Become Successfully Published, has credits in magazine writing, script reading and non-fiction books, but you won’t find her name on any of the books because they were ghostwritten.
Ghostwriting might not lead to fame, as the work will be published under another name, but it can be rewarding in the financial sense, and it can be an opportunity for writers to do what they do best — write. Ghostwriting is common practice for both fiction and non-fiction books, and publishers always need writers to be the silent partner.
But how do writers find these jobs? And how does ghostwriting work? Does the publisher give the writer the story then leave them alone? Or is it more of a collabortive effort?
Laura will pull back the curtain on ghostwriting on Feb. 12, and you can ask the questions. Leave a question in the comments section of this post before Feb. 1, and whoever asks Laura’s favorite question will win a PDF copy of her Complete Guide to Hiring a Literary Agent book — useful to us all.
So, put your thinking cap on and get your fingers tapping. Let’s give Laura some great questions to dig deep into the writing revenue stream that is ghostwriting. Then check back on Feb. 12 for the interview. It’s going to be fun.
Write On!
Revision update: It’s coming along, but I’ve slowed down a bit.
There’s that old saying that when a door closes, another opens. Call me an optimist, but I believe in this. I acknowledge that the second one doesn’t always open immediately, but with some patience, a lot of hard work, dedication and, perhaps most of all, faith, it will open. God provides, I believe, and I’ve seen it happen time and time again.
On Wednesday morning, I heard that the job I have held for the past 10 years was being eliminated, pretty much effective immediately. I knew change was coming, but hadn’t expected it quite so quickly and didn’t expect this type of change. But there it is. I’ve been laid off, which nowadays isn’t an unusual thing. I’ve joined the many many many others who have lost their jobs lately thanks to the economic climate.
I’m not one who worries too much about change. I lived in four different countries by the time I was 12, so change is nothing new. It can be exciting, strange, daunting, but mostly, it’s something that happens, and you just roll up your sleeves and deal with it.
Change can also bring opportunities, that other door opening. Who knows what we’ll find through that door, but no matter what, it will be a new chance to learn, at the very least.
When I put the news of my job’s demise on Facebook, a writer friend of mine wrote back: “Bummer! but more time for the novel selling/writing 
” 
Now that’s looking at the bright side!
I don’t know what will be in store for me in the near future. I’m looking for a new job and freelance work (anyone need an expert editor/writer with 15 years experience?) and I do plan to also spend more time on my novels. Whatever happens, though, this is an opportunity. I plan to make the most of it.
And now, I’ve got an opportunity for you.
On Feb. 12, I’ll be posting an interview with Laura Cross, author of Complete Guide to Hiring a Literary Agent: Everything You Need to Know to Become Successfully Published. See, I told you, opportunities!
But here’s the real opportunity. Laura will be answering YOUR questions, and the best one will WIN a PDF copy of her book.
Here’s some info about Laura:
Laura Cross’s family and friends in Detroit, Michigan knew she would move on to bigger and better things when she began writing and performing plays for them as a child. Actually they hoped she would move on to bigger and better things–they were tired of being her only audience!
When Laura packed up the moving van it was to head to California where she earned Certificates in Writing and Feature Film Writing for the UCLA Writer’s Program. Laura’s writing life has included magazine writing, script reading for production companies and literary agencies, leading writing workshops and blogging about screenwriting and non-fiction writing. She’s also written some absolutely fabulous non-fiction books but sadly, as a ghost writer, she has to keep the titles under wraps! Laura divides her time between Los Angeles and Santa Fe, New Mexico.
For our interview, we’ll tap into Laura’s private life: ghostwriting, although I’m sure Laura will answer other burning questions if you have them. Ghostwriting is one of those lucrative opportunities that, if you
Laura: Book ghostwriting fees range from $10,000 to $100,00 per project — $10,000 being the very low end and $100,000 usually paid to more established writers (“celebrity” ghostwriters earn $250,000+ per book). Many ghostwriters determine their rates based on how much they can command per hour (based on experience, portfolio and demand for their services). Once you determine your hourly rate, you can translate that fee into a per page rate, a per word rate, or a per book rate (based on how much time it will take to research, organize, outline, write, edit and revise a project.).jpeg?picon=893)
[...] my book blog tour stops at Day By Day Writer with an interview on Ghostwriting Nonfiction Books and a giveaway of an eBook copy of my [...]
Do ghostwriters usually specialize? For instance one author does mainly celeb memoirs, one does inspirational books, etc?
Hi Jodi:
Thanks for your question. Absolutely, writers who specialize are more successful than those who generalize. I specialize in prescriptive nonfiction how-to and self-help titles in business/finance/investing, marketing/promotion/branding, and lifestyle and relationships. I’m known for focusing on creating strong frameworks to present the material (for instance, 5 Steps To…., The 10 Habits of…) My target clients are business leaders, entrepreneurs, speakers, and experts in their field. While other ghostwriters may focus on science or history (their clientele may be professors or scientists or medical professionals) and others may specialize in narrative or memoir (their clients may run the gamut of celebrities, sports figures, or everyday people with a story to tell).
Defining your specialty and knowing who your client is, is an essential component for a ghostwriter’s success.
Best,
Laura
Thanks for the question and answer, Jodi and Laura. More great information!
What an informative interview! I’ve often wondered how this side of the industry works, especially since there are so many celebrity memoirs out there and, no offense, but I didn’t really think they were all writers too! Thanks for the inside peek.
Instructive Q&A’s. Thanks for taking the time to answer questions on ghostwriting in such detail. So many eyeopeners. I had no idea that you can have a literary agent represent you as a ghostwriter. Makes sense, but fascinating nevertheless.
Glad you liked the interview, Sherrie and Rilla. Laura has really given some interesting info. I’m with you guys. I had no idea about this side of the industry. Very eye-opening.
Incredible info. Thanks! This explains why so many big names who jet-set around the world and give speeches and start projects all over the place are able also to publish substantial books. How do most authors interact with ghostwriters: micromanage? or just finesse when project is complete? And do the ghost writers or the “authors” communicate with the pub house editors?
Do you know who prolific James Michener’s ghost writer was? I read the name once but have forgotten. Maybe he had more than one!
Hi Sherri, Rilla, and Esther – thanks for your comments.
@Esther – from my own personal experience as a ghostwriter I have never had a client try to micromanage the book development and writing process – they look to me as the expert to guide them through the process and manage the project. I often work directly with the editor at the publishing house.
Joe Avenick was Michener’s ghostwriter (not very ghost-like when his name is known… though a few select ghostwriters are “out in the open” and some, such as Barbara Feinman, are known due to the controversy surrounding their involvement on projects.)
Regards,
Laura
Thanks so much for this interesting interview. I’ve learned quite a bit. Like Rilla, I never realized that agents represent ghostwriters. I can’t wait to read your new book, Laura.
Best regards,
Suzanne