Translating From Thoughts To The Page

Taking the information in your mind and putting it on the written page is not an easy process. Even people who have a passion for writing – that’s most writers – battle with it. That shouldn’t hold you back from writing a book because there are other ways.

One of my clients was fantastic at public speaking. For years he had guest lectured at universities, institutes, spoken widely at conferences and other industry events. We started the book with certain presentations as the cornerstones. For the others I suggest he make a presentation for me. Or at least record himself speaking about the topic.

Ghostwriting is an act of adaptation. We take the information you have and shape it into a book that showcases your leadership, your memoir, your thought leadership, or journey that you want to share.

The process of writing that book based off the client’s speeches surprised me how much I had to reorder what he said. It all made perfect sense in the presentation. On the written page, pressed shoulder to shoulder next to other chapters, it didn’t flow so well. It really was adapting his spoken presentation to something that flowed in a book.

There was also the matter of assumed industry knowledge. There were places where I could bring the perspective of a complete novice to the information – honestly, it wasn’t that hard to do – and find a way to explain what he wanted to say to those who hadn’t spent decades in the industry.

That’s the value of working with a ghostwriter. We have our ear tuned to what works on the page, and we can balance the flow of information to keep the reader interested without being overwhelmed.