FAQs

Mark answers your questions about the Ghostwriting process

What is Ghostwriting?

Being a ghostwriter is like operating the footlights at a theatre. Footlights are recessed and invisible. They provide illumination for the stage, especially for the actors. They are vital for lighting up an actor’s face. If you think about it, most theatre lights are situated above the stage, and this can create a shadow over the face. Footlights are situated below, so they cause the actor’s face to light up.

A ghostwriter is also an invisible presence, at least as far as the eventual readers are concerned. My role in the writing process is something that all parties keep confidential. My job is to ensure that the client, who will be named as the author on the cover, is shown in the best possible light. My role is also to remove the shadows and blemishes and to improve the clarity of the client’s expression.

It’s important to emphasize that the ghostwriter also remains completely invisible when the book is published. My name is not mentioned at all either on the cover or in the internal pages. My role is kept secret by all parties involved. My task is to train the lights on the client, not myself. My role as a writer is, like a ghost, to be hidden.

How do the ghostwriter and author work together?

The contract includes an agreed way of working. You will send me the raw material for each stage or chapter of your book. Every client has a different way of doing this. Over the years, clients have sent their content in the following ways:

Videos
Rough drafts
Audio files
Diary entries
Rough notes
Blogs
Articles
Emails

The contract includes an agreed wordcount and timescale.

How long does it take to ghostwrite a book?

It depends on how long the book is and how fast the client sends the material needed to complete each stage. I write at speed while maintaining very high standards. Most clients should reckon on a process involving the following seven steps:

1. Interviewing the Author

2. Refining the Concept

3. Agreeing the Structure

4. Building the Content

5. Writing the First Draft

6. Editing the Chapters

7. Completing the Manuscript

I take great care in ensuring the client has the best possible book at the end of the process. This is not going to be a microwave dinner. It’s going to be a slow-cooked feast.

Wouldn’t it be better for me to use AI?

With the advent of AI, it is possible to produce a new book in a matter of minutes rather than months.

At BookLab, we passionately believe that AI is a very poor and pale imitation of what I, as a writer with a human soul, can bring to the table. Generating the content of your book using AI will cause it to lack three essential qualities:

The Emotional Factor

AI is machine technology. It doesn’t have a soul. It therefore doesn’t have the capacity for authentic emotionality. I have always believed with the poet Robert Frost that if there are no tears in the writer there will be no tears in the reader. Having a human, relational ghostwriter enables you to produce a work from the heart.

2. The Empathetic Factor

I am convinced that the core faculty needed to write well is what I call “the empathetic imagination.” Empathy is the ability to walk in another person’s shoes, to see life from another’s point of view, to feel their joys and sorrows. Another word for this is ‘love’. AI cannot love. It cannot empathise. It can only mimic these things. It is, in name and in nature, artificial.

3. The Eternal Factor

There is a divine spark in every human being. This is often called the image of God, or the Logos, or the light that illumines every human soul. In Ecclesiastes 3:11, it is called eternity (ha olam). In other words, we have transcendence hardwired into us. AI does not. It cannot produce writing that vibrates with eternal meaning.

Although no ghostwriter can work as fast as AI, I contend that what the client may lose in acceleration, they will gain in revelation.

Furthermore, revelation comes from conversation not isolation, from dialogue not from monologue.

This relational part of ghostwriting needs to be human-to-human. It needs to take a little time.

You can’t produce a vintage wine in a single day.

What is the most important priority for the ghostwriter?

For me, the no 1 priority is to faithfully and beautifully capture the client’s voice. Nothing is more important. The book needs to read and sound like the client, not the ghostwriter. Yes, the client’s vision and values are important too, but it’s the client’s voice that gives the book its USP – its unique selling point.

What advice would you give to someone looking for a ghostwriter?

Be wary of cheap ghostwriting services that offer a fast turnaround. They are almost certainly going to be AI generated and will lack the emotionality, empathy, and eternity factors above.

Your book will come across as mechanical and superficial if you use opportunistic amateurs rather than authors of excellence and experience.

Be prepared to invest in tried and tested experts.

How much does it cost?

Ghostwriting is an all-consuming and time-consuming task. The fees reflect the time and unique skillset involved. The industry-level fees, as of 2025, are outlined below. Please note, although we produce industry-standard books, we do not charge industry-level fees.

What do we charge at BookLab?

Mark will set the fee based on the kind of book the client wants him to write, the length of time it will take to write it, the anticipated amount of words it will involve, and the level of technical skill involved.

Our usual fee is between £5,000 and £20,000.

Are there cheaper options?

If the client already has a first draft written, or wants to write the book themselves, then we are sometimes able to offer the following cheaper options:

Manuscript Assessments

For the client who already has a draft completed, I will provide a detailed report of areas that need attention if the manuscript is to become publisher ready. The report for a nonfiction book is eight pages. For a fiction book it is ten pages.

Cost: Between £250 and £350.

2. Developmental Editing

For the client who doesn’t need a manuscript assessment, and who has a draft manuscript completed, we are sometimes able to offer a service in which we refine, create, restructure, and (in some cases) reduce the client’s material so that it is ready for submission to an agent and/or publisher.

Cost: Between £1500 and £3000 (depending on wordcount)

Just so you understand what the industry-level fees look like (accurate as of June 2025), at least when it comes to an experienced ghostwriter, let’s look at the rates for a book of approximately 70,000 words.

Level 1: Basic

The client is a new and unknown author. Very likely, their book will be self-published. Usually, the industry-level fee for this will be about $50,000 (£37,000). We do not charge anything like this amount.

Level 2: Intermediary

The client has a unique story or insight, and their book has the capacity to stand out. The industry-level fee here is about $100,000 (£74,000). We do not charge anything like this amount.

Level 3: Advanced

The client has a significant platform and will likely be published by a traditional publishing house. The industry-level fee is nearer $200,000 (£148,000). We do not charge anything like this amount.