Stage One of Working with a Ghostwriter — Let’s Start a Conversation by Writing
The main task at this stage is to understand each other through written conversation — by email or messenger. This isn’t about “writing a book” or about projects of any kind. It’s about the person. It might seem like the simplest part of the process, since all the complexity lies further on, in the work itself and its goals. In reality, it’s far more complicated than it might appear.
When people talk about needing to “hook” a client who wants to commission a book, certain algorithms immediately come to mind — methods designed to help close the deal. A professional salesman or marketer will gladly throw out a hundred options, from which you can pick the strongest and try to “hook” the client.
Understanding is an entirely different question. A finished book has to be a continuation of its commissioner. Their thoughts, desires, dreams. That is what the ghostwriter operates with, and he cannot do it well unless he understands the client.
That is why the rather simple and slightly manipulative “hooking” doesn’t work for a writer who helps people create books. A ghostwriter has to understand the person he’ll be working with, and that understanding doesn’t come from a single template applied to everyone. Every person is unique, the path to them is unknown, and no clever marketer will design a mechanism that becomes a universal bridge to understanding the client.
That’s why we write to each other. Moving in an unknown direction down an unknown road, with an equally unknown finish line. I want to know everything. Thoughts, dreams, desires, age, pains. That’s what I already mentioned. And there’s still an enormous amount that’s closed off — you could even call it intimate — that would help our understanding tremendously. And it’s not the kind of thing a person is ready to hand over to someone else after a few minutes of conversation.
So we write, and we do it so that the exchanges accumulate, so that each of us opens up more, and so that we begin to understand each other better. Not perfectly, but without unfair expectations.
Stage Two of Working with a Ghostwriter — Meeting the Future Book
At this stage, we imagine that the book has already been written and work backwards to figure out what it was all for. And again, this isn’t about the book, or even about my client. It’s about their goal. The moment when we begin to load ourselves into that goal and pin down exactly what the client needs.
You’d think this would all be sorted out before we even made contact. Surely the client must know? Not always — because they too are moving through the creative, trying to grasp something elusive that matters greatly.
— I want to write a book for myself.
A perfectly simple, clear goal. But —
— Are you planning to let anyone read it?
— Yes. My friends and family.
— Then this book isn’t only for you anymore.
There are many conversations like that. Businessmen who, under the cover of a commercial project, actually want to convey a deep view of life. Philosophers who, while delivering a worldview to people, also want to earn a living. A perfectly normal story of monetizing one’s own passion.
Each time it can be a completely different story, with a different blend of what the client wants to achieve. As much as I might wish otherwise, writing before the goal is set isn’t the way. Without understanding this crucial element, there’s no way to know which direction to move in. It’s like a person holding a smartphone with a navigation app open, but unable to type in an address, because they don’t know where they’re going.
Stage Three of Working with a Ghostwriter — Building the Book’s Concept
This isn’t a plan in the way people usually picture one. Not the neat, conventional “10 steps to writing a book” that AI-generated content might offer. We’re talking about a unique piece of work for a unique person, with their own particular set of qualities, views, and desires. All of that still needs to be understood at greater depth, in order to make the text genuinely “the client’s.”
Within such a framework, there can be no detailed, rigid, pre-weighed plan, because what lies ahead is the fog of creativity. Moreover, if someone is offering you that kind of plan, they intend to write their book, not yours. That’s not always a bad thing. The book may turn out well. But it will only become a continuation of the person who wanted to commission it by accident.
A concept is, first and foremost, a definition of what we cannot do without. The things my client absolutely wants to say, and the things I want to say. Yes, that’s right. We’re making a joint project, and I am part of it. It would be strange to consider this kind of collaboration while completely excluding me from the process. If you need a dry output, artificial intelligence can handle that — producing, for the most part, a “dead” text that no one will want to read. But if we’re talking about the living participation of a person who genuinely wants to make you a good book, that presence will be felt. Of course, it will be the maximum continuation of the client. That’s how it should be.
It’s worth defining the central idea and how the book should end. That is the foundation of the journey and its direction. That is the heart of the concept — though the concept, of course, is not limited to that.
Stage Four of Working with a Ghostwriter — Writing
If you have indeed decided to commission a book, then we get to work. A focused, charged process, in which it’s essential to hold yourself and your state. Today, tomorrow, a week from now. Books aren’t written in three days. This is a distance. You have to preserve your strength and concentration over its full length. Of course, the pace can vary, but it’s highly desirable that it stays steady. Real creativity has already settled into these processes. Everything else is technical. Time has to be set aside, the mind has to generate ideas and live in the book. Without fanaticism — but live in it, because this book is a continuation of your life and, in some sense, your future.
This is where things like process organization, deadlines, planned scope, frequency of contact, and certain personal matters come into play. Let me unpack this a bit.
Organizing the Process of Writing the Book
Approaches vary and depend heavily on the source material and our agreements. Usually we work from the client’s own material — their thoughts, views, conclusions, which I gather through interviews. After our conversation I write, send the draft over, the client reviews and approves it, and we move forward through this creative loop until the book is finished.
Then comes the final read-through from me. After that, the editor takes over, without my involvement. Standard practice for book production.
Timelines
A question that’s very hard to answer concretely. I’ve written commissioned books of one hundred thousand characters in two weeks, and others took seven months. It depends on the complexity of the material, the creative search involved, and many individual factors. You can take the average between those two timelines, but the actual project will determine the rest. In any case, dragging the process out is neither profitable nor interesting.
Scope
A complex question, largely defined by the goal and the plan. And by the budget too, by the way. If the intention is to pursue a publishing deal with the finished book, you should plan for at least two hundred thousand characters.
If it’s a self-driven project, the scope itself doesn’t matter as much. You need to make a good book without padding. That said, several other factors come into play. An expert book, for instance, can’t be too short — it won’t carry authority. Massive books intimidate readers and are better suited to status-driven projects, where the goal is to demonstrate weight.
Frequency of Contact
You have to stay inside the book. You can’t fall out of it, because — as so often happens — after a pause, different people return to the work. This happens because a person is not a constant. We change along with the world around us. A series of circumstances will affect us, and within that frame we’ll shift our emphases, want something new, or see the same things from a completely different angle.
A book cannot help but be marked by such shifts. Written by different people, it will resemble a quilt of patches. An unreliable, disjointed creation. That’s why you have to step in and do it.
On top of that, you always have to keep the book in your head. All of it. Every page already written. This helps prevent repetition and contradictions. And again, this requires being in the process without pauses.
So at minimum, we should meet and work together once a week. That’s the baseline. Of course, once every two weeks is possible — but it’s not in the project’s favor.
Pricing
It varies. It’s never the same twice, because the work itself differs in complexity. The timelines and conditions differ too. Get in touch, and we’ll talk. Then you’ll have a concrete figure to work with. Until the project is clearly defined, naming a price for the service makes no sense.
And One More Thing…
Finally, a word for those who saw something difficult and unmanageable in all of this.
It isn’t difficult. It’s manageable. In some ways it’s even surprisingly simple, and unequivocally great as an experience. I’m not going to tell you to just “let go of the situation.” I’m not a psychologist, and I genuinely don’t understand how to let go of something that worries you and won’t let you rest.
Instead, I’ll say this: I know how to write. And I know how to support a client — not from the position of a know-it-all professional, but from the position of someone with whom you’ll create something singular and unrepeatable.
— I write fiction on commission. If you have a story you want to see told, here’s how we can work together. More on writing and the craft of books — in the blog.
Vasyl Kovalchuk, 02.05.2026
