The editor who didn’t have much to do
Do you need developmental editing after hiring a ghostwriter? What founders and thought leaders need to know before paying for unnecessary rewrites.
“He was disappointed with the editing process.”
Oops. My heart sank a bit. I’d sent one of my ghostwriting clients to an experienced colleague who provides author services for self-publishing authors. I have great confidence in her abilities, so it surprised me when she told me he had some less-than-stellar feedback.
But after further conversation, I realized her story confirmed what I’ve long told clients: if you hire a strategic ghostwriter, you probably won’t need a developmental editor.
He Expected a Brutal Edit—and Didn’t Get One
My friend explained: the client expected her to completely tear the story apart and have lots of revision suggestions. Instead, it only needed some copyediting.
She went on, “I need to tell him, ‘This is what you paid for when you hired a ghostwriter.’”
I smiled. My client didn’t know it, but all the time, tears, and toil we’d poured into writing and developing his manuscript were paying off on the back end.
What Many People Think Ghostwriters Do (And What Great Ones Actually Do)
Although I offer both editing and ghostwriting services, I learned ghostwriting first. So when I took a developmental editing class a year after completing a six-month ghostwriting course, I was pleasantly surprised: the process mirrored exactly what I’d learned for ghostwriting. Only instead of doing it before writing the manuscript, you apply the process to a completed or partially written manuscript.
Well, strategic ghostwriters do this, that is . . .
The Misconception about Ghostwriting
I once ran into a ghostwriter who charged next to nothing. But when she explained her process, I was baffled.
“If they write and I clean it up, I tell them it will be more in their voice,” she said. “But if they want me to write it for them, it’s more of a mixed voice.” When I inquired further, she said, “I just write what they say and make it better.”
Essentially, she was cleaning up a transcription of interviews. And, in fact, when I’ve talked to people about ghostwriting, that seems to be the idea they have.
That may work for some projects, but I’m not sure I’d call it ghostwriting. And it’s very different from the strategic ghostwriting process many thought leaders, founders, and business authors need.
What a Strategic Ghostwriter Does
When you work with a trained, experienced ghostwriter, you get much more than a cleaned-up version of your words. Like many ghostwriters, when I work with a client on their business or leadership book, we get deep in the weeds on:
- Audience positioning
- Message
- Chapter architecture
- Extraction of perspectives, ideas, and stories
- Logic gap identification
- Ensuring the book supports business goals
A premium ghostwriter approaches manuscript development as a visionary, designed project, not as a writing assignment.
So, What About Developmental Editing?
Many authors don’t know there are different levels of editing, and it’s something I enjoy educating people on.
A developmental editor looks at many of the same elements as a ghostwriter: your goals for the book, structure, message, audience, and so on. Then they compare all that to what you have, and tell you what’s working, identify what isn’t, and make comments and suggestions throughout the manuscript to help you:
- correct organization,
- restructure chapters,
- improve tone and flow,
- fix weak arguments,
- strengthen overall structure,
- and identify missing content.
However, the onus is on you to fix it all, although your different editors may give you greater levels of support than others.
Getting back to the colleague working with my client: She said, “Most authors I work with haven’t used a ghostwriter, so their manuscripts require a lot of work, a lot of revision. The one you did for him didn’t.”
When Trying to “Save Money” Costs More
If you don’t want the hassle and expense of getting a developmental editor and working through multiple rounds of revisions yourself, think carefully about deciding not to invest in a quality ghostwriter.
One person talked to me and decided against ghostwriting because he wanted to save money. “I’ll just have you developmental edit it when I’m done,” he eventually said, after repeatedly telling me on an initial call that he’s not good at writing and doesn’t enjoy it.
What he doesn’t realize is that in choosing to “save money” as a non-writer, he’s setting himself up to do a substantial amount of revisions down the line. Not just on developmental editing, but on line editing, copyediting, or both. In fact, he very well may need multiple paid rounds at each level.
Using a budget ghostwriter can create similar problems. While they may have better grammar and fewer typos than many DIY authors, the manuscript probably won’t have the market-facing structure and features that target your ideal audience.
Can AI Replace a Ghostwriter?
Because someone will inevitably bring this up, let me address the AI angle here: it’s a great tool. In fact, I used it to help me refine this blog’s topic and develop an outline. Still, it took several rounds of bouncing thoughts off two different AI programs to get something satisfactory that I used to write it.
My point? It takes a savvy writer to get AI to produce good writing.
In an opposite example of this post, I recently pitched for a project. After my initial pitch, I got a sample of the manuscript, which was clearly AI-written. It would’ve cost me too much headache to get it revised to meet the author’s goals.
I’m grateful he chose a different editor.
Another Reason a Ghostwriter May Save You Money
A separate prospective client tried a different shortcut. He insisted he didn’t need ghostwriting or a developmental edit, just a manuscript assessment.
Yet while he’d already worked with several editors and gotten outside feedback, he still has unfinished chapters, uncertainty about the effectiveness of his storytelling and writing quality, and worst of all, ongoing frustration.
He could’ve avoided this if he’d hired a ghostwriter from the get-go.
What Your Book Will Still Need Before Publishing
Of course, whether you use a ghostwriter or developmental editor, your book will still need:
- Possible light line editing
- Copyediting and
- Proofreading
But the bones will be good and well fleshed out, and your editor will be happy about your fairly clean manuscript.
Get It Right Now… Or Deal With More Fixes Later
If you don’t want to face lots of heavy revisions once you’ve drafted and self-edited your manuscript, hire a ghostwriter. Developmental editors can be of great help, but they’re more like home inspectors than architects: they’ll tell you what’s wrong and how to fix it, but it’s up to you to get the work done.
Have a book idea burning in your soul? I offer ghostwriting, book coaching, and book consultation, all of which develop a book blueprint from the ground up:
- Ghostwriting—done for you, premium service. I interview, we collaborate, but I do the heavy lifting—the writing
- Book Coaching—after the planning and outline stage, you write. I provide feedback, accountability, and support throughout
- Book Consultation—after the planning and outline stage, you move forward on your own, but with a roadmap
Schedule a Book Blueprint Call with me today. I’d love to help you turn your vision into a reality.
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- developmental editing for nonfiction books
- hiring a ghostwriter for your book
- book writing services for entrepreneurs
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Meta Description: Hiring a ghostwriter for your business book? Learn when developmental editing is necessary, when it isn’t, and how strategic ghostwriting can save founders time and money.]