Trish St.Hill

What if you want to publish a book, but you are not comfortable writing or have the time, are you dead in the water?
This is not necessarily the case. Some of the greatest authors are not writers. Many people have the ingredients for a good book, but either do not feel confident in their writing skills or simply do not have the time. Some authors hire a ghostwriter to put their words on paper and to dot the “i’s” and cross the “t’s”.

The key is in finding a publishing company that would meet your needs. I have worked with clients as a ghostwriter and typist, as well as translator and publisher. The thing to note here is that the more a publisher has to do for you, the more it will cost you, but most things can be done. I remember getting a call from an elderly client who had a manuscript but had lost most of it. To make matters worse, she was hard of hearing. So in addition to the regular editing, proofing, copyrighting, and other things involved in publishing, I had to recreate 75 percent of her book. Then there was the client who had handwritten a book in dialect. Another one that comes to mind is a Spanish-speaking client who wrote her book in broken English. My job was to decipher the book and convert it to standard English. Publishers are used to cleaning up manuscripts, but trying to understand what someone is trying to say when they speak another language is very challenging.

Another service our clients frequently sought were pictures for children’s books. But just getting our artists to draw some pictures is no easy task. The pictures have to mirror what the author has in mind.

Whatever work I do for my clients, the book is not mine. My job is to transfer their words or materials to publishable quality and get it into book form.

My point here is that anyone can author a good book. Simply because you did not sit at a computer and type a book does not mean you are not the author. Regardless of who typed the manuscript, the information will come from you, so it is every bit your book. Therefore, if you are serious about writing a book, do not let anything stand in your way. Find yourself the right publisher and make it happen.