People ask me the same handful of questions before they hire a ghostwriter. How long will it take? How long will the book be? How much of my time does it need? What happens after you hand me the manuscript? The answers are scattered across dozens of posts on this site, so I put the numbers in one place.
Everything here comes from my own practice. I have ghostwritten more than 54 books for clients, 24 or more of them memoirs. The figures below come from those projects. Your book will land somewhere inside these ranges depending on your story, your schedule and how fast you answer my emails.
I keep prices off this page. They live on the ghostwriting services page, where I keep them current.
Ghostwriting at a glance
If you only read one section, read this table. It covers the numbers clients ask about most.
| What clients ask | Typical answer |
|---|---|
| Length of a memoir | 50,000 to 60,000 words |
| Length of a coaching or business book | 50,000 to 60,000 words |
| Length of a novel | 60,000 to 100,000 words |
| Time to write a memoir | About six months |
| Interview time | 10 to 30 hours |
| How often you review chapters | Every week or every other week |
| Full-manuscript revisions included | One |
| Editing after the manuscript | One combined copy edit, line edit and proofread |
| ISBNs needed | One per print format (Kindle and Audible audiobooks need none) |
| Time from handover to publication | Usually within six months |
How many words is a ghostwritten book?
A good, solid memoir runs 50,000 to 60,000 words. So does a good coaching book or a business book. That length gives a story room to breathe and a method room to be explained with real examples, and it fits the page counts readers expect on a shelf. Fiction runs longer. A well-built novel lands between 60,000 and 100,000 words, depending on the genre and how many characters carry the plot.
I can write a shorter book. A 30,000 to 40,000 word book is a real option for an author who needs something fast, a lead magnet or a focused guide on one idea. It just won’t be as complete. Something gets cut to fit, and readers feel the gap.
Six months for a memoir: the ghostwriting timeline
A memoir of 50,000 to 60,000 words usually takes about six months between our first interview and the last chapter. A coaching or business book of the same length runs on a similar clock. Novels take longer because there is more of them.
Six months surprises some people.
The biggest variable is not my typing speed. It’s the pace we agree on. I write one chapter at a time, and depending on the payment schedule, a new chapter goes to the client every week or every other week. A client who reads and answers quickly keeps the book moving. A client who disappears for a month adds a month. I go deeper into what stretches and shrinks a schedule in how long ghostwriting takes and why word count is the wrong measure.
How many hours of interviews does a ghostwriter need?
Expect 10 to 30 hours of conversation. A tightly focused business book sits near the low end. A memoir that covers a whole life, or a client who tells stories in long loops, sits near the high end. Neither is a problem. The recordings are my raw material, and more material gives me more to choose from.
The interviews do two jobs. They collect the story, and they teach me how the client talks. The first two conversations matter most for the second job, and the first chapter or two finishes it. We send those chapters back and forth until the voice is right, and after that the rest of the book goes much faster. Anyone who dreads being interviewed should read what I ask in interviews and how to prepare.
What are the seven phases of a ghostwriting project?
A client who reads and answers quickly keeps the book moving.
Every book I write moves through the same seven phases, whatever the genre.
The phases overlap a little at the edges, but the order never changes.
- Discovery interviews. We start with a couple of short conversations about what you want the book to do and who it is for. I listen more than I talk. The goal is a working outline we both agree on, and those first two conversations are also where I start learning how you speak, which matters for everything that follows.
- Deep interviews. These are the long conversations, 10 to 30 hours in total depending on the book and the person. I collect the story and the background behind it, and the full outline takes shape. If we are using a StoryBrand framework, we build it here. For fiction, this is where the characters and the world come together. By the end, I know your voice as well as your story.
- Writing. I write one chapter at a time and send it to you every week or every other week, depending on the payment schedule. Each chapter goes back and forth until it’s right before I move on. The first chapter or two take the most rounds because that is where we lock in your voice. You read for accuracy as well as style, because you are the expert on your own life and business.
- Full-manuscript revision. When the last chapter is done, you read the whole book from start to finish and get one revision of the complete manuscript. This is the pass where you see the book as a reader will, and catch anything that only shows up when the chapters sit side by side. More revisions, or a change in scope, are paid work.
- Editing. The manuscript goes to a professional editor for one combined pass: copy edit, line edit and proofread. I have two editors I trust and use again and again. While the editor works, you line up the cover and the ISBNs, one for each print format. A Kindle ebook doesn’t need one, and an audiobook sold through Audible can’t have one.
- Publishing. The book goes live in print, as an ebook and, if you want one, as an audiobook. You can handle the uploads yourself, or I can do it through my publishing package. Most of my clients publish within six months of the day I hand over the manuscript.
- Launch. The launch works best when it started months earlier. I ask clients to begin posting about the book once the outline is done, to find someone to run their public relations and social media, and to use their mailing list if they have one. When the book is ready, we run a presale, usually on Kindle, and I recommend a launch party, virtual, in person or both. Releasing each edition a month or two apart gives every edition its own launch.
The seven phases of a ghostwritten book, from the first interview to launch day.
The writer runs the project, the client owns the facts
I am the writer and I run the project. The client is the expert on the subject, and nobody knows their life or their business better. That split matters most for accuracy. I do light fact-checking as I write, but I can’t verify how a client’s company handled a crisis in 2014 or what their grandmother said at the kitchen table. The job of making sure the book is true belongs to the client. When a chapter comes back to them, I need them reading for accuracy as well as style.
How does chapter-by-chapter revision work with a ghostwriter?
We revise as we go, one chapter at a time, until each chapter is right. At the end, the client gets one revision of the whole manuscript. Any revision past that, or a change in scope halfway through, is paid work. Chapter-by-chapter revision catches problems while they are small. A voice that is slightly off in chapter one gets fixed in chapter one, not discovered in chapter fourteen. I explain why the number on the contract matters less than when the revisions happen in how many revisions a ghostwriter should include.
The first call: what clients ask and how I run it
Clients come to the first call wanting three things. They want to understand the process. They want to know who I am and what I know. And they want to talk about themselves. That’s exactly what I want too.
So I start by asking what they want the book to do. Then I ask for their background and let them talk for as long as they like, usually 15 to 20 minutes. I ask a few questions and walk through the process. Price almost always comes last. Most people who get as far as a call with me have already done their research, and they already know what I charge because it’s on my website. The call is about whether we can work together.
That order is deliberate.
We also talk about the relationship. A book takes months, and we are two adults in a room. That means open conversations. If something is wrong, we say so and work it out. If feelings get hurt, we talk about that too. I don’t tolerate toxic behavior from clients, and I don’t expect clients to tolerate it from me.
Ghostwriting takes months, so the relationship matters as much as the writing. Two adults, open conversations, problems talked through, and a sense of humor. Life is rough enough without a grim book project.Share on X
I have a sense of humor, mildly sarcastic and kept under control. I mention it on the first call because it makes the months ahead easier. Life is rough enough without a grim book project.
Why do ghostwriting projects stall or stop?
When a project stops, the reason is almost always on the client’s side. They ran out of money. Other priorities took over. They took a new job or started a different business and their focus moved. None of those is a failure. Lives change, and a book written for an old life sometimes stops making sense.
I stop a project for very few reasons, and none of them is a hard chapter. One is nonpayment. Another is toxic behavior. The third is the obvious one: illness, disaster, the acts of God nobody plans for.
Memoir, coaching, technical and fiction: the project mix
Memoirs and coaching books make up a large share of the work. I also write technical books on subjects I know from 33 years in technology: the metaverse, digital transformation and cybersecurity. I’ve written several novels for clients, including science fiction, and young adult books, scary stories for younger readers in the spirit of Goosebumps.
Clients find me through LinkedIn, Google search, AI search and referrals, and through networking groups like Eliances. The clients who make it to a signed contract tend to be highly motivated. That motivation is the best predictor I know that a book will get finished.
How soon is a ghostwritten book published after the manuscript is done?
Most of my clients publish within six months of handover.
That window holds the editing, the cover, the publishing setup and the launch, and it goes fastest for the clients who did their homework while I was writing. They already have a cover designer, they already bought their ISBNs, and they already have people waiting for the book.
Each print format needs its own ISBN, so a hardcover and a paperback need two. A Kindle ebook doesn’t need one. You can enter one, and Amazon simply ignores it. An audiobook sold through Audible can’t carry an ISBN at all. The ISBN rules for each format trip up a lot of first-time authors.
Publicity starts long before the book exists. I tell clients to begin once the outline is done and before I write chapter one. Start posting on social media about the book that’s coming. Find someone to handle public relations and keep LinkedIn, Facebook or whatever platforms you use active. If you have a mailing list, use it. A book with no following behind it does not sell.
When the book is ready, we run a presale, usually on Kindle. I recommend a launch party, virtual, in person or both, and I recommend releasing each edition a month or two apart so each one gets its own virtual launch. I used to recommend blog tours. I don’t anymore, because they no longer move books.
My take
The numbers matter less than people think. Six months, 60,000 words and 20 hours of interviews describe a book; they don’t finish one. What finishes a book is a client who answers emails, reads chapters for accuracy and starts building an audience before the manuscript is done. If you can commit to that, the timeline takes care of itself.
Your book in these numbers
If you are weighing a book, the Ghostwriting Hub walks through every stage in more depth, and my About page covers who I am and the record behind these numbers. When you’re ready to talk, the ghostwriting services page has the details and the prices. Bring your story to the first call. I’ll bring the process.
Every stage behind these numbers, from the first call to the finished book, explained for people still deciding whether to hire a ghostwriter.
