Book Discovery Intensive
Before you commit to a full ghostwriting engagement, get clarity on what book you should write, who it’s for, and exactly how it gets built. Ten hours of strategic work, a comprehensive book strategy report, and a 2,000-word sample chapter in your voice.
How It Works
Most people who want to write a book have an idea, but not a plan. They know roughly what they want to say, but not who’s going to read it, how it should be structured, what’s already out there, or how it gets published. A ghostwriting engagement that starts without those answers wastes time and money on the wrong manuscript.
The Book Discovery Intensive solves that. Over ten hours of interviews, I work through your expertise, your audience, the competitive landscape, your publishing options, and your business goals for the book. You walk away with a comprehensive Book Strategy Report and a sample chapter written in your voice, both delivered within five business days of the final session.
The strategy is yours regardless of whether you hire me to write the full book. If you do choose to proceed within sixty days, the $4,000 intensive fee is applied in full to the ghostwriting engagement.
Investment
$4,000
10 hours of interviews, strategy report, and 2,000-word sample chapter
Paid in full at signing via Zelle. If you proceed to a full ghostwriting engagement within 60 days, the $4,000 is credited toward that project.
What’s Included
10 Hours of Strategic Interviews
Conducted over Zoom or phone, split across multiple sessions to fit your schedule. We dig into your expertise, your business goals, what you want the book to do for you, and who the right reader is. Calls are recorded and transcribed so you never need to take notes.
Audience Profile
A detailed profile of who the book is for: their pain points, what they already know, what they need to hear from you specifically, and where they buy books. The audience profile is what keeps every later decision aligned with reader reality instead of author preference.
Competitive Landscape Analysis
A survey of the books already in your category, what they cover, what they miss, and where your book fits. The goal is not to copy them or avoid them. It’s to position your book where readers are already looking but not finding what they need.
Chapter-by-Chapter Content Framework
A complete outline showing what each chapter covers, what the reader takes away, and how the chapters connect. This is the spine of the book. If you proceed to a full ghostwriting engagement, this framework becomes the draft plan.
Publishing Recommendation
Traditional, hybrid, or self-publishing? Each path has different cost, control, timeline, and credibility implications. The report gives you a specific recommendation for your situation with the reasoning behind it.
Basic Marketing Strategy
How the book reaches its audience, what platforms matter for your category, and what positioning lets the book function as an authority asset rather than just a product. Marketing built into the book strategy, not bolted on afterward.
Implementation Timeline
A realistic schedule from outline to published book, including the major decision points along the way. You leave with a clear map of what happens when, whether you write it yourself, hire a ghostwriter, or coach through it.
2,000-Word Sample Chapter
A real chapter drafted in your voice, on a topic from your content framework, so you can see exactly what your book will sound like before you commit to the full project. Includes one round of revisions based on your feedback.
Who This Is For
The Book Discovery Intensive is built for people who are serious about getting a book made and want to commit four figures rather than six before they know the strategy is right.
Executives and founders who know a book would build authority and open doors but haven’t pinned down what the book should actually be. The intensive turns “I should write a book” into a specific, defensible plan.
Coaches, consultants, and speakers who need a book as the credibility anchor for their practice. The intensive maps the book to your audience and your business model so it functions as an asset, not just a project.
Subject-matter experts sitting on deep knowledge who want to make sure the book reaches the right reader with the right structure. The intensive separates what you know from what readers need to hear.
People comparing ghostwriters who want to test fit before signing a long engagement. Ten hours of work together, a real sample chapter in your voice, and a full strategy on the table tell you everything you need to know about how the collaboration would feel.
Book Discovery Intensive vs. Other Services
Book Discovery Intensive (this page) is a $4,000 strategic deep dive that produces a complete book strategy plus a sample chapter. One-time engagement. Fee credits toward a full project if you proceed within 60 days.
Full Ghostwriting is the complete book. Twenty thousand to ninety thousand words written for you over four to eight months. For people who already know what book they want and are ready to commit to the full project.
Book Coaching guides you through writing the book yourself, sold in ten-hour blocks at $200 to $300 per hour. For writers who want to do the writing themselves with experienced support across the whole project.
Writing Coaching is hourly help on specific craft problems at $200 per hour. For writers who have a draft and need targeted fixes, not a full strategy or a full project.
Not sure which fits? Start with a free discovery call.
What Clients Say
How the Intensive Runs
- ► Day 0: Agreement signed, payment received via Zelle, scheduling opens.
- ► Sessions: Ten hours of recorded Zoom or phone interviews, scheduled to fit you. Sessions are transcribed using AI so the conversation flows naturally and nothing gets lost.
- ► Within 5 business days of final session: Comprehensive Book Strategy Report delivered, plus the 2,000-word sample chapter.
- ► Within 7 days of delivery: One round of revisions on the sample chapter based on your feedback.
- ► Within 60 days: If you choose to proceed to a full ghostwriting engagement, the $4,000 intensive fee is credited in full toward that project.
- ► Whether you proceed or not: The strategy report and sample chapter belong to you. No strings.
The entire intensive is typically completed within 30 days of signing.
Your Strategist
Richard Lowe has authored 113+ books under his own name and ghostwritten 54+ for executives, founders, coaches, and public figures across 13 years of practice. His clients have raised over $30 million in venture capital using ghostwritten books, sold 15,000 copies in three days, and earned a TEDx invitation. The book strategy decisions clients face in the Discovery Intensive are decisions he has worked through hundreds of times in his own practice.
Full professional background at thewritingking.com/professional-background-eeat.
More information:
Full Professional Background · Testimonials · Code of Ethics · Case Studies
Case Studies
Real client projects — the goals, the work we did together, and the results that followed. Each one documented in detail.
Ready to See What Your Book Should Be?
Ten hours of strategic work. A complete book strategy. A sample chapter in your voice. Four thousand dollars, credited toward a full project if you proceed within 60 days.
No pitch. No pressure.