Co-writing and ghost writing
I’m available to help you write in hands-on ways, up to and including rewriting a finished manuscript that you've written or, more simply, researching your ideas with you and creating first and successive drafts that you’ll edit and approve.  "Ghostwriting" is an old-fashioned term describing a relationship that seldom exists these days. Authors who avail themselves of another writer's services usually give that person some credit, even a place on the title page or a percentage of royalties the work may eventually earn. “Co-writing” is a better term for this arrangement. By whatever name, all such arrangements are agreeable to me, depending on the particular situation.  However, I do not co-write, or ghostwrite, or coach on a speculative basis. Professional writers, to my knowledge, never engage in such arrangements for the obvious reason that they must make a living now and eventual royalties, when they come, arrive years later.

Co-writing writing for publication is time-consuming and labor-intensive and usually requires a major expenditure by the expert/author. For the expert who can afford it however, such arrangements can be fruitful. Because co-writing is an intimate and interdependent activity, it should be approached in steps, with the two parties agreeing to do successive portions of the book or proposal for definite fees, on definite deadlines, and with review of the process and results of each step allowing each party to continue or retire.

Co-writing a book proposal only
Sometimes, rather than undertaking to co-write an entire book, I can make an agreement to do only a book proposal to potential publishers. Though demanding less of a financial outlay by you, the expert/author, book proposals can still be expensive because of the co-writer's need to commit large amounts of professional time. A book proposal is first a short piece of advertising prose, that may require many drafts and much other work before the idea floats well. The proposal also requires author/expert and co-writer to produce a detailed chapter outline (two pages per chapter) and an extended sample of the proposed book--one or two chapters, which may easily amount to another thirty to sixty pages. 

Editing at various levels
If you have completed work—whether a chapter or an entire book manuscript, I can assist you by editing it.  My editorial approach is educative, showing you principles you can implement to take on more of the work yourself.  But I can, if you wish, do a lot of the work for you. 

I can help you with developmental editing: figuring out where various parts of your manuscript belong and identifying places where additional material needs to be written. I also do line editing: going over your work paragraph by paragraph and sentence by sentence to polish it to a fine finish.  In this process, I’ll also catch many minor errors—grammatical, idiomatic, and so forth, but for the fine minutiae of copy editing, I usually suggest you turn to particular experts I regularly use.  I’ll also monitor their work and help you get the most profit from it.

In line-editing your work, I’ll be on the lookout for many ways to improve your expression. For example, I’ll see if you’ve used enough “negative logic.”  The phrase is John Stuart Mill’s and using this device helps you see your work as others might.  You may be convinced of a particular point and support it with all kinds of evidence.  But you might strengthen it by answering possible objections:  “A Republican might object...” or “A Marxist might say...”. Negative logic tests your beliefs so that you can shore them up, and it also answers the counter-arguments readers who are neither Republicans or Marxists will entertain as they silently read and argue with your work.  Whatever editing I do, I won’t take over your writing.  You’re the author. We’ll have time to go over details so you’ll be sure that together we’ve done our best.

Acting as your agent or helping you find one
Agents now serve as the first line of review for publishers.  Though authors can still send their work “over the transom” themselves, many larger publishers will not look at new material unless it comes through an agent. Serving as brokers between authors and publishers, the first duty of an agent is to know personally the few hundred acquisition editors working for large and medium-size publishers. Because this cast changes constantly—mergers, retirements, firings, elevations to managerial posts, and the like—agents must spend much of their time schmoozing, cultivating, and establishing personal rapport.  In this process, agents also get to know what the individual editor likes and what his managers are seeking by way of new material. Editors’ preferences and company policies, however, may not always be the same and the shrewd agent pursues both avenues when deciding what material to submit and to whom.

While I can sometimes act as agent for authors, particularly with certain subsidiary rights like foreign publication, my work faces more toward you, the author, than the changing cast in the publishing industry. Accordingly, I can help you find agents, either through my personal contacts with them or through coaching your own efforts.

Guiding during contract negotiation
If you’re not represented by an agent, or in some cases, even if you are, it’s a good idea to have an experienced person look over the proposed publisher’s contract.  I’ve represented publishers in such negotiations and know how they try to get the most for themselves in these agreements. Negotiating your own book contract, rather than giving an agent l5 percent or more for doing it, can save you lots of money.

There are lots of little items to pay attention to: how many free copies the author gets, for example.  Publishers want you to have to buy your own book, from them, at a discount over the retail price, of course, but maybe we can get you a better one, or an increase in the number of free copies you’re given on publication. After all, you’ll have plenty of people you’ll want to give the book to—many more than the ten envisioned in standard contracts. Just one item in a long list that can cost you thousands of dollars unless you know how to deal.

You’ve got to know where the other side will give a little.  And you must not be afraid to dicker. Publishers are used to it, though they don’t expect authors to be prepared to do it themselves. They are inclined to act as if they’ve got you in a one down position—you want to be published and they’re willing to do it. Without the stiffening of a professional coach, you will probably be inclined to give away too much—even percentage points of royalties on paperback rights, magazine rights, foreign rights, and so forth, not to speak of the advance payment on royalties.  Rare is the person who can both create and merchandize the same work with equal force. But you’ll be able to surprise them without offending and also do youself financial and other kinds of good.

Managing the publishing process
Whether you work with an agent or not, I can continue to serve as a guide and counselor.  Sometimes, you may need help getting the agent to do all you want.  Or the time may come when you need to try another agent. 

Sometimes, you may need help with the publishing house, but find your agent suddenly absent from your corner. Unfortunately, the agent is a broker with divided loyalties.  She wants you to succeed, but she also wants to maintain the most cordial relationships with the large staff at the publishers. You, on the other hand, may have serious disagreements with your editor, or the art department that designs the physical appearance of your book, or the promotion department or other parts of the company. How do you assert your point of view without turning them off both you and your print baby?   Are they doing all they can with magazine rights, paperback rights, and foreign rights both in English and in translation, book clubs, TV, movie, Internet, or computer media?  If you’re asked to make a presentation to the publisher’s sales staff at a quarterly conference, what will you do to make them enthusiastic about your book?  Very often agents wash their hands of such matters and your in-house editor will be of little help, distracted as he may be by the two-dozen other books he is handling during the same period he’s supposed to be, well, Your EDITOR.  I’ll equip you with the information and tactics you need to make sure the publisher does all he can for you.

Coaching for promotional appearances
I’ll also prepare you for public appearances to promote the book, coaching you for talks, workshops, and especially newspaper, magazine, radio and TV interviews.  Media appearances have their own rules and disciplines and you can take advantage of them to broadcast word about your book.  In addition, the mass media appearances you’ll make can serve as powerful implements for getting your ideas to the widest possible audience—tens of millions, sometimes.  You’ll have a chance to influence culture in a significant way.

Frequently, these competitive days, publishers expect you to supplement their promotional efforts with your own campaign, at your expense. I can help you keep the costs down by helping you design a campaign that you can implement by yourself or with some hands-on assistance from me.

And, of course, there’s the psychological side: stage fright and its electronic media equivalents.  I was once so nervous before appearing on the TODAY show that Gene Shallit caught me doing push-ups in the hall outside the “Green Room,” where I had been waiting my turn with other interview guests.  I can help you rehearse so that you keep the edge you need but don’t suffer unnecessary jitters.  And if talking to vast audiences is your duck soup, I’ll only cheer you on.

Guiding you through self-publishing
Sometimes, it’s good to publish your own book. There are so many advantages. First, you remain focused on your work and ideas. You don’t spend your life trying to get potential agents and publishers to lean your way. Then, you avoid the long wait after you get your contract. A commercial publisher will usually take at least a year and a half before your final manuscript is edited, designed, manufactured, and otherwise put through a process as old as Gutenberg. But you can bring out your book yourself in a few months. In the time you save, not only can you distribute copies to family and friends, you can sell them yourself, at something approaching ninety-percent mark-up. You can also put the book in the hands of colleagues, students, clients, libraries, and many others.  You can collect ever-more authoritative endorsements for your work. You can control not only the date your book appears but also every part of the process. Many of these parts, including the cover design, page layout, typeface, and other aspects of physical appearance, no commercial publisher will allow any author. And at the end, you can still go on to sell publication rights to some brand name company. If self-publication is for you, I can help you at every stage.