BIOGRAPHY GHOSTWRITER – BRING YOUR MEMOIR TO LIFE
Michael’s passion is writing. Since 2019, he has chosen to become a biography ghostwriter, helping you bring your story to life.
Michael has been a writer, a corporate consultant, a therapist, and a teacher. Recently he realized that life is too short, and he should do what he loves. That’s writing.
He now offers ghostwriting services to approximately two clients per year. His speciality is as a biography ghostwriter, writing memoirs and animating people’s stories with the gravity, humour, and inspiration that brings them to life.
Over the last twelve months, his two initial projects have been a 100,000-word life story of a celebrated environmentalist and, more recently, the biography of a Black police officer, growing up in the racially charged Virginia of the 1940s to the present day.
This eclectic subject matter demonstrates Michael’s flexibility to work in both British and American English, and his willingness to embrace stories that are interesting, socially meaningful, and have a powerful message.
Being a biography ghostwriter takes time and commitment. That’s why Michael limits himself to two clients per year. Then, he can fully immerse himself in your project. He is capable of taking an existing manuscript and polishing it, or starting from scratch, whichever you require. He utilizes online communication services to overcome location constraints and makes use of audio recordings, interviews, and personal research to corroborate and augment the text.
Mike is also a ‘Upwork’ freelancer and works there as a biography ghostwriter too. We can process projects through that site to ensure transparency. Please review the project types and examples below and feel free to contact Mike with any project briefs you may be considering on the contact form.
BIOGRAPHY GHOSTWRITER ENQUIRY
SERVICES DESCRIPTION
This service is perfect for the client who wants to tell their life story but has not gone too far beyond the planning stage.
The Full Biography service will take you through the entire process of planning, organizing, writing, proofing, and polishing your manuscript from start to finish.
In general terms, a project of this length is roughly 6 months to a year, depending on the length and detail required. And costs can be projected once the full remit of the project is known.
This service is suitable for a client who has already started writing or has a completed manuscript they wish to augment in some way.
In this process, Mike will take your existing manuscript, evaluate what is needed, and come back with a proposal to take it forward.
The project length will usually not exceed 6 months, and depending on the state of the existing manuscript may be less than three months in duration.
CLIENT CASE STUDIES
In 2019, Michael was contracted to write the biography of a celebrated British Environmentalist. Together they worked up a 12-chapter proposal and began writing the book from scratch.
The writing process was conducted by zoom and recorded interviewing and Google Docs was used to review and collaborate chapter-by-chapter.
The end result was a 110,000-word manuscript. The client left the following testimonial:
“As a well-known environmentalist, it was important to me to find a trusted ghostwriter. Mike authored my 100,000-word project, during which we collaborated frequently by zoom, recordings, email and whats-app. As well as organising my lifeline into a cohesive narrative, creating a publisher’s pitch proposal and authoring the text, Mike was sensitive to my story, responsive to criticisms, and able to tonally adjust whenever I required. I have found working with him on this book an enjoyable and fulfilling experience that has resulted in a great read reflecting my character, life, and sentiments. I would happily recommend him as the ghostwriter of your project and intend to work with him again.”
My client, an 82-year-old African-American from Richmond Virginia, had a 25,000-word memoir that they wished to expand into a full-length book.
When received, it was written in about thirty, short chapters but these were not chronological and had the tendency to flit between subject matter.
The manuscript was written in a simple style, with little descriptive colour or tone and they needed this augmented to reflect the client’s cultural roots, beliefs, values, and experiences.
They also needed it tonally to reflect American culture and to be written with American spelling.
I then pitched a twelve-chapter format, describing each chapter at length. We would focus on several key learning points from the client’s lifetime, simplifying the message while keeping the framework of the book tight, meaningful, fun, and motivating.
It took 5 months, and the book was expanded to 70,000 words through a series of weekly interviews and Google Docs collaboration.