Ghostwriting with Britta Jensen

You have an idea, now let an expert ghostwriter write it for you! Achieve your dream of your having your work or life stories in book form by working with award-winning author and editor Britta Jensen.

Why ghostwriting?

Ghostwriting is not just for the famous or British royalty. You have an idea, a family story, personal stories, a problem you or your company is solving in a unique way, but do not have the time, bandwidth or skills to devote hours to writing a book about your life, your work, or the problem you have an innovative solution to. This is where an experienced ghostwriter and editor like me can help you! Through a series of interviews and collaborative sessions, I can write and edit your book for you.

Ghostwriting is a unique art where I capture your voice and experiences and transform them into story form that matches the genre and target audience of your book. My process with ghostwriting is very collaborative. We start with a working outline in our initial meeting of chapters to be drafted. Over months of interviews, I draft each chapter and deliver the a developmental draft to you before you receive the entire developmental draft, after your input on each chapter. 

You receive every chapter that is in draft form to ensure the voice, pacing, and arrangement of content is precisely what you want to be developed over the course of our work together and I edit the chapter based on your feedback. The best part is that you don’t have to do any writing, you just have to give specific and timely input so that the project stays on track and I’m able to meet your publication goals.

The best part of ghostwriting is that your name appears on the book’s title, hence I’m simply the ghostwriter that you can acknowledge in the publishing credits, or not, depending on your preference.

Some new authors (you, the client are always referred to as the author) worry that it looks bad that they didn’t write their book themselves. In actuality, all the ideas, the voice, the content is yours. I’m simply writing it, arranging it to your preference, and helping you to publish it, if desired. It is still your book, your stories, your experience. You’d be surprised how many professional books that are published to high acclaim were ghostwritten. (Most of the memoirs by British royalty tend to be ghostwritten, for example!)

What genres does Britta ghostwrite?

• Memoir/family stories (no extreme abuse/overly graphic sexual content)
• Narrative non-fiction (including select business books, reflections on career experiences, solving a specific problem with elements of story infused throughout or “how-to” with strong narrative content)
• Prescriptive non-fiction (how-to books, self-help, career, women’s health, artistry, humanitarian, and holistic health )

If you’re not sure which genre your work fits in, schedule in your free call to discuss and brainstorm.

Each project is unique, but generally the timeline for a project in which I am only doing the writing and developmental editing, but not assisting with publication takes 4-6months, depending on the projected length of the book. The greater the number of chapters, stories and words, the longer the timeline for the book. The timeline does not just depend on me, the ghostwriter. It also depends on the author (you, the client) having the time to review materials in a timely manner.

If you’re seeking start-to-finish assistance from drafting to having the full book published, that is a minimum 1 year timeline, depending on Britta’s availability and current roster of projects. Longer books take longer to produce, and also depend on author’s availability for signing-off on each stage of the process.

The important phases of the process to be aware of is that you will be interviewed as well as any others you identify as needing their stories included for you book, via Zoom and those interviews will be the basis of the content of the book, including any clarifying input from you. Each interview, requires hours of work to review the transcript, correct errors of transcription from the recording, and then going from rough draft to a workable draft to send to you for input regarding voice, flow of information and style.

Often the timeline depends less on me, the ghostwriter, and more on you, the author’s availability for feedback and interviews.

If booked in and a part of our project contract, I can publish your book under your own imprint or company name, if allowed. You retain copyright upon publication, all royalties, etc. Your book will be distributed using Ingram Spark and Draft2Digital’s options for paperback, hardback and ebook (depending on which formats you want your book produced in). All of the nuts and bolts of this process of indie publishing will be explained to you in our first meeting so that you are always clear on what’s possible with this form of publishing and how it differs from what a Big 5 publisher can offer.

Publishing your book involves the following paid services: line editing, copy editing, proofreading, layout, cover design, book jacket copy, and title set-up (the process where the book is able to be published), and assistance navigating your book distributor’s portal.

I do not offer assistance in approaching Big 5 Publishers, but can offer advice about querying literary agents.

We always start with the free 30 minute call. This allows us to get to know one another, get a feel for our personality match and talk about the general scope of the work as well as take a look at any notes you have about the project (if you sent them over before our call).

After the free call, I’ll send over a proposal that includes an invoice for booking in your first working meeting where we hammer out all the details of the project scope, deliverables, and working outline. This first working meeting allows us to further define the project’s costs, make any revisions to the contract, if needed, and set a timeline for production as well as build-in some flexibility around your working and life schedule and discuss my availability.

After that paid first working call, you’ll receive the revised proposal which will give you options for paying the first deposit, then the schedule for the project’s payment installments, as well as the contract.

If you’re eager for your story to get out into the world, or have specific career waypoints in which this book would correspond, I always recommend booking in as soon as you’re certain you want to share your story with your readership. I am frequently booked up 3-6 months in advance.

The cost depends on how much work you want done, as well as the target wordcount. A very small 15,000-20,000 word business book starts at $35,000 for writing only, whereas a start-to finish publishing package for up to 30,000 words starts at $65,000. Because this type of work requires my team’s time for publication and admin, we do not honor low bids or individuals seeking bargain ghostwriting. We appreciate your respect for our time and expertise.

Britta Jensen is uniquely positioned to help you get your book written. She is an author, editor, writing coach, and ghostwriter with a teacher’s heart. Britta has published and assisted authors publish dozens of books and has twenty-three years of experience teaching creative writing and editing books for both traditional and indie authors. She has received numerous awards, including the General Sharp Award from the US Army, for her innovative teaching of creative writing in New York City, South Korea and Germany. Friends often refer to her as a polyglot—which is a product of living twenty-two years overseas in Japan, South Korea, and Germany before settling in Austin, Texas with her husband and two furry children. Her most recent ghostwriting project collaboration is with Lydotta Taylor founder of The EdVenture Group and L-evation. Britta cares about your life experiences, story, and understanding of the process of your book’s production, as well as ensuring that your goals are met on the timeline that works best for you and your book!

How is my work kept confidential?

I work with a small team of 3-4 women who are all super professional and excellent at keeping all of our projects, whether it is ghostwriting or editing, confidential. Confidentiality depends entirely upon the individual and what level of confidentiality they are seeking. If you want full publication help, it is in your best interests to be open to your work being shared with the world at least 6 months prior to publication. However, I always ask permission before sharing the working titles of my clients in the public space. All of that is decided at our first paid working meeting.

What if the scope of the project changes midway through the writing of the book?

Usually this doesn’t happen very often. Most authors come to me with a very definitive idea of their book. Changes to order of chapters, or drafting up a new chapter or experience and deleting another is not a change in scope. Change in scope is when you want an entirely different type of book written. That will be subject to the terms of our contract and how much the project will change. It will also likely incur extra fees and create delays with delivery of the book as well as its publication.

What if I change my mind and do not want to continue working on this project?

My contracts include a kill fee that depends on how far along we are in the project. Deposits are non-refundable, and once work has begun on the project, even if you change your mind, you will still need to pay the installments outlined in the contract if we are halfway through the project. For this reason, I always recommend authors do not rush into the process of working with a ghostwriter. Take your time thinking over the contract terms and ensure that you are in the right phase of your life to take on a project like this.

Who owns the copyright?

Britta holds the copyright during the initial phase of drafting and it is turned over to the author once all phases of drafting are complete and installments paid.

Who publishes my work?

This depends on your desired publication path. If you’re eager for your work to be out in the world, ASAP, indie publishing is going to be your fastest quality option. Traditional publication, unless you are highly connected with the publishing world and already have a literary agent, can take anywhere from 2-3+ years after your book is sold before you have a printed proof in your hands. We can talk through your options in our free call as well as your first paid meeting to ensure you’re super knowledgeable about what publishing path works for where you are in your career and life trajectory.