Book coach vs ghostwriter: who writes the words?

Who writes the words

This is the deciding question, and it is worth answering honestly before anything else.

With a coach, you are the writer. The coach may suggest a structure, push back on a chapter, or tell you a story belongs earlier, but the sentences on the page are the ones you wrote. If you enjoy writing, or want the satisfaction of having written it, or your writing is part of your professional reputation, that matters.

With a ghostwriter, you are the author but not the writer. The Editorial Freelancers Association describes ghostwriting as work-for-hire writing done on someone's behalf, in that person's voice, for a book attributed to them. You provide the substance: what you know, what happened, what you believe. The writer provides the craft of turning that into chapters.

A useful test: imagine the finished book on a shelf. Does it bother you if someone else arranged most of the sentences, as long as every idea and story is yours and you approved every page? If it does, coaching is your route. If it does not, and especially if writing is the part you dread, a ghostwriter deserves a serious look.

How your voice is kept

Both routes are trying to produce a book that sounds like you. They get there differently.

With a coach

Your voice is already in the sentences, because you wrote them. The risk runs the other way: many people write stiffly, in a formal register they never use in conversation. A good coach notices this and helps you sound on the page the way you sound in a room. A common technique is asking you to say the point out loud, then write down what you just said.

With a ghostwriter

Your voice has to be captured and reproduced. Good ghostwriters do this by:

• Recording long interviews and writing from the transcripts, so phrasing and stories come from you.
• Reading or listening to what you have already produced: talks, podcasts, articles, emails.
• Writing a sample chapter early and adjusting based on your reaction before writing the rest.
• Keeping a list of your words and phrases, and the ones you would never use.

When you talk to a ghostwriter, ask exactly how they capture voice and ask to read books they have written. If the answer is vague, the voice will probably be vague too.

The time each asks of you

People often assume a ghostwriter takes no time. That is not true. Both routes ask for time; they ask for different kinds.

• Coaching asks for writing time, every week, for months. Calls are a small part. Most of the hours are you, alone, drafting and revising. If your calendar cannot hold two or three protected hours a week, coaching will be frustrating.
• Ghostwriting asks for talking and reviewing time: interviews early on, then reading drafts and giving notes. It is usually fewer hours overall, and the hours are easier to schedule, because a recorded interview fits a busy week better than a writing session does.

Ask any coach or ghostwriter for their estimate of your hours per week, and get it in writing. As one published example, Scribe says its Guided Author program, where you write with a coach, is not a fit if you are not ready to commit writing time over 12 to 15 months.

What you own

With a coach, ownership is usually simple: you wrote it, so it is yours. Still check that the coaching agreement does not claim any rights to your outline, pages or ideas, and that it does not tie you to the coach's own publishing services.

With a ghostwriter, ownership is set by the contract, so read it closely. Look for:

• Who holds the copyright in the finished book.
• Who receives royalties and any advance, and whether the writer gets a share.
• Whether the writer may be credited, or may list the book in their portfolio.
• Confidentiality: what the writer may say about working with you.
• What happens to drafts and interview recordings if either side ends the project early.

Side by side

The guided hybrid

Between the two sits an arrangement that goes by different names: guided authorship, assisted writing, developmental coaching with editing. The shape is broadly the same wherever you find it:

• You write the draft yourself.
• A coach helps you plan it and stays with you while you write, more closely than ordinary accountability coaching.
• Editing is built in: the finished draft goes to an editor, often inside the same company, rather than you hiring one separately.
• Sometimes publishing services are bundled at the end.

It suits people who want every word to be theirs but do not want to assemble a coach, an editor and a publisher themselves. The trade-offs: it costs more than coaching alone, because you are buying editing and often publishing too, and you are tied to one provider for several stages. Compare it with hiring an independent coach and an independent editor yourself, which gives you more choice at each stage and more coordination work.

How to decide

Answer three questions:

1. Do I want to write the sentences? No: ghostwriter. Yes: keep going.
2. Can I protect writing time every week for months? No: a ghostwriter, or wait until you can. Yes: keep going.
3. Do I want editing and publishing handled for me? Yes: a guided hybrid. No: an independent coach, then an independent editor.

If your answers are mixed, a short coaching engagement to define the book first is a sensible step either way: every route needs that plan, and doing it shows you how much writing you really want to do. The tool recognizes this case and says so.

How Scribe fits in

This site is made by Scribe Media, which sells both kinds of help, so you should know what they are. Scribe's Guided Author is a guided hybrid: you write the book, with a book coach and a publishing manager, a writing course and author community, coaching and revision sessions, then a structural edit, copyediting and full publishing. It is priced at $2,933 a month for 15 months, $44,000 total, including publishing. Scribe also offers ghostwriting, where a writer interviews you and writes the book; prices are on scribemedia.com/pricing.

Being fair about it: an independent coach plus an independent editor and your own publishing choices costs less, gives you more choice, and is the right answer for many authors. A bundled program is worth it if you value having one team responsible for the whole book.