The typical perception of ghostwriting is that the ghost writes a book for a client, starting at the beginning and finishing at the end. And yes, that probably is the baseline standard for describing yourself as a ghostwriter.

But it’s by no means the full or the only package – and it’s not the only thing clients are after, either. In the great Venn diagram of life, the circle of ghostwriting overlaps a number of other circles, all of which are in the general writing / editing / narrative area. Thanks to those overlaps, here are some other services I’ve been able to provide for clients:

• Doctoring. For whatever reason, the original ghostwriter could or would not deliver what was expected of them and I had to step in and make things better (taking up large chunks of a previously booked holiday, with the permission of my very understanding wife).
• Emergency ghosting. The client had a two-book deal with a publisher and genuinely wrote the first book on their own. But then their day job took off and they didn’t have time to write Book 2. I was given an unpolished first draft of the first quarter or so of Book 2, and a detailed outline of what happens next, and I took it from there.
• Englishing (1). There was nothing wrong with the manuscript or story per se – except that it was written by someone whose first language was not English and who needed it to sound like it was. This included colloquialisms, character names, and pointing out that no one is going to have fond childhood memories of tobogganing in Leicestershire.
• Englishing (2). I’m sure it was a very good manuscript when the author wrote it in their native tongue – but they then ran it through Google Translate to get the English, and that took some unpicking.
• Fictionising. Non-fiction, like biographies or histories, can still require a fiction-like voice to carry the reader along. The author can provide all the research but what is needed is some narrative to link it together and put us into the heads of the characters, extrapolating thoughts and impressions that we can’t actually know about, but are based on what we do know.
• Joining. A manuscript written by someone else was broken into two books at the publisher’s request, and I had to write the linking material to give the two parts a proper ending and a beginning.
• Modernising. Nothing at all wrong with the story when it was first written … ten years ago, before the smartphone revolution. So, it now needed all sorts of reasons why the characters couldn’t just look something up or call each other.
• Polishing. The manuscript essentially needs a comb through and polishing, sometimes with me writing extra bits to link key scenes, or otherwise straightening out kinks in the narrative.

Sometimes I don’t actually touch the manuscript itself:

• Coaching. You might have an idea, but feel daunted by everything else that needs doing. You might have given it a good try yourself, but it just… doesn’t. You might just need someone else to listen, to coach, to encourage, to bounce ideas off – generally, to help you sort it out and get it down on paper (to use an old-fashioned phrase, which still sounds better than ‘convert it into bytes’).
• Critiquing. Very much like polishing, above, except that my involvement was only to report back to the author on the changes and edits and tweaks that I would recommend they do.
• Populating. The client was clear on the story she wanted to write: an account of a significant summer holiday in her childhood. She had made friends but realised, as an adult, that she knew absolutely nothing about their pasts and backgrounds. So, I had to draw up profiles for a group of four boys and four girls from different backgrounds and classes in the early 1980s, which she could then use as her supporting cast.

While I’m here, some residual skills left over from when I had a day job:

• Marketing and publicity. Proper marketing is done by proper marketers, and I’m not one. Other ghosts might well have helpful marketing know-how. However, by the end of writing the manuscript your ghost probably knows it better than anyone else. So, they might help write the back cover blurb, and any publicity material, and anything else that might be needed to speed the book on its way into the hands of its readers.
• Pitching. If you’re after a proper publishing deal then somehow your book has to be pitched to a publisher. Every book is different, but the ghost has probably been here before and can at least offer advice, even up to writing (or co-writing) a pitch that is designed to snag the publisher’s attention. Hint: check if your desired publisher has submission guidelines and, if so, follow them to the letter.
• Production (for self-publishers only). I can get the manuscript typeset, and either liaise with the printers, or advise on setting it up for print on demand. I could even design a cover provided it isn’t too graphically challenging – though I will be the first to admit you should probably get a proper graphic designer in.

I would not offer to do any of the last three on their own, but they could certainly be combined with one of my other services.

That’s me. United Ghostwriters is a group of many talented people who each came to this life from a different direction. Who knows what else we may have tucked away between us? Drop any one of us a line and find out.