How long does it take to write a memoir with a ghostwriter?

Here is what happens across that year, what you’ll be asked to do at each stage, and the things that most often stretch a timeline.

Before we start

Deciding to write a book is a big step, and most people want to meet me, ask a lot of questions and work out how the cost and the schedule fit into their life before they sign anything. That’s sensible. We’ll talk about what you want the book to do and who it’s for, I’ll give you a ballpark figure, and then a detailed quote and a contract that sets out each stage.

Each book takes a large share of my working week, so I’m often booked some months ahead. If you have a date in mind, such as a significant birthday or an anniversary, get in touch well before it and we can plan backwards from it.

Stage one: the interviews

The first months are mostly conversation. For a memoir that means twenty or more recorded interviews with you, usually a couple of hours each, and often conversations with family, friends or colleagues as well. By the time most of the writing happens, we’ll have spent somewhere between thirty and ninety hours talking.

The interviews don’t all happen at once. Early ones give me the chronology and the main people in your story, and once I have a rough outline I can see where the gaps are and aim the later interviews at filling them. How ghostwriting interviews work goes into the detail.

Stage two: finding the structure

Every interview is transcribed, and ten hours of conversation comes to roughly 70,000 words of transcript. I read all of it and sort the useful material into the parts of your life it belongs to, then look for the thread that will hold the book together and decide where it starts. Readers shouldn’t notice the structure of a good memoir, which is why this stage takes longer than people expect.

Stage three: a sample of your voice

Before I write the bulk of the book, I send you a sample of around 5,000 words, clearly marked as unfinished, with notes on the feedback I’m looking for. Its job is to check that what I’ve put on the page sounds like you. I would rather find out now that the tone is off than ten chapters later. One client rang me an hour after I’d sent his sample and said, “Bloody marvellous. Love it,” which is the best outcome, although a few changes at this stage are just as useful.

Stage four: drafting and review

Drafting runs alongside the later interviews, so the book grows as the gaps fill. You’ll then see the manuscript in three rounds of review. Most of what matters is already in the first draft, and the later drafts are where the book gets tighter and more like you, which only happens if you read them and tell me what you think.

Stage five: copyediting

Once we’re both happy with the manuscript, it goes to professional copy editors. I use two, at two different points, and the second pass includes the final proofread. The person who wrote a sentence is the worst person to spot its typo, so no book of mine goes out without this stage.

Stage six: design and print, if you want it

Design, photography and printing are separate from the writing, and if you’d like me to manage them I’ll bring in the designer and photographer I work with on most projects. Timing depends on the book. In my experience a large illustrated book can take anywhere from six weeks to six months to design, and printing offshore adds around twelve weeks once shipping is included.

Why can’t it be done faster?

Part of the answer is how writing works. I can draft quickly for about two hours a day before the quality drops, and editing takes longer again, because I can spend more time reviewing 5,000 words than I spent writing them.

Memory needs time as well. People rarely remember the useful details on the first ask, and it’s common for a smell, a phrase or a room to come back to someone in the third or fourth interview, often after weeks of thinking about the conversation in between. A memoir written in a rush tends to stop at the dinner-party version of the story.

What slows a book down

Most delays I see come from outside the writing:

• Slow feedback. If a draft sits unread for six weeks, the book waits too.
• Interviews that keep moving. A crisis at work or in the family can stall a run of interviews, and it’s nobody’s fault, but the time has to come from somewhere.
• Research that opens up. A box of letters or a long-lost colleague can make a book richer and add weeks to it.
• A busy subject. Hiring a ghostwriter saves you a great deal of time, although you can’t set it and forget it, and it’s very difficult to write a good book about someone who doesn’t have time to take part.

What the year asks of you

Most of your time goes in at the start. You’ll spend thirty to ninety hours in interviews, and you’ll be the one who digs out photographs, documents and the names of people I should talk to. After that your job is mostly reading, answering questions and giving honest feedback across the three review rounds, while I get on with the writing.

Frequently asked questions

How much of my time will a memoir take?

Plan on thirty to ninety hours of interviews, mostly in the first months, plus time to read and comment on the drafts across three rounds of review.

Can a memoir be written in six months?

A shorter book can move faster. For a full-length memoir I plan on about a year, because the interviews, the drafts and your review rounds need that time to be done properly.

Can you work to a deadline, such as a birthday or an anniversary?

Yes, as long as we know about it early enough to plan backwards from the date and leave room for design and printing.

Does a longer timeline cost more?

No. If the book takes eighteen months instead of twelve, the same fee is spread across the longer period. What does a ghostwriter cost in New Zealand? has the detail.

Read next: Ghostwriting · What does a ghostwriter cost in New Zealand? · How ghostwriting interviews work · Get in touch