Going from “I have a book idea,” to holding the book in your hands can feel like diving into the unknown. As a SCUBA diver, I learned that you always need to dive with a buddy. Your skills combined with your partner’s skills help you both navigate the depths, witness undersea mysteries and rise back to the surface again.

I sailed from Aotearoa New Zealand to Fiji to enjoy exquisite underwater life with friends, but even when we anchored near a famous dive site called the Rainbow Reef, it was not obvious at the surface where to dive.

We snorkeled the most accessible reef areas and even though I enjoyed seeing the fish and coral in those spots, there was something in my intuition encouraging me to seek out the local experts to find the real treasure.

My fellow crew didn’t want to pay for a dive guide so I paid for my own dive trip with two guides and a dive boat captain. Their expert knowledge about the currents, daily and seasonal coral and fish behavior, weather and underwater topography combined to offer me awe-inspiring experiences. I cried from sheer joy after a day witnessing underwater rainbow cathedrals, vivid soft coral and schools of newborn reef fish. Then I booked a second day.

With the guides’ expertise, I moved beyond surface-level delights to the more dangerous and rewarding undersea wilderness. I told them that I wanted to see whatever was best to see that day and then put my care in their hands. I relive the memories of those dives over and over again to remind me how magical and mysterious the world is.

Ghostwriters are the book writing professionals that turn your ideas and dreams into tangible manuscripts. Collaborating with a ghostwriter will help your ideas reach their inspiring depths. Well-crafted books spark new ideas in readers that create lasting change in their lives and create positive ripple effects throughout society.

Ghostwriters offer a range of support, from diving-into-the-deep guide services to breathing underwater for you — where the ghost does all of the writing and editing. No matter what level of service you decide on, you need to meet three baseline requirements to be prepared for the journey.

Outline your ideas

• You need to be 80% sure of the ideas you’d like to cover in the book. The other 20% will arise during the research phase, which is the fun part — you and the ghost learn and create throughout the process.
• Outline your ideas as in depth as you’d like, but make sure you have at least a skeleton outline. The clearer the outline is, the faster the project will go. The structure may change and that is ok, you need to at least have the building blocks that can be moved around.
• Give yourself 10 minutes to write out a brief outline for your book. Scary? Exciting? You betcha.

Find your why

• You’re taking a risk to create a book, to dive into the unknown. You need to know your why to help see you through the challenging parts of the process.
• For example, you may want to teach your audience a new concept, grow your business or achieve a personal goal.
• Journal for 10 minutes about why you want to devote your energy and resources into creating your book.

Budget for your book project

• If you want to hire a ghostwriter, you need to make space in your budget. Gotham Ghostwriters reports that their ghosts charge anywhere between $30k to $300k USD.
• My baseline price for researching, ghostwriting and editing a 50,000 word non-fiction book manuscript is $60k USD. The price goes up from there depending on the difficulty of the subject material and if you need the manuscript in a hurry.
• I break that fee up into monthly payments over the course of a year, which is a standard book timeline from outline to full manuscript completion.
• If that suits your budget, then you’re ready to go!
• If you’d rather write the book yourself and receive guidance about your book’s structure and content, that is called a developmental edit, which is like having a coach throughout the book writing process. I provide developmental editing services as well, reach out about your specific project and I can give you a quote.

If you’ve completed these three requirements and want to go on your book adventure, you’re ready to hire a ghostwriter!

I specialize in these non-fiction genres: business, diversity, inclusion, equity and accessibility (DEIA), self-help, history, travel and cookbooks.

Which, if any, of these three steps are you stuck on?

All underwater photography has been kindly donated by Alison Smith of www.waterlustfiji.com dive travel and underwater photography.