Let's say you've decided you are seriously interested in having me help you write your life story - your Wordportrait.  Here is a ten-step outline of the process you can expect to go through:

If you haven’t done so already, you check up on people who provide a similar ghost writing service to this one: what they are offering exactly, for how much, how much work you are expected to do, what material you need to supply, etc. You start thinking about the kind of shape you would like a book about your life to have. You run the general idea past close friends and family. At this point, if you are still interested, you may have some questions you want to ask me directly. In that case, you telephone me, or email me, we talk, and we may arrange to meet. 

We meet, normally at your home but it could be at mine, or in a cafe, or anywhere else come to that. We discuss the project. On your side, you have the opportunity to take the measure of me, ask any more questions, voice any doubts. On my side, initially, I listen. Having listened, I clarify. If I foresee any unusual problems, I tell you. I will also show you examples of the hardback and paperback designs in which your Worportrait could be published. If I have to travel far, I charge a small fee and expenses for this service.  

You ask me to write your Wordportrait. We sign a contract that covers the writing stage of the project. If you want me to, I also sign a confidentiality agreement drawn up by you or using my own standard agreement (See Contract).

You make an upfront payment and we agree a provisional timetable. I send you some tasks to complete and exercises to do. These will help me to prepare for the recorded interviews that will form the basis of your Wordportrait. These preliminary exercises need only take three hours or so, but some people choose to spend longer on them. It is up to you. While this is going on you may want to be in touch with me again, by email or telephone.

I conduct twelve hours of tape-recorded interviews with you. These will normally consist of four x 3-hour sessions over two days. Exceptionally there could be an interval of a week or so between the first two and the last two interviews.

I write your Wordportrait. It will be about 40,000 words long, give or take a couple of thousand words. My aim will be to have the first draft completed and returned to you as hard copy and on disc within one month of the interviews. If it is to be longer, I will already have agreed this with you.

You receive the draft copy and we discuss by phone and/or by email any specific alterations you want me to make. I might agree or disagree with your requests for alterations, but your wishes are paramount. That is to say, if you want changes made, I will make them. At this time, the second payment for your Wordportrait becomes due.

I send you the final copy of your Wordportrait, printed on double-spaced A4 paper and recorded on disc. I submit my final bill for the writing work I have undertaken. At the end of this stage, my responsibility for the textual content of your Wordportrait is over. I retain no ownership rights, and any quotes I may want to use from your Wordportrait for publicity purposes are at your discretion. You are free to make any amendments or changes to the Wordportrait as you see fit from this point on.

If you wish to, we have further discussions about the production of the Wordportrait as a book. I go over all the options with you, and their costs. This step could follow on immediately from the one previous, or it could come later.

You commission your Wordportrait as a book, in the design of your choice. I give you a date for delivery of a sample copy, and you make a stage payment to cover printing costs.

We both proof read a sample copy of the Wordportrait in book format. At this stage printing errors will be corrected free of cost to you, but any changes to the final format design agreed at Step Nine - e.g. additional photos, textual changes - may incur extra charges. You receive the finished Wordportrait in as many copies as you have ordered within a few days of approving the sample copy, altered if necessary. I submit my final bill for the whole project.

And that's it. From the beginning of Step One to the end of Step Ten normally takes two to three months, and is sometimes quicker. You can check all costs by clicking here.