Key Lessons I’ve Learned From Rewriting a 34k-word Ghostwritten Book
The book was dead — now it averages 5 paperback sales per day.
A few months ago I had a great idea for a non-fiction book.
To analyze it, I spied on my ideal audience on Quora and Facebook. They were hungry for my topic. Then I researched the market, and found a pond full of starving fish with only a couple of competing books throwing them bait.
This discovery made my head spin. My idea had a great USP. I knew the book was going to be super relatable without the need to pierce the reader’s mouth with a hook and drag them out of water.
But the only problem was of course, I thought I could never write a book.
So I produced an outline and hired a ghostwriter.
The book came back a disaster.
The Lifeblood Of All Great Writing
Don’t get me wrong — the ghostwriter could write. They also did a great job following my outline and doing research.
But the finished draft was lifeless. The writing was detached, strict, and self-helpy. It sounded an awful lot like a textbook. Exhausting and deadly generic. It was the kind of book you open and regret spending your money, because it has nothing to say to you.
What was the underlying problem?
Zero personality.
But this one was on me — I missed a crucial point.
One zoom chat wasn’t enough for the writer to pick up a vibe. That’s why successful authors who use ghostwriters meet and hang out in the real world, so the writer can catch their personality for the duration of the project.
So I thanked the writer and took over to edit heavily. By page 6 I knew I was going to rewrite the whole book. I had nothing to lose now. The book was without character, and it was already dead.
Personality is the lifeblood of all great writing. Inject as much of it as you can, like it’s the rarest blood type on earth. Make it the essence of everything you write.
But how do you do that, when personality is so hard to define?
Don’t Pay Any Attention To Words
Writing rules are for school essays.
And let’s face it, the only reason anyone ever reads school essays is that they’re paid to do so.
Real-life readers couldn’t be more different. They are sick of generic language and mere information, and tired of opening articles just to tap close in two seconds because the tone is flat as hell.
Today’s readers want a chat. They want connection. They want to trust your writing is authentic and personal. And the way to achieve this is mainly through letting your aura spill all over your first draft.
So, stop being the writer.
Sure, you are a writer, and an amazing one too. But when writing your first draft, swap the writer’s chair for a director’s chair. Or transform yourself to a cafe and talk to a friend who wants to know about your topic.
Write, but forget you’re writing.
This gives your personality and individuality the space it deserves. As a director, you tell your thoughts as they are. You give your ideas form, and drive them exactly where you want them to go.
Don’t pay any attention to the words you’re using. Just write how you speak, how it feels easy and natural to you. Be a director and a friend. Give your creative mind priority, and write the entire first draft without looking back to edit. Let it breathe free like spring.
Wear The Trendy Editor’s Hat
I know, trendy kinda makes my skin crawl too. So much classic advice out there is unbeatable, and will remain gold forever.
Like when Stephen King said to kill your darlings without mercy.
But here’s how the cool editor keeps the article’s swagger nowadays — they don’t sacrifice substance for rigid correctness.
So, do make sure to kill all the fluff. Get rid of any repetitiveness, or anything that doesn’t directly serve the storyline and purpose of the piece. And of course make your spelling perfect (I’m left grinding my teeth at the trap I’d set for myself here, and welcome notifications about any incorrect spelling you might find).
But don’t fall down the over-editing rabbithole of killing your personality in the process. Don’t edit out your personal essence just to accommodate some outdated rules.
It helps to highlight all the lines you think make your piece unique, honest, and true to you. Then make sure they survive.
I loved when Boateng Sekyere shared how he learned to revamp his writing from Cosmo. And it worked. It gave his articles a brand new life.
Popular writing never sounds like it could do with a defibrillator.
Speak Your Audience’s Lingo
This will take the resonance of your writing to the next level.
When you can speak your audience’s language, you’re holding the key to their feelings and hearts. They’ll relate to you. And that’s everything. So make sure you know their trending words, popular phrases, emotionally charged expressions, or any technical jargon.
Create a niche reader avatar and write to them. Know their desires, their goals, check on their problems often.
My book avatar was born gen Z. Her name was Mel, but she was the Heather of her friends, the snatched guy next door lived rent free in her mind, and she wanted her life to hit totally different.
As a millenial, I had no clue about gen Z slang. This forced me to learn to understand my audience, and it paid off big time. The book has been getting mindblowing feedback from readers, which is beyond anything I’d expected. They send me emails asking for more. Not to mention the positive reviews.
Make the effort to get your readers, and they’ll get you.
You bet.
Plan Your Vacations Galore
It took me around 4 weeks to rework the book from start to finish. It was a grind. In the evenings, I read Ken Atchity’s A Writer’s Time to keep me going (by the way, if you only read one book about writing this year, it should be this — it’s full of classic gold).
It talks a lot about the game-changing importance of vacations. Not exactly taking a week in the Bahamas (even though that might be crucial before the final edit of a large-scale creative project).
Rather, it’s about planning micro vacations proportional to the size of your project, and making them part of your writing routine.
Here’s Ken Atchity’s take on the productive vacation agenda:
- Idea
- Vacation
- Research
- Vacation
- Outline
- Vacation
- First draft
- Vacation
- Revisions and additions
- Vacation
- Final edit
- Vacation (I’m not kidding)
- Final read
- Publish!
Yeah, right. Who actually has time for that?
This will easily stretch the time it takes you to write a Medium article from one day to three.
Also, for some writers this is old news. But for me it was a game changer. I took walks or did yoga or daydreamed over coffee as the above stages repeated themselves in each new chapter I started.
And I couldn’t get over how fresh and responsive my mind suddenly was. I was writing without thinking. And fast. The keyboard couldn’t keep up. The cats had to remind me about mealtimes.
It completely changed how I think about creativity.
You Already Have What It Takes
Sounding like a textbook is a readers’ click away from ditching your writing.
If I’d ignored that and published the first version of the book, it would be a total failure. Instead, it now averages 5 daily sales. And I was dead certain I couldn’t do it.
You already have what you need to fix any piece of writing that might be falling a bit flat.
It’s your vibe. Don’t edit it. You have the vocabulary. You have the unique point of view, and you have the charisma. It’s all in your personality.
Personality always resonates.
And when you prioritize your readers while also getting to know them as they are, they’ll feel connected to your writing. Also, remember to give your brain enough breaks. It will work.
Over to you!
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