How to Get Help Writing a Book: The Best Options You Have at Your Disposal

Looking for help writing your book?

You aren’t alone.

Writing a great book is a herculean task. In fact, 97% of people who start a book NEVER end up finishing it.

But that isn’t an option for you.

You have a great message to share with the world and you also want to leverage that message to create new career opportunities.

You just want help writing your book—and you aren’t sure where to turn.

I know where you’re coming from.

I struggled with the same things and have explored nearly every option out there–from hiring ghostwriters, and publishing companies, to writing the book myself, and more.

And in this post, I’ll reveal some of the best options I’ve found so you can get the help you need to cross the finish line.

What You Need to Understand FIRST If You’re Looking for Help Writing a Book

Before we dive into all the different ways you can get assistance as an aspiring author, it’s important to understand your work doesn’t end when you finish your book.

In many ways, that’s when your real work begins…

Many entrepreneurs, thought leaders, and aspiring authors want a book because they think it will:

1. Advance their career
2. Grow their business
3. Create a new revenue stream from book sales

And it absolutely can do all of those things–I’m living proof and so are our countless successful clients.

But most people don’t have a plan for what will happen after they finally write their book.

They work so hard to finish their book just for it to collect dust in the remote corners of the internet.

They aren’t sure how they’re actually going to sell it or even get people to read it.

And they wonder if they wasted 100s of hours and months–even years–of their lives writing a book.

Of course, writing a book isn’t a waste even if it doesn’t generate thousands of sales out of the gate.

At a minimum, it adds an additional layer of expertise and respect to your brand.

People see your book cover and that you’re an author and think more highly of you as a thought leader.

But that shouldn’t be all your book does.

And it won’t be if you think about your book as a tool that helps you achieve bigger goals.

Because it’s highly unlikely that either of us will turn out to become the next Stephen King. And that means that book sales aren’t going to pay the bills.

Book royalties—even if you self-publish—are generally way too low to create substantial income.

But a book can be an incredible tool for making more and bigger sales–things like courses, workshops, consulting, and more.

So, before we dive into how to get help writing your book, think through the bigger goals you want a book to help you accomplish.

A book is a starting point–a tool you can use in many areas of your life.

But it shouldn’t be the ultimate goal in and of itself.

Book Writing Help: 6 Great Ways to Get Help with This HUGE Project

1. Hire a Ghostwriter

There’s tons of misinformation out there about ghostwriters–so much so that many aspiring authors never even consider hiring one.

People say it’s “cheating” or that you’ll end up with a horrible book and a 5-figure invoice to pay.

But neither of these are even remotely true if you work with a reputable ghostwriter.

A good ghostwriter writes the same book you would’ve written, in the same way you would’ve written it, and reduces the time it takes to publish your book by months.

The main problem is that good ghostwriters are hard to find.

I know this firsthand–my first experience working with a ghostwriter was exactly what most authors fear.

I paid tens of thousands and ended up with a book that was completely unusable 6 months later.

And that’s what led me to start Best Seller Publishing–where we created our trademarked Enhanced Ghostwriting process that solves the main issues of traditional ghostwriting.

Throughout this experience, I’ve learned that using a good ghostwriter who understands your content, your voice, and how to structure a compelling book is easily the best way to get help writing your book.

It drastically reduces your work and still allows you to end up with the same book you would’ve written on your own.

It’s still YOUR book and YOUR idea–you just get it done in a few months rather than 6-12 (or more) months.

2. Hire an Editor

A step down from ghostwriting is hiring an editor who will help you write, structure, and edit your book.

You’ll still have to do most of the writing when working with an editor, but you’ll get immediate feedback and help with just about every aspect of your book.

This will help you stay on the right track when writing your book.

An editor can steer you in the right direction, give you insights from other work they’ve done, and help you write the best book you possibly can.

And contrary to what most people recommend, I actually recommend hiring an editor rather than a writing coach.

Writing coaches tend to give strategic advice only while editors give both strategic advice and help with the actual writing.

And I’ll show you how you can get a lot of the same information you would have from a writing coach for FREE in #4 below.

3. Utilize Book Writing Software

There are tons of different tools available outside of Microsoft Word that can help you organize and write your book.

These range in pricing and features, but most will allow you to create notes, conduct research, and make outlines that you can view while writing.

This can drastically reduce the time it takes to write your book if you choose to do most of the writing yourself (or even work with an editor).

Here are a few of the most well-known options at your disposal:

1. Scrivener (organization)
2. Ulysses (organization)
3. Grammarly (grammar)
4. ProWritingAid (grammar)

And at the time of writing, we’re actually working on our own software that can help you write your book faster.

4. Seek Coaching (But Not a Coach)

I’m not against writing coaches.

Many of them are incredibly knowledgeable and can help you immensely.

I just think pursuing a writing coach might not be the best way to get help writing your book.

Mainly because most won’t do any of the actual writing, editing, or organizing. If you’re going to pay for help writing your book, you might as well just get a good ghostwriter who’ll write it for you.

On top of that, you can get a lot of great information on writing a great book, becoming a better writer in general, and more from books and online resources.

There are tons of completely FREE resources like my blog and many others you can use to get some great information and world-renowned authors like Stephen King have books on writing.

Here are some of my top recommendations:

 

• On Writing by Stephen King

• The Elements of Style by William Strunk and E.B. White

• Publish. Promote. Profit. by yours truly (and you can actually get it for free if you pay for shipping here)

• On Writing Well by William Zinsser

Of course, writing coaches have a lot of experience you can glean from that is harder to gain insight into on your own, but at the end of the day, most advice they give will help you with your writing but not in actually finishing your book.

5. Work with a Co-Author

Another great option many aspiring don’t consider is working with a Co-Author.

This can work great if you have a business partner or close colleague because your collective knowledge makes the content of the book even better.

You can include their insights and experience in the book as well as get their help writing it.

There are, of course, some downsides to consider with this approach, though.

You’ll have to split any royalties from book sales, lose partial control over the content, and more.

But depending on your ultimate goal of writing a book, this could be an incredible option for you.

6. Join a Writing Community

Another free option that you should ABSOLUTELY consider if you’re going to write your whole book on your own is joining a writing community.

There are tons of these on Facebook, Slack, and other platforms that you can join. And you can even start your own, smaller one if you know a few other aspiring authors.

Why does community help you write your book?

A few very powerful reasons:

1. Accountability – this is a powerful motivator to hit your deadlines
2. Feedback – you’ll have access to “beta readers” and editors within the group if you can do the same for their book
3. Coaching – while not with a writing coach, members of these groups can provide you with direction and coaching (often for free if you help others in the group)

The Best Help You Can Possibly Get for Writing a Book

All of these tips can help you immensely when writing a book.

But the best and most efficient way to finish your book is, no doubt, by working with a good ghostwriter.

Interested in learning more about how we can use our exclusive Enhanced Ghostwriting process to turn your idea into a finished book?

Click here to learn more.

We produce books that are 100% YOU.

They’re your idea, your voice, and very similar to what you’d write yourself.

The only difference is you don’t have to do the actual writing and you can join the 3% of people who actually end this process with a finished book.

And a great book that can grow your business at that. 🙂