There is a deadline
on this book. Nobody puts it in a calendar.
One day somebody in your family is going to want to know exactly what happened, and they are going to want to know it after you are no longer available for questions.
A life does not arrive in chapter order. The moment you sit down to write it, you find out that remembering and writing are 2 completely different skills. I have the second one. You have the first. That is a very good trade.
The straight answer
A memoir ghostwriter turns your life into a book in your voice, with only your name on the cover. You talk, I write. We do 1-2 hours of recorded interviews a week, I deliver chapters in batches, and you have a finished manuscript in 90 days. With me it's $60,000 USD, and I take 2 clients a year. Co-writing ($30,000) and coaching ($10,000) cost less if you'd rather write it yourself.
A memoir is not everything that happened, in order.
That is a chronology, and chronologies are where good lives go to become boring. A memoir is 1 thread pulled out of a whole life and followed all the way through. Pick the thread and the rest of the book knows where to stand.
Choosing that thread is the single highest-value thing I do, and it usually happens in the first 3 conversations.
How a memoir gets written with me.
The thread
2 long conversations where I ask questions nobody has asked you before and listen for the 1 story the rest of the book hangs from.
The map
A chapter-by-chapter outline so you can see the whole book before a word is written. You change it now, while changing it is free.
The interviews
Recorded sessions, roughly 2 hours a week. You talk. I ask. You go on tangents. The tangents are frequently the best chapters.
The draft
Chapters arrive in batches so you are never waiting 8 months to find out whether this is working. You read, you correct the facts, you tell me when I have your mother wrong.
The polish
Line edit, structural pass, and the read-aloud test. If it does not sound like you out loud, it is not finished. Then the publishing roadmap, because a manuscript in a drawer is not what you came for.
The 4 questions I will ask you in the first hour.
Who is this for?
If the answer is everyone, there is work to do. If the answer is my granddaughter when she turns 30, there is a book.
What do you not want to write about?
The thing you just named is almost always in the book. It usually lands around chapter 7, and it is usually the reason people finish it.
What does the reader know by the end?
A memoir that only reports is a diary. A memoir that teaches without lecturing is a book people hand to somebody else.
What happens after it exists?
Speaking. Legacy. A family that finally has the record straight. The answer changes how the book gets built, so it gets settled early.
About the other people in it.
Real people appear in real memoirs. Handled well, that is the most powerful thing in the book. Handled badly, it is a letter from somebody’s lawyer and a family Christmas you will hear about for 10 years.
I will show you where the line sits, what to change, what to cut, and when a conversation in advance is worth more than any legal wording.
Lives that became books.
Avril Henry, 5x bestselling author, on why she still hires a book coach
Peter Merrett, author of Wonderlicious
Morgan Feather Lee, from book idea to published author
“What I appreciate most about Crystal is her no-nonsense, direct talk about what it’s really like to write and publish a book.”
Monica ChangAuthor
$60,000, and I take 2 a year.
USD, from. Payment plans exist and I am not precious about them. A memoir takes me roughly 450 hours, and 2 of those is most of a working year, which is why the number is 2.
If $60,000 is not where you are.
You want your hands on it
Co-writing at $30,000 USD. You draft, I shape and rewrite with you. Common for memoir, because the voice matters so much.
You want to start this month
A Createcation™ gets you 4 days, 5 other writers and a chapter map. From $3,500.
Memoir questions I get every week.
How much does it cost to have a memoir ghostwritten?
Memoir ghostwriting with me starts at $60,000 USD for a full 50,000+ word manuscript, and I take 2 clients a year. That covers finding the thread, the interviews, the writing, revisions and a publishing roadmap. Payment plans are available. If you want to write it yourself with help, co-writing is $30,000 USD and book coaching is $10,000 USD.
Is my life interesting enough for a memoir?
Almost certainly, and that is the wrong question. The right one is what 1 thread runs through it. A memoir is not everything that happened in order, it is 1 thread followed all the way through. Finding that thread is the first thing I do, and it is the thing that decides whether the book works.
How long does a memoir take to write?
90 days. The interviews run roughly 2 hours a week, chapters come back to you in batches rather than in one terrifying lump at the end, and there is a polish stage after the draft is done.
Do I need to remember everything?
No. Nobody does. The interviews are built to find what you have forgotten, and the tangents you go on are frequently the best chapters in the finished book. Memory gaps are normal and there are honest ways to write around them.
Whose name goes on the cover of a ghostwritten memoir?
Yours, alone. I take no credit line and I sign an NDA. You own the copyright, the royalties and every other right.
Can I write about real people without getting sued?
Usually yes, with care. Real people in real memoirs are the most powerful thing in the book when handled well. I will show you where the line sits, what to change, what to cut, and when a conversation in advance is worth more than any legal wording.
What if the hardest part is something I do not want to write about?
Say so early. The thing people name as off limits is almost always in the finished book, it usually lands around chapter 7, and it is usually the reason readers finish it. Nothing goes in without your approval.
Will it sound like me?
That is the entire job. Chapters come to you as they are written so you can correct the voice early. The final test is reading it aloud. If it does not sound like you out loud, it is not finished.
Do you help get the memoir published?
Yes. The last stage covers traditional, hybrid and independent publishing, what each actually costs and gets you, plus positioning and a launch plan.
Do you write memoirs for clients outside Canada?
Yes. I am on Vancouver Island and I have worked with authors across the USA, UK, Australia, New Zealand and Europe. Interviews run over video.
Somebody is going to want the whole story.
30 minutes, free. Tell me the thing you always end up telling people, and I will tell you honestly whether it is a memoir and which thread it hangs from.
