Publishing a book is the mark of true expertise in one’s field, and yet many don’t ever pick up the proverbial pen to do it. Author Joseph Epstein has said that approximately 81% of Americans feel they have a book in them.

And it’s true: we all have a story to tell, research to share, or an opinion that could necessitate a book. What’s stopping you from bringing that wish to fulfillment? 

Most will say a combination of a lack of time and a lack of writing skills gets in the way of their big book writing dreams. Writing a book requires a significant amount of time investment: time that could be otherwise spent working on one’s business, spending time with family and friends, or showing up to work.

 That time can easily be doubled or even tripled if you lack a belief in your writing abilities. For some, writing comes naturally – and for others, it simply doesn’t.

This was the case for technical recruiter Scott Turman, who was trying to write his own first book. “I knew I had the expertise to do it, but I couldn’t actually get the words on the page,” he confided.

Luckily, the ‘next big thing’ that many thought leaders and entrepreneurs are looking to do is hire a ghostwriter. Believe it or not, many of the books on your local bookstore’s shelves weren’t actually written by the name on the front of the book.

The chance of a book being ghostwritten goes up even higher if the book is nonfiction and/or “written” by a celebrity or public figure. You may think that these individuals are more qualified than anyone to write a book, but the truth is, they probably have less time than anyone else to actually sit down to write it.

Instead, they look to hire author assistant services, so they can pump out a book into the world with limited time investment on their hands. You can hire a content creator to help with this, too.

What the Ghostwriting Process Looks Like

Scott Turman is now the founder of BrightRay Publishing (https://brightraypublishing.com/), an all-in-one service that solved the problem he had with his first book. The publishing house will write, edit, publish, and promote the book you want to write. 

“When I realized the book was not coming out onto the page, I decided to look into hiring some help,” Turman explained. “I found Zoe Rose, who is now my co-founder, and between the two of us, we were able to get the book onto the market within weeks.” 

Rose has been writing her own fiction books since high school, and was seamlessly able to pen the expertise that Turman had to get the book actually, physically written.

“Ghostwriting is about taking the main lessons, stories, and pointers that you want to get down, and doing it in a way that flows for a reader,” Turman noted. “This way, everything you want to say is in there, but you don’t have to mess with the flow of the chapters or wrestle with your words to make it sound good. A ghostwriter does all of that.”

But it doesn’t stop there. BrightRay takes it beyond the actual writing of the book, which is the second obstacle where many get stuck. Once the book is actually done, what do you do with it? You’d be surprised how many individuals are sitting on fully written books because they don’t know the next steps.

Publishing the Book

BrightRay Publishing also specializes in getting the book published so it gets out onto the marketplace, and then promoted to get the marketing it deserves.

This looks different than the ‘traditional’ style of publishing (but, by the way – don’t be fooled by those who have traditional book deals. Almost all traditional publishing houses have in-house ghost writers or a rolodex of content creation clients to “assist” in the writing process for the authors they sign). 

In the traditional route, an author (represented by a literary agent) will pitch a book to a publishing house, then write under their watch. Then, the publishing house will get it into the world.

There’s another process for those who don’t have traditional book deals, though – and this is independent publishing. BrightRay helps authors do this. 

“It’s not just about getting the book out onto the marketplace so readers can order it. It’s about positioning it in the proper light so it reaches new audiences and actually does something for the author’s reputation.

For example, one of our most recent books hit the Top 10 list for negotiation books on Amazon. That’s visibility and credibility, which will help the author moving forward,” Turman said. 

Speed is a factor for many, too. It doesn’t have to be a year-long process to write, edit, publish, and promote (even though that sounds like a fair time assessment to most).

BrightRay cares about getting great work done on an expedited timeline, so that you can have a book on the market sharing your story and expertise within months if that’s what you want. “Our comparatively short time frame separates us from the competition,” explained Turman. 

So, if book writing has been on your bucket list but under the ‘maybe one day’ column, consider an authors’ assistant. More than you can see when scanning Amazon’s selection of books or your local bookstore’s aisles, ghostwriters have taken over for authors who have something to say but are lacking the literary talent and/or time to do something about it. 

Elizabeth Pipko is used to playing multiple roles and that’s because she’s been surrounded by good work ethic and talent since the day she was born.

Her father is an attorney, her mother a touring concert pianist and her grandfather was the late Marc Klionsky, a world-renowned master portrait artist. Growing up, Elizabeth was naturally encircled by a world of artistry.

Now at 23, she’s redefining what it means to be a model by simultaneously bodying two lanes that truly make her unique — she’s a published author and figure skating athlete as well.

The platforms have allowed her to inspire many young girls, who like her, were forced to open one door when another one closed. Now she’s able to do it all, but that didn’t come without its fair share of adversity in chasing her dreams. Since a young age, Elizabeth was taught to work hard.

At the age of 4, she was already performing violin pieces in Merkin Hall, although she admits she was a little forced. Reflecting back on it now, her aversion to the instrument seemed almost obvious. In a meet up at the Kulture Hub office, she told me,

“Now I get why I didn’t like it. I wanted to go to the park and climb the rocks because I thought it was cool. I didn’t wanna play violin. I was stuck with it, everyday, performing at 3 or 4 years old, where I was so nervous. It taught me discipline.”

Elizabeth then discovered skating at the age of 10. By 11, her entire life changed because she truly fell in love with the sport. She was committed.

To prove it, Elizabeth packed up, moved to Florida, changed her diet, and dove into a 10-hour schedule of skating every day. Within those hours, she worked with a private tutor in order to keep up with her studies as she was focused on chasing her dreams to one day compete in the Olympics.

Then, at the age of 15, she would suffer from a debilitating injury. Doctors told her the injury would keep her from skating ever again, but instead of letting that moment stop her, fate would open another door.

Shortly after returning back to New York, she was approached by a modeling agency who wanted to sign her. While it was a confidence builder, it was daunting. Imagine going from a confined homeschool life in Florida to having every move snapped by a photographer.

So, Elizabeth began writing poetry to rid herself of her emotional turmoil. Soon enough the figure skater turned model would have her work picked up by publishers who decided to give her an opportunity.

Elizabeth’s first book, Sweet Sixteen, was written through the eyes of her 16-year old self. Her poetry centered around her crush, paralleling her pain to the ice rink she’d said goodbye to. To sum it up, it was a message any young girl could relate to:

Elizabeth’s second book, About You, was released 6 years later. This time, Elizabeth’s muse was the same as her first, but left purposely ambiguous, allowing the reader to draw inferences of their own desires.

She describes herself as a tomboy in her younger years, putting up with bullying over her looks. It’s no wonder that when the founder of Vizcaya Swimwear, approached her over their #ImperfectlyPerfect campaign, Elizabeth was all for it.

Bonding over the fact that they’d both dealt with bullying in the past, they came up with the idea for the hashtag. Using social media the two hoped to encourage a positive body image for young women looking at the swimwear’s line that season.

Elizabeth said,

“There are so many people on social media that there isn’t a high chance my social media will connect me with someone who wants to get me a job or something. But I think there’s a higher chance through a campaign, or talk of my skating injury that a young girl will see that and think ‘I’m coming back from an injury’ or ‘I shouldn’t be ashamed of this stretch mark.'”

Elizabeth has now modeled for the likes of DT Magazine, Maxim, and Esquire with more and more opportunities presenting themselves along her journey.

In experiencing everyday, regular life things like going to school, getting a job, hanging out with friends, or dating, Elizabeth realized that nothing made her feel the way skating did. She started re-training for figure skating a year and a half ago.

During her first couple sessions, she found herself too scared to jump because she was having flashbacks. Still every day, she pushed herself to work harder and renounced her love for figuring skating. Elizabeth continued,

“I’m literally obsessed with a sport. A) I’m going to have to retire eventually so I’m always going to have to say goodbye. B) I do this thing I love that breaks my bones. I’ve literally had a concussion, a head injury, I broke my femur, I hurt my ankle, my other ankle, I tore my ankle. I’ve broken every toe, my tailbone 4 times… And I keep going back.”

🧜🏻‍♀️

A post shared by Elizabeth Pipko (@elizabethpipko) on Apr 4, 2018 at 7:25am PDT

Though it’s difficult to believe in yourself at times, having confidence is the main key to keep it going, no matter what obstacles you’ve faced. As far as external opinions go, the only one that matters is your own.

“Throughout it all, ‘Never give up.’ Everyone says it, but it’s true. It feels really good to be proud of yourself. Do what you want to do and don’t listen to anybody else. There are so many people in my family who I love and still love that claim to love me but tell me not to skate. People who tell me, ‘This is stupid, what’s the point?’ The amount of happiness that it’s brought me that people would have taken away from me — not on purpose — but just by trying to give their opinion when in my heart I knew what I wanted to do. I could’ve been miserable. Only do what you feel in your heart and don’t surround yourself with anyone who tells you otherwise. Life is so short. Anyone who tells you not to do what you want to do, you don’t need that.”

On top of all that, Elizabeth also goes to the Harvard Extension School and is majoring in Law while balancing her modeling career.

#bts shooting for @vizcayaswimwear

A post shared by Elizabeth Pipko (@elizabethpipko) on Apr 30, 2017 at 6:42pm PDT

For girls looking to get into the modeling industry, she sheds some wisdom through her own experiences on set. With her current and future modeling career at hand, she has plenty of advice to the next generation of girls just like her.

Especially for young models, she offers some of her own thoughts and experiences that she hopes others will learn from. Elizabeth stresses choosing your comfortability over a paycheck saying,

“Decide what you’re comfortable with before you start and don’t change your mind. There’s a lot of pressure at a photo shoot and a photographer says, ‘Would you do this topless,’ or ‘Would you shoot in this?’ In the moment it’s going to be really hard to decide because there’s going to be a lot of pressure, you’re going to want to please the client, so make sure you decide beforehand. Don’t do anything you’re not comfortable with, don’t do anything you wouldn’t be comfortable sending to mom and dad. Make sure that you’re okay with it, or you’re going to regret it.”

A post shared by Elizabeth Pipko (@elizabethpipko) on Dec 27, 2017 at 6:36pm PST

As for her future in figuring skating, Elizabeth hopes that one day she can coach full time. She shared the most important piece of advice she’s learned thus far, advice that can be applied throughout multiple career paths.

“Don’t be scared to fail. If someone fails in Basketball, you dropped the ball, whatever. If someone fails in figure skating, you’re a little girl by yourself on a giant ice rink, people watching, you’re on your butt, everybody knows. You can’t be afraid to fail. You have to prepare yourself to either laugh at yourself or be proud of yourself — whatever it takes. You can’t be afraid to fail, because you’re going to fail at skating. It’s slippery, it’s ice. Just be prepared. It’ll only make you stronger, just know it’s going to happen.”

Tomi Adeyemi’s fantasy novel Children of Blood and Bone has gained notoriety after being published earlier last month.

Now, Tomi’s book is a New York Times best seller and just landed her a 7-figure movie deal.

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…#CHILDRENOFBLOODANDBONE HIT THE LIST!!!!!!

THANK YOU GUYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/afucbDK4pC

— TOMI (@tomi_adeyemi) March 14, 2018

Adeyemi’s book been compared to the Black Panther and Game of Thrones at the same time.

The novel follows Zélie, a fisherman’s daughter who lost her mother in the city of Orïsha, where the king has outlawed magic and those who practice it. The reader follows Zélie as she works on her ability to bring magic back into her world.

Tomi, a Harvard graduate, spent some time in Brazil on a teaching fellowship after college, where she found herself inspired by the musings of African Culture.

She tells The Guardian,

“I was in a gift shop there and the African gods and goddesses were depicted in such a beautiful and sacred way… it really made me think about all the beautiful images we never see featuring black people.”

Expanding on the current reality of our oppressive forces, Adeyemi was able to mirror our harsh reality of Black culture and people.

“For the past 10 months I’ve spent a lot of time thinking, is this for real? I had a lot of different reasons for writing the book but at its core was the desire to write for black teenage girls growing up reading books they were absent from. That was my experience as a child. Children of Blood and Bone is a chance to address that. To say you are seen.”

She mentions that in the novel, there’s plenty of scenes which depict actual events that we’ve witnessed over the past couple of years, from brutal murders and violent issues which have been brought to light through the Black Lives Matter movement.

“Every moment of violence in the book is based on real footage. It’s not my intention to be gratuitous but I want people to be aware that these things are happening and that the actual videos are much worse.”

As for the movie, Tomi holds close to her heart her requirement for a Black director.

“It’s a deeply, deeply personal thing – there are parts of the book that black people get instantly because they’ve lived it.”

She hopes that we’ll continue to see a rise of Black girl novels more often now that she’s broken the glass ceiling with her book.

“In my perfect world, we’d have one black girl fantasy book every month. We need them, and we need fantasy stories about black boys as well.”

https://twitter.com/NACHOAVERAGEMA/status/978787915139571713

Those who have read it are already anxiously awaiting the sequel. Her family has been so proud of her accomplishments that her father even read her book 16 times.

If you haven’t gotten a copy yet, be sure to grab/order Children of Blood and Bone today.