“It can’t make you much money,” she said. “Not for the amount of time and work you put in over the three months.”

She’s right; it doesn’t. I spend three hours a week teaching each class–in the fall, that’s going to go up to four hours/week. My students tell me they put in between 6 and 10 hours on their homework every week–homework that I then have to go over, comment on, discuss, and correct. If I add up everyone’s tuition and divide by the number of hours I put in, I’m making …

Damn little.

So why do I teach GCT? Not sure. Let me muse as I write.

If we go back to the beginning, I started teaching the basics of the book business and a little bit about ghostwriting back in 1993, I think. Maybe 1996. Don’t remember. My motive then was to pass on some information and sell my book, This Business of Books: A Complete Overview of the Industry from Concept through Sales, then in its 3rd Edition.

Maybe I was looking for referrals. Maybe I just wanted to share. I honestly cannot remember. But I found I enjoyed teaching. It was fun. It was stimulating. It was educational for me. And people paid me a little bit of money. A win/win.

Over the years, the class ebbed and flowed. I taught sometimes, didn’t the rest. Tried to put together Professional Book Writing School, but life got in my way. Remember, I spent over two decades struggling with serious health problems, which I have now, Baruch Ha’Shem, completely overcome. But during most of the past two decades, I was inconsistent and intermittent with my work habits, my clients, and my teaching.

Looking back, it’s amazing to me how much I managed to get done by just bulldozing through. When faced with allegedly insurmountable odds, some people take it easy, some people rely on the medical community, and some people give up. I just put my head down and worked. Not fast, not always well, but through the best and the worst of it, I worked.

And then I was facing the end.

It was 2000 and I had one of those “life-changing” episodes during a downward health spiral that told me I was coming to the end of my days. But I had a client! How could I transition to the next world and leave my client up in the air?  So I handed the client over to one of my interns and started pricing funerals.

I won’t keep you in suspense–I didn’t die. In fact, with the help of my beautiful sister-by-love, Bera Dordoni, N.D. (Bastis Foundation), I began the long journey back to perfect and total health. But it was an eye-opening experience and I realized I had to write a book. And so I did.

And I rewrote it.

And rewrote it.

And so and so forth and scooby dooby do.

The final edition of said book, Secrets of a Ghostwriter: World’s First Step-by-Step Guide to the Theory, Skills, and Politics of Ghostwriting, is at long last complete and exhaustively emended by five wonderful, nit-picky editors. And Ghostwriter Certification Training has evolved from a 5-week to a 7-week to a 14-week and soon to be 16-week program that details exactly what the job is, how to do the job, how to find aspiring authors to do the job for, and how to convert those authors into contracted clients.

Which may be the actual reason why I continue to teach GCT. After putting in all this time and effort to develop what Cora Foerstner called “the seminal text” on the subject and honing the program to the point that I’m confident it’s turning out skilled, competent ghostwriters, how can I stop?

But I warn you now: in fall, the price is going up. Because yeah–I don’t make enough money at this right now!

There are only two absolutes in the book industry: 1) all publishers edit according to Chicago Manual of Style (except those that don’t) and 2) all publishers expect authors to use MS Word (except those that don’t).

The Pirates of the Caribbean movies said it best: all those “rules” are really just guidelines. When it comes to writing, editing, submitting, and publishing,  there are really no absolutes, no hard-and-fast rules, no by-the-book regulations. Instead, the business is very firmly based on what this person wants, what that person remembers has sometimes worked in the past, or what some guy in marketing believes will work next quarter. It’s quite hit-or-miss, very trial-and error, extremely whatever works for a particular individual at a given moment on their one, specific project.

So if it works, you did it right. If it doesn’t, you didn’t. If it worked last time, you did. If it doesn’t work now even though it worked last time, you did then but not this time. If it works again next time, you did. If it works for you but not for him, you did, he didn’t.

Have I made myself fairly clear?

Click Here to take survey

Thank you very much. – Claudia Suzanne

My Podcast Alley feed! {pca-b9df6f07322dd154c6c3d9c239daacf4}

Here’s the show (I come on around minute 17):

And that, for me, begs the question: where does an author or business person or service provider who is busy plying their trade or profession find the time to accomplish the time-consuming task of going on network after network to field questions, ask questions, respond to people … it builds into an incredibly busy social life very quickly, but one that pretty much ceases to exist if you don’t stay on top of it all the time, post at least daily if not more frequently, and constantly add contacts/friends–on whose sites you must post comments and questions so they will come to your site and post and on and on and on.

What’s a busy introvert to do?

And since we’re on the subject: I’ve noticed that a tremendous number of people believe the way to make friends is to tell their life story. This, no doubt, accounts for the equally tremendous number of memoirs being written by regular people, all of whom are sure they have something special to share. And while I agree in theory that everyone should have the opportunity to share their accomplishments, dreams, and obstacles overcome, I don’t agree that it necessarily puts us into the best light possible.

I’ve had my share of life challenges: more than some, less than others. I’ve been told my triumph over a gaggle of diagnoses is inspirational, that my story would help others.

I suspect not. I suspect that relaying all I’ve battled against would, instead, throw me back into an extended period of my life that I am now past, and would like to leave in the past. I suspect I have more to contribute to life, to my clients, to my students, to my kids (birth and acquired) than just the tedium of dysfunction and the slow, frustrating journey to overcome. That was then, this is now.

I still have far to go in my healthy life to achieve all I wanted to, lo those many decades ago. I’m only 56! Time enough to write my memoir when I’m at closer to the end. After all, the whole point was to extend that particular point in life–the end–farther down the line. Now that I have (God willing), it’s time to do something to celebrate that fact with a bit of personal industry. I don’t want to make my mark by courting sympathy or even shining a light on myself as an inspiration. I’d prefer to point that flashlight on the path ahead, not behind.

So no memoir from me, my friend. No “Look What I Did” article, no “10 Steps to Overcoming Blah and Blah.” Just steady on course: let’s talk about writing, YOUR writing, your potential career as an author or–more my expertise–a ghostwriter. Because if there’s one thing I’ve learned about my life so far, it’s that the key is forward motion. Whether in a nonfiction book, a novel, or a life, it’s all about moving on, going forward. The destination is important, yes, but ah, the journe–that’s the treat. As Winston Churchill said, “When you’re going through hell, keep going.”

I’m doing my own free teleclass tomorrow, on ghostwriting. We’ll talk about what it is and what it isn’t, why I prefer to NOT put my name on my author’s books, what you can reasonably expect to earn, and how that all works. Just briefly, of course–it’s only an hour call! To sign up go to http://www.naiwe.com/experts/teleclass.php. You’ll have to accept a free subscription to the NAIWE newsletter to get to the confirmation phone number and access code, but it’s a good newsletter, so that’s really a plus. To sign up for Ghostwriter Certification Training, which is the full 14-week version of tomorrow’s little teleclass, just click on the link in the left column of this site. It’s fun, it’s stuff you’ll never learn anywhere else, and it’ll give you something else to write about in your memoir!

You’ll learn:

• What Ghostwriting Is — and Isn’t
  
• For Writers: Why Ghost instead of Co-Author?
• For Aspiring Authors: Why Use a Ghostwriter?
  
• Common Traits Most Ghosts Share
• Want Ghosting Clients? Here’s the Secret!
  

Wednesday, July 29, 2009 ~ 3:30 PM EDT

FREE!!

Click Here To Register

Sponsored by National Association of Independent Writers and Editors

Join us for a Panel Discussion with four of Orange County’s most well-respected and knowledgeable Book Industry Professionals. Attendees will have the opportunity to meet with, listen to, and ask questions of:

• Literary Agent Patricia Teal
• Author/Writing Coach Maralys Wills
• Ghostwriter/Editor Claudia Suzanne

Panel moderated by Book Designer/Printer Teresa Trujillo

WHEN : Saturday, October 17, 2009 ~~ 10:00 AM

WHERE : Marie Callender’s Restaurant,  540 N. Euclid St., Anaheim, 714-774-1832  “We will be in the banquet room behind the bar. Our meeting will start before they open, so we should be easy to find.”

COST :

$35     Early Bird (Until Aug 30)
$45     Open Registration (Sep 1 – Oct 7)
$50     Late (Oct 8 – Oct 16)
$55     At the door (space permitting)

AGENDA :

10:00 AM Check-in and Networking

10:20 Introductions and Announcements

10:40 Maralys Wills

11:15  Break

11:30 Claudia Suzanne

Noon  Lunch

12:30 Patricia Teal

1:00  Panel Discussion moderated by Teresa Trujillo

2:00   Adjourn

Seating Limited. REGISTER NOW!

Ergo, I blog.

While I admit certain things are still missing from the textbook because I am STILL in the process of doing that rewrite, nevertheless the class worked. Plot mapping and character study tools were explained and utilized. Book plotting tool was used to the delight of all. We took a “I can’t read through this thing” story and turned it into an exciting, I-want-to-ghost-it project.

Gadzooks, I love doing this stuff! And I love teaching it to people who end up loving to do it!

Writers are the best people in the world — and (good, qualified) ghostwriters are the bestest of the best.

Not that I’m biased or anything … It’s merely my entire life, that’s all.

So I gave her permission to not be current. I also gave her permission to not know everything she needs to know about the book business, because there is too much to know for anyone to know everything. I have no cosmic authority to bestow such permission, but my friend felt better for receiving it.

It gave her pause; it made her realize that no one can possibly keep up with the news from so many sources (so we get a variety of perspectives, of course), plus the news of their own industry, plus the new techniques and innovations of the web and other media AND still have the time to get their own work done.

Sometimes it’s even too much to get through all the newsletters that condense the daily changes. We’re not only suffering from information overload, we’re battered by excessive information availability.

So here’s my global Holiday gift for all my female readers who have the weight of the world on their shoulders and flaming whips urging them ever onward:

This is a reusable gift that flourishes when given away.

Unless you’re dealing with fire, flood, chest pains, difficulty breathing, or copious blood loss, you have my permission to stop, sit, and daydream about totally irrelevant matters. And to eat something that makes you happy.

This isn’t Oz and I don’t have a curtain and giant head, but the Great Ghost hath spoken.

You have my permission to not be perfect today.

• How to do an A&R
• How to find the “gold” in any manuscript
• How to determine BISAC selection
• How to advise the three types of authors on publishing options
• The scope of responsibility for the various ESPs
• The variances between the author’s writing process and the ghostwriting process
• How to chart nonfiction
• How to apply a content template (not MS Word formatting)
• How to maintain the author’s voice
• How to do multiple “spins” (while maintaining the author’s voice)
• The variances between passive, static, and active voice; when and how to convert; and when to not
• The variances between and basic principles of line and copy editing
• How to build a nonfiction proposal and query letter and research a submission list
• The variances between plot and character driven novels
• PMA+A
• The elements of fiction writing
• The parameters of fiction A&Rs
• How to map a plot w/characters
• Meet-in-the-Middle
• How to ghostwrite supplemental scenes while maintaining the author’s voice
• How to ghostwrite full novels while maintaining the author’s story, characters, vision, premise, theme, intent and “tells”
• The variances between “show” and “tell”; when and how to convert; and when to not
• How to create a compelling submission synopsis and query letter and research a submission list
• How to create a personal resume and credit list while maintaining client confidentiality
• How to set reasonable fees, bid projects, and write equitable contracts
• How to assess clients and control the initial contact to land the gig
• How to establish and maintain authority and avoid or handle problems as they arise

This is just a bare-bones list, of course. There’s a lot more beneath every one of those points. And there’s only one way to acquire all of the above in one place: in the Ghostwriter Training, or Secrets of Making $$ as a Writer, or whatever-I-finally-end-up-calling-it class.

It’s a single semester, it’s a lot of intense work, it’s extremely hands-on, and it’s serious fun. What you’ll learn will affect the way you write, the way you read, and the way to view your family, your friends, and the people you meet on the street. Classes are very, very small, so Register Now for the Winter/Spring semester as 2009 Classes