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Hiring a writing partner for areas I'm weak. Is this a thing?

I'll write in quasi-bulletized format to make a long story slightly less long.

I'm writing a story that I really feel has a lot going for it. It's a story that I know the broad outline to, but am excited to see where I take it.

Let's say I have 70,000 words of book 1 in what I envision and have mapped out to (tentatively) be a 5 book series.

I believe I am handling the vision of this epic story well. I think I'm weaving the story together with all of the different characters from across a large geographic area. I know that the characters' experiences, conversations, victories and defeats are moving in the right direction.

But here's the rub: I am rubbish at painting individual scenes. I know some people will simply respond with "Just keep working at it!" But what if I don't have that skill in me, to match what I believe to be an epic story with the proper accoutrements that bring a story to life and off of the page? Should I waste the one skill because I don't have the other?

So I ask: Do any of you know if something exists where a writer in my position can find somebody to help?

I'm not talking about friendly help, though that's obviously welcome as well. I'm talking about a paid gig. To go through my story and make the scenes jump off the page. A collaboration, but where the partner jumps on board as a paid employee of the writer? Perhaps with a % cut of the final sales and a (secondary) listing as author to boot?

So I'm not necessarily making this offer official quite yet, but I want to test the waters and see if there is precedent.
 

Heliotrope

Staff
Article Team
You could hire a ghost writer?

How to Hire a Ghostwriter for Your First Book | QuickBooks

But you are looking at big money.... possibly thousands of dollars. I would not write another person's book for less than $20/hour.... and an entire novel would be 200+ hours... and that is just for the drafts. That would not include hours spent reviewing the content with you and making changes, etc.

I would never a join a partnership like this without regular cash flow. I would never do it simply for a cut of the final sales.... Too much time spent for not a sure thing.

I think hiring someone is pretty risky business, IMO. But if you want to, there are lots of ghost writing sites out there.
 

Devor

Fiery Keeper of the Hat
Moderator
Well, let's see. You have 70,000 words. Let's say about 5,000 a day (part-time-ish) for these rewriting-edits, that's about three weeks. Add another 2 weeks, more spread out, for logistics, coordination, back-and-forth discussion. I can only speak for myself, but I would probably do it for about $1K.

I haven't seen your work. I can't tell you if your work is worth it. But I can say the odds, the stats, are stacked against you making any of that money back when you launch the book.
 
You could hire a ghost writer?

How to Hire a Ghostwriter for Your First Book | QuickBooks

But you are looking at big money.... possibly thousands of dollars. I would not write another person's book for less than $20/hour.... and an entire novel would be 200+ hours... and that is just for the drafts. That would not include hours spent reviewing the content with you and making changes, etc.

I would never a join a partnership like this without regular cash flow. I would never do it simply for a cut of the final sales.... Too much time spent for not a sure thing.

I think hiring someone is pretty risky business, IMO. But if you want to, there are lots of ghost writing sites out there.
Thanks a ton for this reply! I suppose I always thought "ghost writing" was just a famous person paying somebody else to write an entire book so that the famous person could get the credit without putting forth any effort. I hadn't thought of it in the context of more sort of a partnership.

And your $ figures are in line with what I had sort of guessed without any sort of knowledge, so that's good.
 
Well, let's see. You have 70,000 words. Let's say about 5,000 a day (part-time-ish) for these rewriting-edits, that's about three weeks. Add another 2 weeks, more spread out, for logistics, coordination, back-and-forth discussion. I can only speak for myself, but I would probably do it for about $1K.

I haven't seen your work. I can't tell you if your work is worth it. But I can say the odds, the stats, are stacked against you making any of that money back when you launch the book.
Thanks to you as well! I understand the odds. I have a couple of income sources, so this writing is something that I'm doing as a passion project (am I using that correctly?). I don't really care if I make money. Just seems like something my brain wants me to do, and I'm psychologically and financially prepared for the notion that the book(s) will make zero money.
 
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