How Do You Know When You’re Not Ready to Tell the Story of Crisis?
Would be authors of a crisis book often have tells that now isn’t the time.
As a ghostwriter, and a professional who has had more than 35 years in the crisis space, I consistently get inquiries from people of all ages, education, professional experience, and cultural backgrounds who want to tell the story of crisis. I’m always gratified when they reach out. And, more often than not, I can tell in our first interaction if these individuals are ready to tell the story of the crisis they have encountered.
Most of the time they aren’t ready.
Below are signs of you are not ready, all of which I’ve seen with potential clients:
You are dealing with the crisis right now. If, for example, you are still dealing with custody issues with an ex as you are going through divorce, you are NOT ready to draft that book. Emotions are still too raw, and the related legal matters are still persisting. And you want to wade through all of that to commit to the demanding process of collaborating on a book? Not likely.
You want to settle scores. Realize that a compelling book is more about what you can share as insights. A reader wants to know what you can offer that may help them; they aren’t interested in hearing about people they don’t know acting awfully and about how you got them back. If they want only that, they’ll simply watch reality TV and not pick up your book. Additionally, using a book to settle scores can, depending on the profile of the other parties, set you and me up for defamation lawsuits.
You’re not quite sure you remember things in detail but, if you get into the process, you believe your memories will “come back to you” more clearly. Decades of research has substantiated that there is no such thing as recovered memories. A prominent memoir author and their ghostwriter hinged most of their book on the claim of recovered memories. They were both sued by a third party who claimed the author stole that party’s story. Any, I repeat, any ghostwriter who tells you that recovered memories are compelling doesn’t understand there is no research to support such a dynamic and, furthermore, basing a story on such a claim undermines the author.
You base the proposed book on demonstrably falsifiable claims. I had a January 6th defendant (known as J6ers) reach out to me about telling their story. This person had a long, credible record of public service, and was quite articulate in what they wanted to say about their ordeal. Then, this J6er said something to the effect, “I want to continue to show my persistence in speaking out about the fraud of the 2020 presidential election.” At least 60 court cases proved that there was no fraud in that election. There is no way a credible ghostwriter will support a book that will immediately be undermined by reams of public evidence to the contrary. If you wish to make a strong claims about your crisis that can immediately be falsified by readily available evidence, you’re not ready.
You have no funds because the crisis has/is depleting you. Much like the first bullet point above, this signals to the ghostwriter that you are still dealing with the crisis. For example, if your funding is limited it also suggests you are living precariously and may not have the mental space or energy to stick with the many months a book project requires. Read up on what the rates are for an established ghostwriter before you reach out, that way you can tell if you can afford the money and the related time and mental pull that a book project requires. Relatedly, don’t think that you can shortcut this concern by having AI do a first draft and/or asking if the ghostwriter will take royalties in lieu of a schedule of up-front payments. These are non-starters for many ghostwriters and also signal that, resource wise, you are apparently not ready.
These are just some of the more recurring tells that a would-be author isn’t ready to do that crisis-related book yet. There may be some ways to preliminarily see if the author is ready; I recommend that a book proposals, which are not as intense, is a good way to assess how ready you are. A book proposal also has the added benefit of allowing you to determine how well you can collaborate with the ghostwriter.
Of course, I’m always open to an initial complimentary consult for authors because that allows the author to make a similar self-assessment. You can book such a consult here.
In my next post, we’ll look at what can be signs that an author is ready to tell that crisis story in book form.