by Martijn van Tilborgh
No manuscript? No problem!
I know what you're thinking. "How can I publish a book if I haven't produced a finished manuscript yet?"
Fair question!
Of course you need a manuscript in order to publish a book, however YOU don't necessarily need to be the one to write it.
"But how?" you ask.
Well the answer is simple ... GHOSTWRITING!
The reality is that not everyone is wired to sit behind a computer and put their words in written format. That doesn't mean you don't have a message. It simply means that the message you posses doesn't exist in a format that is needed to publish a book.
A ghostwriter is a person whose job it is to write the material on your behalf while keeping you the author of the book.
I know intuitively it may feel like "cheating". After all "How can I take credit for someone else's writing?".
You see the "writing part" is just a technicality. It doesn't take away anything from the messenger!
Here's the truth. Nobody thinks of Aaron as the person who delivered God's people out of Egypt. Nobody! That "title" belongs to Moses. Yet Aaron was the one who articulated the words on Moses' behalf.
Sure, an important job, but it didn't replace the actual messenger!
Aaron simply helped Moses to be more effective. In fact, one could argue that without Aaron, Moses wouldn't have been able to do what he did.
"But what about the accuracy of my voice? How can a ghostwriter truly understand what I'm trying to articulate?"
My answer to you? Don't overthink it!
Consider this ...
When God Himself had a message, He decided that a main strategy to get His message to the people He was trying to reach was to write a book.
I like to think that that strategy ended up being pretty successful considering that His book become an all time bestselling title for centuries :)
But here's what's remarkable about that story. When God decided He wanted to write a book He decided to do that by exclusively using ghostwriters!
That's right! He selected a bunch of people who would put His words into book form so that future generations could benefit from His message.
He didn't worry too much about whether or not His "ghostwriting team" would exactly articulate His message the same way as He would articulate it Himself. One could even argue some of the individual personalities of the different writers are reflected through different books in the bible.
God knew that unless He would use others to be His "mouthpiece" His book would probably never be written.
He didn't overthink the writing process. He trusted His writers to do what they do best.
He didn't micromanage John by saying "Hey John, that doesn't sound like Me at all. I would never use those words!".
He simply let them be!
Completing the manuscript and speed to market was more important than the little non-essential nuances of the preferred word choices of the writing team.
So you know you want to publish a book but you have no manuscript?
No problem at all!
We can hook you up and get you started today :)
