Everyone, apparently, has a book in them.
Yes, everyone. That’s a lot of books.
It's one of those reassuring little sayings, rather like 'I think this rain will clear away soon'; 'BT is looking into your complaint’ or 'See it, say it, sorted’.
Two of them are not entirely reliable, whilst one is just repetitive and annoying.
Having spent a good many years helping people write books, edit books and, latterly, publish them, I've encountered enough myths about the literary world to fill a substantial volume of my own.
Which would, of course, immediately become an international bestseller.
At least according to another one of the myths.
So, in the interests of public enlightenment, let's demolish a few of them.
Myth One: No-One Will Be Interested In My Story
Oh, you'd be surprised.
One of the most common things I hear from prospective authors is, 'I've thought about writing my life story, but nobody would want to read it.'
Really?
Why ever not?
You don't have to have climbed Everest, discovered a new species of butterfly or spent three years being pursued around South America by an international criminal organisation to have an interesting story.
Ordinary lives are frequently extraordinary. It's simply that the people living them don't always realise it.
The childhood memories. The family characters. The triumphs and disasters. The decisions that changed everything. The things that made you laugh, cry or wonder how on earth you managed to survive that particular Tuesday.
All of them are stories.
And sometimes the apparently insignificant details are the most fascinating of all.
I've always maintained that everyone has a story to tell.
Not necessarily one destined for the Sunday Times bestseller list, admittedly, but a story that matters. Perhaps to family, friends, future generations or even complete strangers.
And that's the wonderful thing about ghostwriting. My job isn't to manufacture an extraordinary life where none existed.
It's to help people recognise just how much of their own life is worth remembering, recording and sharing.
After all, today's perfectly ordinary Tuesday might be somebody else's fascinating piece of social history in fifty years' time.
Myth Two: Ghostwriting Is Cheating
Oh, please. Really, that old one?
Consider Elon Musk.
I know, I know. I don’t particularly want to either, especially on a Monday morning. But bear with me.
Mention SpaceX and most people immediately think of him. The rockets, the spacecraft, the extraordinary technological achievements.
His name is attached to the whole enterprise.
And rightly so, in some respects. He founded the company, supplied the vision, helped finance it and has been closely involved in its technical development.
But did he personally design every component, solve every engineering problem, calculate every trajectory and assemble every rocket?
Of course not.
That required an army of exceptionally clever scientists, engineers, designers and technicians, together with people such as SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell, whose contribution to turning ambition into reality has been immense.
Yet nobody seriously suggests that Musk's achievements are somehow fraudulent because he didn't personally tighten every nut and bolt.
Although I suspect he'd be rather good at telling everyone how they should be tightened.
And so it is with ghostwriting.
The author supplies the vision, the memories, the experiences, the ideas and, most importantly, the story.
The ghostwriter brings the professional skills needed to shape those ingredients into a compelling, coherent and readable book.
The resulting work remains the author's story, told in their voice, with their involvement and approval.
It's collaboration, not cheating.
After all, if employing somebody with the skills to realise your vision constitutes cheating, we'd better have a quiet word with most of the world's architects, film directors and successful entrepreneurs.
Myth Three: Once A Book Is Published, The Hard Work Is Over
This is rather like saying that once you've opened a restaurant, all you need do is sit back and wait for people to arrive and order the lobster.
Publishing a book is an achievement. A fine and considerable one.
But it's not the finishing line, not at all. It is, at best, the bell with 400 metres left to run. And guess how many races are lost in that last 400 metres?
I like that analogy. But I won’t leave it there.
Because with a new book there is promotion, publicity, marketing, distribution and the small matter of persuading complete strangers that a particular book deserves their time and money.
Books don't generally leap off shelves of their own accord-and that’s if you can get into bookshops in the first place. Because persuading a bookshop to stock a new book can be an adventure in itself, particularly when dealing with certain independent establishments occupying picturesque premises in some of our lovelier towns and cities.
Not all of them, I hasten to add. There are some wonderful independent booksellers who actively encourage and support new and local authors.
But others appear to operate a rather more exclusive literary establishment, where the welcome is tepid, the coffee is cold and the chances of being able to place some copies of your book upon their beautifully arranged shelves is greeted with approximately the same enthusiasm as a request to install a fruit machine adjacent to the poetry section.
One occasionally gets the impression that, before they'll even consider your book, you must first establish your literary credentials, demonstrate a suitable degree of reverence and perhaps produce a handwritten letter of introduction from Charles Dickens.
Which, given his present circumstances, might prove difficult.
Nor does, by the way, uploading one to Amazon mean that several million people will immediately abandon whatever they're doing and purchase a copy.
Now, unlike a lot of my peers (and most bookshop owners), I’m not going to play the denigrating Amazon game here.
Why?
Well, the truth is that Amazon can, in fact, be an excellent option for authors, particularly those choosing to self-publish. It offers access to an enormous potential readership, relatively straightforward publishing arrangements and opportunities that would once have been unimaginable for writers without a traditional publishing contract.
It's a route I regularly discuss with clients, and one on which I can offer plenty of practical advice and guidance.
But there's a rather important distinction between making your book available to millions of potential readers and persuading even a handful of them to actually buy it.
You still need to promote it. Talk about it. Create interest. Reach your intended audience. Give people a reason to choose your book over the countless others competing for their attention.
Simply uploading your masterpiece, sitting back in your favourite armchair and waiting for the royalties to arrive is unlikely to prove a particularly rewarding business strategy.
Although it does at least give you plenty of time to do other things.
Myth Four: Self-Publishing Is The New Vanity Publishing
No. It isn't—and don’t let anyone tell you that.
Modern self-publishing allows authors to retain control over their work, make their own decisions and, potentially, enjoy a greater share of the proceeds.
There are excellent self-published books. There are dreadful traditionally published books.
And, naturally, vice versa.
The method of publication doesn't determine the quality of the writing.
Professional editing, design, production and presentation matter, whichever route an author chooses.
The distinction is not between respectable publishing and something vaguely embarrassing that ought to be discussed in hushed tones behind closed curtains.
It's between publishing well and publishing badly.
Myth Five: I Don’t Need To Have My Manuscript Proofread. A Quick Run Through Spellcheck Will Be Fine
Ah, yes. Spellcheck.
That tireless guardian of literary excellence which will happily allow you to write about a man who went to the shops to buy a loaf of bead.
Because 'bead' is, after all, a perfectly legitimate word.
An editor does considerably more than check spelling.
They look at structure, continuity, clarity, repetition, consistency, pace and whether something makes sense.
They might also tactfully point out that your opening chapter, consisting of seventeen pages describing the weather on a Tuesday morning in 1974, could possibly benefit from a little attention.
A good editor doesn't remove an author's voice.
They help make certain it's heard.
Myth Six: All Authors Make A Lot Of Money
Indeed they do.
That's why every writer you meet drives a Bentley, holidays in the Maldives and has a butler called Perkins who brings them their morning coffee on a silver tray.
The reality is rather different.
A relatively small number of authors earn substantial sums from their books. Many earn modest amounts. Some barely recover their costs.
And some write books for reasons that have absolutely nothing to do with money.
To preserve family history. To share experiences. To explain something. To entertain. To leave something meaningful behind.
All perfectly valid reasons.
A book's worth isn't always reflected in its sales figures.
Myth Seven: All Authors Live In Poverty & Make No Money At All
Oh, do come along.
There's a rather enduring image of the professional writer sitting in a freezing attic, wrapped in a moth-eaten blanket, surviving on stale bread and weak tea while desperately waiting for a publisher to recognise their genius.
Possibly with a candle guttering beside the manuscript and a concerned-looking mouse watching from the skirting board.
It's all wonderfully romantic.
It's also nonsense.
Plenty of writers earn a perfectly respectable living from their craft, thank you very much. I'm fortunate enough to count myself among them, although I should hasten to add that my lifestyle has yet to require the services of a chauffeur, personal chef or somebody to iron my socks.
And I'm far from alone.
Professional writing can be a successful and sustainable business. Ghostwriting, editing, copywriting, journalism, commercial writing and publishing all offer opportunities to earn a living from words.
The important distinction is between earning money from writing and earning money exclusively from the sales of books bearing your own name.
Because that's where things become rather more difficult.
Research published in 2022 by the Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society and the University of Glasgow found that the median annual earnings from self-employed writing among authors who devoted at least half their working time to it were just £7,000.
Yes. Seven thousand pounds.
And that wasn't simply a figure plucked from the air by somebody with a particularly pessimistic outlook on literature.
There are several reasons for it.
Most books sell relatively modest numbers. Royalties can be small, advances aren't guaranteed, competition is fierce and writing a book can take months, sometimes years, without producing any income at all during that period.
Even a successful publication doesn't necessarily guarantee a regular income. A book might sell well initially, then gradually disappear from public attention, leaving its author contemplating whether the electricity company might accept a signed first edition in lieu of payment.
But many professional writers, myself included, don't rely solely on royalties. We provide services, work on commissions, develop long-term client relationships and apply our skills across different areas of the writing and publishing industry.
In other words, we treat writing as a profession and a business.
And there's absolutely nothing wrong with that.
Nor, equally, is there anything wrong with writing purely for pleasure, personal fulfilment or the satisfaction of seeing your name on the cover of a book.
Not everybody wants to make a living from writing.
But those who do shouldn't be expected to live on fresh air, artistic integrity and the occasional appreciative review.
After all, you wouldn't expect your plumber to repair the central heating for the sheer joy of working with copper piping.
So why expect a writer to work for nothing?
The starving artist may be a wonderfully romantic literary figure—but, personally, I'd rather have lunch.
Myth Seven: Writing A Book Is Easy. Anyone Can Do It
I agree. Anyone can start writing a book.
Finishing one is another matter entirely.
Writing requires discipline, patience, thought, research, rewriting and, occasionally, the ability to stare at a sentence for twenty minutes before deciding that the best thing to do with it is delete it.
Then there's the familiar declaration: 'I've been meaning to write my book for years.'
I understand. Completely.
I've been meaning to tidy my garage for years.
The difference is that nobody has yet offered me a publishing contract for its contents.
So, what’s the truth?
The truth is that writing and publishing a book can be one of the most rewarding things anybody ever does.
It can also be difficult, frustrating, time-consuming and occasionally enough to make a grown adult contemplate abandoning literature altogether and taking up something easier—like becoming an astronaut.
But it is achievable.
You don't have to be famous. You don't need a degree in English Literature. You don't even have to consider yourself a particularly good writer.
You do need a story worth telling, a willingness to work at it and, where appropriate, the right professional help.
That's what I do at Couzens-Lake Media and Couzens-Lake Publishing. Help people turn ideas, memories, experiences and manuscripts into books they can be proud of.
No miracles. No promises of instant fame. No guaranteed bestseller status.
Just experience, honesty, hard work and a genuine love of books.
And if you really do have a book in you, perhaps it's time we helped you get it out. Whilst it’s still jumping, kicking, shouting and demanding your attention.
Because once it starts making itself comfortable….
…it’ll be lost forever.
