• Read excerpts (first chapters). Used with permission.

• Both Sides Of The Fence (Bob Martin)

• Just To Be Close To You (Pastor Kerwin Lee)

• What is ghostwriting? The overview.

• The process

Presidents, entertainers, warriors, athletes, and multitudes of others have at one time or another trusted their words to a professional wordsmith. For reasons of their own, these men and women had a concept, a vision, or just a good story and chose to have it written by someone other than themselves, someone with the necessary gifts, a command of language and so on. Not to mention someone with the time to produce a book. A ghostwriter is merely a craftsman, an inspired scribe, a laborer in your behalf.

Even God chose to have his book written by prophets, psalmists, and many other individuals. Sure, he inspired it. He furnished the raw material. He even provided the light to work by. But he gave the commission to those he trusted to set his words down on paper. Jesus never wrote anything, except in the dust, and perhaps on the "table of the heart," as scripture tells us. He too, trusted his words to twelve odd, but highly inspired followers. And he has been trusting others with his words ever since. Maybe that includes you as well.

Any piece of worthwhile writing, in whatever form that writing may take, has much more to do with uncertainty than it does with certainty. The blank page can be quite intimidating. Therefore, if you have ever hesitated to write a book, I understand that hesitation. All writers do. From Stephen King to King David, from Keats to Shakespeare, such hesitation is part of the charm. To write masterfully takes time, perhaps talent, courage, and a measure of something unknown to even the best of writers.

All you need is a vision, a little courage, and a few materials to get started. I suspect you have the materials and the motivation already or you wouldn't be considering this at all. It's costly. It's time consuming. It's also an adventure. You are about to raise your voice in the market place of ideas.

Look at the picture below. Some of the handwriting was actually legible. Much of it was not. The tapes were old, unlabeled, and saturated with noise. It had the look of something impossible. But we came forward with a great book, one that now sits on the shelves at Barnes & Noble.* [Used with permission of Bob Martin, author of BOTH SIDES OF THE FENCE]

• The Process: First, you and I discuss your specific needs. We discuss the book as well, in as much detail as possible. You then collect and give me the source material (to be returned to you when finished). Once I have these materials, whether it be a rough draft you've already written, extensive notes and outlines, audio content, or personal interview, I begin the task of reducing all this material into a first draft. This process can take as little as 4 weeks or as many as 12, depending on the overall dimensions of the content. At the completion of this draft, you and I will go over it carefully, page by page, making notes, changes, additions, subtractions, etc. Next is revision, or the rewrite, to which end we have a second or final draft. Again, we study it together, communicating throughout the process, either by phone or by e-mail. The last stage, the one I like the best, is polish. This is the time for detail work, the time when the most meticulous care is given, page by page, paragraph by paragraph, line by line, and yes, word by word, observing balance, rhythm, syntax, and all the lovely variables, rules, and elusive protocols of our common language. A book is not finished until we both agree that it is finished. Or till it shines.

• Contract: Each book is initiated by way of written agreement. Once all the elements, including voice, deadline, source materials (rough draft, notes, audio), and finances have been thoroughly considered, a simple contract will be written up accordingly. This will assure good communication, which renders the best manuscript possible. A written agreement serves to protect and to clarify.

• Standard ghostwriting fee: $40 per page (300 words = 1 page) of finished manuscript. For example: a 300 page manuscript would cost $12,000, with an added $40 per hour for research (if research is necessary). Transactions are handled through PayPal, through personal check, or from a secure page of your own from this Web site using a credit card. Each transaction is private and confidential. Credit card processing is made possible through E-COMMERCE EXCHANGE.

• Now, the actual fee: Even as one book differs from another, so does each client differ from the next in terms of needs, abilities, time restraints, measure of personal input, amount and types of source material, and financial resources. Once all the elements of your book are considered and weighed, you and I will arrive at your price, one that is fair and specific, according to what you bring to the project. Once a cost is agreed upon, and once a contract is negotiated, drafted, and signed, a deposit of $2,000 gets the work started. Monthly payments are made each month after that till the manuscript is completed to your satisfaction. The remaining balance is due when the manuscript is polished and ready for press. It's that simple. It does cost something. Anything worthwhile will always cost something. But the return is sweet. And your book, as well as your name, is ready to enter the world of print.

• How to start: E-mail me at david@davidteems.com. Let's talk. That's the first step. We enter this labor together. Let me be servant to your dream. I choose to work with pastors, evangelists, musicians, teachers, Bible scholars, counselors, not only because they have invested their lives in the service of Jesus Christ, but also it is an idiom that I understand quite well. God bless you. Dream high.

David Teems • Franklin, Tennessee • July, 2007