Not All Books Need “Writing”

The day someone cures cancer, the last thing they'll do is hire a ghostwriter to tell the world about it. The news is so important the exact words don’t matter.

That’s also true of some books.

That makes a ghostwriter a waste of money. And an expensive ghostwriter an even bigger waste of money.

Take a car manual. That doesn't need to be written by someone who understands writing. It needs to be written by someone with pretty standard writing skills, a good plan – and fantastic mechanical skills.

The same is true for a lot of technical subjects. The quality of the writing is less important than the facts. You're not writing a book to grab the reader's attention so they read it all the way through. You're writing a book for someone to find the information they need to solve a specific problem. Once the problem is solved, they'll put the book back down.

For that, you only need two things:
1. A structure that allows the reader to find the information easily, such as a detailed contents page or an index.
2. Clear writing so the reader understands the information when they locate it.

If you're writing technical how-to books for an audience in the same field as you, don't hire a Rolls Royce ghostwriter. Rent a Toyota.

Or a bicycle.

For some messages, the words really don't add much value.