How to Outsource eBook Writing

Are you looking to write an ebook but don't have the time or the skills of a writer? It's better to outsource the task to an expert rather than trying it yourself and ending up with a badly-written ebook that doesn't fulfill its purpose.

This guide will tell you everything there is to know about outsourcing ebooks to professional writers. Let's get started!

Before Outsourcing eBook Writing

Since you're outsourcing the ebook, you won't be the one writing. Instead, your job is one of a project manager, and your ebook is the project. As a manager in the process of outsourcing ebook writing, you will have to take care of the following tasks:

Get Clear on the Goals

The first step in initiating a project is to define the goals of the project. What do you aim to achieve with this ebook? Will you offer it as a lead magnet for a subscription? Do you want to establish yourself as an authority on the subject matter in your industry? Do you want to increase awareness about your niche? Do you just want to make some money?

List down a primary goal and some secondary ones to keep you on track whenever you get lost. Thinking of a title for your ebook and can't figure out which one to pick? Recall what your primary goal is. Still can't find a solution? What are your secondary goals? This will help you recalibrate your mind when you get distracted after outsourcing the ebook writing.

Define the Scope of the Project

The second important thing to define early on is the scope of the project. Before outsourcing books, always remember to define the scope of work beforehand and to discuss it with your ebook writer during hiring rather than after. This saves you from embarrassment later if you need the writer to take care of some of the supporting tasks which were not part of the deal.

How do you anticipate what all the different operations in the ebook writing process are? You continue reading this guide to find out about all the things that need to be done. Anything that you do not or can not take care of on your own becomes part of the scope for outsourcing.

Preparation for eBooks

A writer does not create a book out of thin air. They need research material to further convey those ideas using their writing skills. They can't do it if they don't know what to write on in the first place. You are only paying the writer to offer you their writing services. The responsibility for providing research material, data, tables, illustrations, etc., lies with the ebook author. The writer just converts the author's thoughts into words. However, if you still need someone to do the research, there can be no better person to do that than the writer themself. Just make sure to make it clear at the time of hiring the writer.

If you have some knowledge on the subject of the book, then write them down in notes that you can share with the writer. Ebook writers use formally written notes and other material to understand the author's writing style. Informally written notes, scribbles, drawings, mindmaps, and everything else will help the writer.

The Outsourcing

Once you have collected all there is to include in the book, you are ready to outsource the book and start managing it.

Platforms for Outsourcing eBooks

There are three kinds of platforms where you can outsource books:

A. Freelance Platforms

A freelance platform is a website where freelancers and someone looking to hire someone for a one-time job come together. There is a large number of freelancers on the internet looking for work as side hustles other than their day jobs. You can find them on any platform in this list:

• Fiverr

• Upwork

• Guru

• Freelancer

These platforms can also come in handy when you need assistance in other tasks, for example, hiring an editor to edit and proofread the book. Depending upon the popularity and rating of the freelancer, you might have to book them in advance.

B. Writer-Specific Platforms

Freelancer platforms are generic. People who want a more dedicated outsource writing experience should look for platforms dedicated to writing services only. These forums are structured while keeping the writing industry in mind. They have more advanced options that are designed specifically for hiring ghostwriters. Their pricing method is directly linked to word count, and each step is part of the order.

C. Dedicated Websites for Book Writing Services

The best way to outsource ebook writing is to get a dedicated ghostwriting company to write your ebook. A ghostwriting company will have a website of their own which you can find with a simple Google search. These writing services have teams of writers for all genres and designers, editors, and proofreaders to offer their services combined in a single package. They can also help you land deals with traditional book publishers and assist you in the publishing if you want Amazon Kindle to be your ebook publisher.

Supervision

Once you've found a writing service to outsource your ebook to, the supervision phase begins. You will provide all the data and research material you gathered earlier in the process and answer all the queries of the writer so they can provide you high-quality content from the beginning without revising multiple times.

Outline

Most writing services first craft an outline to be approved by the writer before they can start writing. Especially if you opt for a writing service and not a freelance website like Upwork, they have a set structure to streamline the multiple orders of books they get every week.

The outline is usually a single-page long summary divided into chapters, each like a piece of the puzzle that joins together to form the big picture of your central idea. Study the descriptions carefully and check if the big picture is in alignment with your thoughts and ideas.

Approval of Chapters

After you approve the outline, the writer will start writing the book formally. Since it's an ebook, the chapters won't be as long as a print book, so expect deliveries to be in short periods of time. Your job is to ensure the content is of high quality, the right words are used in the right places, and that your voice is captured in the proper manner.

Writers in the book writing business are eager to work with clients who are prompt in their responses. Make sure to actively respond to the submissions, provide them with constructive feedback and any revisions you want to make before the writer moves on to the next subtopic.

Remember that the writer may be the one taking care of the writing business, but the control of direction for the content lies in your hands since it's your name on the front page. The writers report to the authors, but when people expect writers to be prompt, they

After Writing

Editing

Once you have the complete manuscript and the last period is placed, the book can move from the writing phase onto the editing phase. Writers normally don't edit their books while they're writing. Ghostwriting requires the author's supervision because it's the author's name on the front page. But that supervision can not be as comprehensive as the editing that comes after writing.

When the book is concluded, you can check if the voice is homogenous, the density of knowledge per heading, ideas presented in each subtopic, etc. Try to focus on the substance first more than the words. Once the portrayal of ideas is a success, you can move forward to mechanical editing of the content focusing on the words, grammar, spelling, etc.

?Hire a Book Editor?

People who don't know much about the content business should consider hiring an expert to do the editing. Someone with experience can change the course of your ebook from average to a huge success. They will go through the book line-by-line and word-by-word, correcting things as they go. Moreover, they will also improve how the content feels from the reader's perspective.

Proofreading

Whether you seek assistance from a third person for editing or not, proofreading most definitely requires someone else. The purpose of proofreading is to make sure that errors that easily go undetected by the writer's eyes are caught and corrected. This means that a different pair of eyes need to look at the book to cleanse the book of those mistakes.

Writers' agencies provide dedicated proofreading services. Be mindful of whether they do or don't. You don't want to leave a silly mistake in your book just because you trusted the writers a lot and didn't take a second look at the words in your book.

Final Touches

After the text of the book is finalized, you can start worrying about multimedia and formatting it. The digital publishing industry is becoming increasingly convenient. The publishing platform provides detailed guidelines for formatting the content, i.e., text as well as graphics.

Study your ebook carefully to see what kind of illustrations you need to enhance your content. Draw up the requirements in the same way you would do before hiring the writer. Use the requirements and the publisher's guidelines to hire a graphic designer for the task.

Compile the ebook complete with all the content formatted according to the guidelines, and you're ready to launch it. Whether you intend to make a landing page and market it through pay-per-click advertisement or some of the other marketing resources depends upon the purpose of your ebook.

Marketing of books is a topic for another day. But we would like to conclude the outsourcing topic with the idea that it puts a lot of pressure on the author managing all the different people working on the ebook. Moreover, if you have to spend money to hire a different person for each task, why not go to a platform that offers all those services under one roof for a fraction of the total price? Luckily enough, you're in the right place. Ghost Book Writers is a one-stop-shop for all writing needs from the idea to a book marketing campaign of a series of published books of an author and everything else in between.

Contact us for further details and free consultation for your ebook writing burdens.