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Scott Carbonara 10/22/26 Scott Carbonara 10/22/26

How to Communicate with Your Ghostwriter or Editor

My wife and I both have degrees in communications and work in the field full-time (doing book ghostwriting, editing, and coaching). A good day for us is when we understand each other 51% of the time, a feat we last achieved on October 13, 2017.

Communication is hard—even for professionals like us who love learning and sharing people’s stories and passions. And if you’re working with a ghostwriter or editor, you may have encountered this yourself, which is why I wrote this article to help both parties get the most from the process.

Scott Carbonara 10/15/26 Scott Carbonara 10/15/26

Facts Get Forgotten, But Stories Get Stuck: The Importance of Storytelling

When I worked as an internal HR consultant for a multi-billion-dollar company, I uncovered a $10 million/year turnover problem in one of our largest departments. I talked to the people who’d quit, and I used SAS (Statistical Analysis System) to track the reasons they gave me for quitting—which meant I had both the numbers and the stories.

Without going into detail, “Jon,” the senior vice president of the division that had been hemorrhaging employees quicker than we could replace them, needed to know the data I’d uncovered immediately.

For the next hour, I told him specific stories from some hundreds of former employees I’d spoken with. Data got Jon’s attention; stories kept Jon’s attention.

Later, I would preach a simple leadership lesson to others: facts get forgotten, but stories get stuck.

Jocelyn Carbonara 10/1/26 Jocelyn Carbonara 10/1/26

How to Win Your Fight with Writer’s Block (and Other Obstacles)

“How can I motivate myself to actually write?”

“When will my book actually be done?”

“I’ve been busy lately and haven’t made progress. Should I just give up?”

These are common questions in my author coaching and developmental editing. I’ve noticed they usually appear around the same time: when an author is somewhere in the middle of their first draft, and they feel like they’re sailing alone in the open sea at 2 a.m. (which I’ve actually done, except for the alone part).

So how do you actually keep your sail inflated when the wind feels weak?

I can’t wrestle the breeze to fix this, but several methods will get you there. I’ll share a few.

Scott Carbonara 9/25/26 Scott Carbonara 9/25/26

When You Hire An Expert Ghostwriter or Editor, Don’t Tie Their Hands

Imagine you wake up and find your car won’t start. It’s got gasoline in it. You can still see the battery under the hood and tires where tires belong. Since you’re not mechanical, you need some help, so you have it towed to a local shop.

We seek automobile mechanics if we’re not a subject-matter expert on our car. If you don’t trust your mechanic, find another one. But for heaven’s sake, if you know enough to know you need a mechanic, don’t tie their hands. Let them do their job.

And when you need an editor, writing coach, or ghostwriter, don’t tie their hands. Let them do their jobs.

Scott Carbonara 11/6/25 Scott Carbonara 11/6/25

What Details Should You Include in a Memoir?

As a ghostwriter, I often help authors determine what belongs in their autobiography (covering someone's life) or memoir (covering specific events in their life). Without professional guidance on what to include, they often suffer from the opposite problem: They want to include the kitchen sink.

Here are some questions I ask clients to help them decide what to include or leave out of their manuscript.

Jocelyn Carbonara 10/30/25 Jocelyn Carbonara 10/30/25

Can AI Write My Book?

Recently, I listened to a podcast with other editors chiming in about book-related topics. A conversation struck my interest around the use of AI in publishing. One question went something like, “Should an author use AI to write their book?”

The answers were a bit mixed, with one editor saying, “definitely,” and others offering softer versions of “maybe.” Even the “definitely” editor (definitely) presented some strict caveats. So I’d like to chime in with my experience—and opinions—on the topic.