Frequently Asked Questions

General FAQs

  • You can fill out a short questionnaire here to gather some information on your project and goals. And/or, you can reach out to us to start a direct discussion. We offer a 20-minute, no-obligations call (Zoom or phone) to discuss your project and see if we’re a fit.

  • Scott Carbonara is our lead ghostwriter. Jocelyn Carbonara is our lead editor. You will be assigned one main point of contact, depending on your project.

    That said, we operate as an organic team, and as married business partners, we regularly collaborate with each other on book projects in order to optimize them. (We do not subcontract with junior-level writers; we do the writing/editing ourselves.)

    If you engage us for proofreading, we will send the manuscript to our approved professional, Amy Weinstein.

    We never share your material with anyone else unless you specifically ask us to.

  • For ghostwriting, we charge a flat fee based on the scope of your story or concept, taking into account how much research is required, how many people might need to be interviewed, and the complexity of the topic. In each ghostwriting package, we include one round of editing.

    For editing, we generally operate on a per-word rate, although we can work hourly for more variable projects.

    For author coaching, we charge an hourly rate, billed in blocks.

    Once we’ve met with you and determined the scope of your project, we’ll send you a proposed rate for our services. (If you’re seeking editing, this comes after we’ve seen a sample of your writing. For ghostwriting, this comes after we’ve discussed your vision for the book.) Then we create a simple contract to e-sign; this keeps us accountable to a timeline and deliverables, and it protects your intellectual property. We require a deposit to secure your dates (via credit card, check, bank wire, or Venmo); the remainder is due as agreed-upon, contractual milestones are met.

  • We do have some traditional publishing leads and insight. We’ve also helped many authors self-publish. We can help you navigate the options and determine what’s best for you. We can also open our “professional Rolodex” to introduce you to experts in the self-publishing world who can guide you through all aspects of a successful launch. This includes designers and marketing professionals. And we can tell you what to avoid (like vanity publishers or some hybrid publishers that overcharge).

Editing FAQs

  • After contracting, we ask you to submit your questionnaire, if you haven’t already. We use this information to ensure we’re meeting your desired goals for the book. By the contracted start date, we ask that you email us a Word document with the entire book in one file (rather than individual chapters, unless we’re working on a coaching basis on a section at a time). We edit according to Chicago Manual of Style, so if you’re interested in learning more about that or applying any formatting before you send it to us, we’re happy to send you more guidelines. Otherwise, we'll apply those edits when we receive your file. (See types of editing for more.)

  • Yes, but unless you’re on a coaching setup wherein we exchange content back and forth with feedback, you won’t hear from us a lot until we’re done with the revision. This is because we’re focusing deeply on your editing your manuscript. Expect to hear an update a few days into the project to get our brief progress report and high-level impression of the book. Then, by the due date, we will send you the full manuscript with edits and a detailed editorial assessment (write-up).

  • We will make direct edits when doing so clearly improves the writing. When we need more clarity from you in an area—or when an additional story or detail is needed—we'll leave a comment with a question or recommendation. If a book we receive is developmentally very sound when we get it, we can include some line edits and copy edits in our first revision. If it’s quite rough (unclear, undeveloped), then most of our time will be spent solely addressing broader developmental issues and trends.

  • When we deliver our work to you, we recommend two steps:

    1) Read our editorial assessment first. This guide will provide a very detailed overview of our findings—including strengths, opportunities addressed, and recommendations for you to improve the manuscript.

    2) Then, go through the manuscript page by page to view and accept/decline our edits, and address each comment. (If you're accepting our changes, you can leave them for us to clear later, or clear them yourself.) You will likely want to reflect on some of the recommendations and choose specific revisions to make, so budget that time into your project plan.

    In this process, we are happy to meet with you to go over any questions or ideas. (We include up to one hour of coaching with each developmental edit, and more time can be added as needed.)

  • Most manuscripts need three: developmental editing, copy editing, and proofreading. Some will need additional developmental work, which we can provide through another revision or coaching. Learn more about different types of editing.

  • You can be working on building your author platform, working with a designer to craft your cover, writing marketing copy for Amazon and elsewhere, and planning your launch. You can also be lining up endorsers (people who will say something positive about your book in a “blurb” that you can post in/on the book or elsewhere) or someone to write a foreword (if you’re including one, and you don’t necessarily need to). We’re happy to connect you with a skilled project manager we work with who helps authors set up their books on Amazon and Ingram Spark, develop a marketing plan, engage in the design process, and launch.

  • Once we start, most developmental edits take between two to three weeks. Subsequent edits are generally quicker. Our exact start date can vary slightly based on our project calendar, but we always deliver on our “due dates” as expected, assuming you provide your manuscript to us by the agreed-upon date.

    Note that most authors contract with us months in advance; this is because we get booked quickly. That said, sometimes we have last-minute openings based on clients’ changing schedules, so don’t hesitate to ask us if we can take on your project.

  • The answer to both of these is “yes.” (Jocelyn says: “Just ask Scott. I was apparently so kind he ended up marrying me; he also published bestsellers!”) We know it can be scary to submit your work for professional review. Rest assured that we'll find and highlight the book's strengths, since those are the areas you’ll want to emulate. And we'll also be very direct with feedback to improve your writing--sharing anything we see to improve the book. Many authors have shed tears at our feedback, not because they were devastated, but because they’ve felt validated, supported, and invigorated to move to the next step. We’ve also been told we’re extremely detailed; we take our work very seriously, so you'll always get the best of our creative and technical skills in writing and editing.

Ghostwriting FAQs

  • Once we understand the scope of your project and finalize a contract, we will begin interviewing you (recorded). These interviews are typically done over Zoom, although we can meet in person if desired. Then we will create a proposed outline or arc for the book, and a sample chapter for your approval. Based on your feedback, we will then write the rest of the book, a chapter at a time. When you’re satisfied, we will edit it, and then deliver you a final manuscript, which you can publish as you choose.

  • From our contracted start date, it typically takes three to six months until you have a full manuscript—if you are fully available for all proposed meetings/interviews. (This is a collaborative process, in that we need input from you along the way to ensure the book is 100 percent in your voice, clear, compelling and written to your satisfaction.)

    Note that we contract with clients months to a year in advance. We limit the number of ghostwriting clients we work with at one time so that each author gets the full focus and attention their stories deserve. That said, don’t hesitate to reach out for more imminent projects, as we can often provide author coaching, developmental editing, or interviews to get you started.

  • We don’t work this way, because we have little control over what happens after we write a book. We ensure that we craft the absolute best memoir, nonfiction, or fiction book we can, and we advise and support you on next steps. But what you do with it next is your choice. We’ve had authors shop their books to major publishers or movie producers and successfully land deals, which is great—and they keep all the profit (and glory). Our job is to write and edit; given the large commitment (of time, energy, and emotion) we make to each author, we require a flat fee. Then, we let you reap the rewards.

  • Typically not. Some authors readily share that we ghostwrote the book, and others don’t. Either is fine. We’re happy to be in the shadows, and we’re also happy to shout about your book from the rooftops. Most authors will list us somewhere in the book, typically as the editors. This is entirely up to you. We also love to share links to purchase a book once it’s out, and we review it in online platforms.

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