Another interview.  Unlike this interview about ghostwriting, we focused more on my background and past projects. Taken together the two hopefully answer questions you might have about working with a ghostwriter.

As a ghostwriter I don’t have to worry about book printing costs or deciding whether a publishing contract or self-publishing makes better sense.  But since I worked in book manufacturing for almost twenty years – for R.R. Donnelley, biggest book printers in the world, and then for Von Hoffmann Graphics, which was bought by Vertis and later by R.R. Donnelley and proves it really is a small world – I do understand the book manufacturing process and the costs. 

If you’re considering self-publishing, you should too. 

If you decide to self-publish - which also means self-print - you'll have to understand the basic components of a printed book. Even though I'm now a ghostwriter, I worked in book manufacturing for almost twenty years and still do productivity improvement consulting for larger book manufacturers. 

Here's all you need to know about how books are made.  We'll start with the basics:  Hardcover and softcover books.  (Don't worry, I won't go all Wikipedia on you.)

For anyone considering self-publishing, a major consideration is the cost of printing.  To give you a sense of the process, check out the following text from an actual quote from a major book manufacturer.  (I did strip out identifying elements, but the basics remain intact.)  If nothing else you'll be surprised how inexpensive printing your own books can be... under the right circumstances.

Questions about hiring a ghostwriter?  Here's the transcript of an interview I did for an Australian magazine that may provide some answers.

Here's the story behind Book Recommendations from... If this doesn't answer your questions feel free to write.

I'm boring.  Few people care what I'm up to.  But since I love great writing, people often do ask me to recommend books so I started posting some I like.

Michael Hirst is the creator, executive producer, and writer of the Showtime series The Tudors, as well the films Elizabeth and Elizabeth: The Golden Age. (The final - sadly - season of The Tudors begins airing in April, 2010.) 

He's also writer and executive producer of the new Showtime series The Borgias, scheduled for 2011.

In short, he's the king of period drama, with a wonderful talent for weaving history into a compelling narrative.  (Hey, he's kept me hooked for thirty hours or so of viewing, no mean feat.)

Here's what he sent me; in return I owe him "A glass of Jack Daniels - or two!":

Nicholas Dawidoff is the author of The Fly Swatter, a Pulitzer Prize finalist, last year's The Crowd Sounds Happy, and the book I read based on Bonnie D. Ford's recommendation, The Catcher Was a Spy. 

A visiting professor of English at Princeton, Nicholas started his career at Sports Illustrated and has also written for the New York Times Magazine and The New Yorker.  He's also a Red Sox fan, proving even Pulitzer Prize nominees can suffer lapses in judgment.

The Catcher Was a Spy is outstanding; halfway through I had already ordered two more of his books.  I'm particularly eager to read The Crowd Sounds Happy, his "own version of the coming-of-age stories I read as a child."  

Here's what Nicholas sent me:

Josh Sundquist is the author of Just Don't Fall, the story of how he lost his leg at age nine to cancer... and eventually competed for the 2008 U.S. Paralympics ski team in Turin.

He's also an outstanding speaker; check out his blog for his unique perspective and the occasional quirky video.(In particular, check out What Do 15,000 Screaming FFA Students Sound Like?

Since he grew up in Harrisonburg - and Just Don't Fall hit #2 on the Washington Post bestseller list - Josh is one of our local boys done good.

Here's what he sent me:

Eminent historians are back!  Thomas Bisson is the Henry Charles Lea Professor of Medieval History (emeritus) at Harvard University and the author of The Crisis of the Twelfth Century: Power, Lordship, and the Origins of European Government.

(To everyone who emailed saying I'd lost my history edge, take that!)

He's stirred up a little controversy in the history world, but that's half the fun.  A major theme is how "government" was actually the use of personall power, and how violence and exploitation ruled the day.   Europe was without a real system of government and Bisson shows how the average person suffered as a result... and how that eventually led to systems with greater social purpose.  I have to admit it's not a book for the faint of history heart; Professor Bisson is a scholar and not a pop-history writer.  But it's a great book.

Plus there are lots of knights.  What's European history without knights?

Here's what Thomas sent me: