Commissioning an author to write a book

Of course, experienced publishers already know how to do this. So these hints and tips are for non-publishers who may want to produce a book – maybe a ghostwritten autobiography, a company history or a book featuring a range of toys.

First, make sure you have the right author for your project. Look at other books they have written and talk to them to see how easy they will be to work with. For a ghostwritten autobiography, you may want to meet the author face to face to make sure you feel comfortable talking to them about yourself.

If you feel happy so far, ask them to write a small section of the book you have in mind. This will help you check that their writing style fits your expectations.

Once you are sure you want to go ahead with them, you need to talk business. Although you may feel awkward discussing finances, it's important to have a clear agreement before you go any further. Amongst other issues, you should agree how much the author will earn (see below), who owns the copyright, whether their name will appear on the book and what happens if either of you want to pull out of the arrangement.

There are two ways to pay an author for a book. The first is to pay a royalty on each copy sold. This is a percentage of either the cover price or the price received. Usually you pay a non-returnable amount of money up front as an advance. No further money is due to the author until the book has earned that amount in royalties.