Every now and then I’m asked about the various resources I use when I’m working on ghostwriting a book. These things change occasionally, so I thought it would be a good idea to share what I am using as my main book ghostwriting tools in 2021. So here they are.
Zoom H1n voice recorder
[Hardware]
Ghostwriting starts with what I call the collection of ‘raw material’, which in most cases means at least some interviews with the person I’m writing for, and possibly others. For this a digital voice recorder is essential.
While the recorder on your smartphone can do the job – I still use mine as a backup – for ‘archival’ or broadcast quality you’ll really want to use a dedicated recorder. What I like most about the Zoom H1n (which is a successor to the original H1 model I have) is its small size and, most of all, its simplicity of use. Turn it on, press record and away you go. A small red light shows that recording is in progress (easy to glance at during your interview), and the batteries last for hours. At the end you simply attach it to your computer, download the files and job done!
Otter.ai transcription service
[Cloud-based software]
After an interview I need to turn the audio into words – that is, transcribe the conversation. This used to be a slow and tedious process but has now been made much easier thanks to otter.ai. Create an account, upload an audio file and within minutes Otter will have created a transcript of your conversation. It’s not 100% accurate – not even a human transcriber is 100% accurate – but it’s way ahead of any of its predecessors.
Otter has a free level that’s limited to 40-minute conversations and 600 minutes total per month. For around $10 a month you get 6000 minutes and up to four hours per conversation (which should be ample). If you price that against the value of your own time you’ll likely find yourself streets ahead.
Scrivener
[Mac/PC; iOS]
For over a decade, there is one piece of software that has been my absolute don’t-know-what-I-would-do-without-it tool for organising research, outlining, drafting and re-drafting my book projects. It’s called Scrivener.
Scrivener is much more than a word processor. When you create a project in Scrivener it becomes a central place for storing transcripts, background documents and research. You can then refer to those on one half of the screen while you work on the writing on the other half. But that’s just the beginning of it. Scrivener allows an enormous amount of flexibility in the way you approach a project. I find this essential, as no two projects are the same. And it is so much easier to work with than programs like Microsoft Word. In fact the only downside of Scrivener is that when it comes to collaborating with my clients (once a draft is ready), I need to move out of Scrivener and into MS Word. Scrivener has limited collaboration features, and even if they were better, it would be too complicated for most people. There is a bit of a learning curve to the application which would really be a step too far for most people who are only going to do this once or twice.
A free trial is available for Scrivener and to buy it costs only A$77, with no subscription. An absolute bargain.
Aeon Timeline
[Mac/PC; iOS]
Aeon Timeline allows me to create detailed visual timelines which can be really handy on a memoir or history, but is also useful for project planning. Often I don’t need it – Scrivener’s outlines are usually enough – but for more complex stories it can be a saviour. It can do a lot more than I’ve ever needed.
Aeon Timeline is also available on a free trial, with a one-off purchase price of A$68.
Unfinished business: collaboration
The one ghostwriting tool that remains unresolved for me is the ideal collaboration tool. Once a draft reaches a certain point, I need to share it with my client. For the reasons I mentioned, that means moving out of Scrivener and, usually, into a Microsoft Word document. The Word document bounces between myself and my client, with ‘track changes’ and comments the method by which we share and refine edits over time.
The biggest problems with this are that we can’t work on the document at the same time, and we need to be careful about version control, lest changes made by one person get missed along the way.
There are various tools available for online document collaboration now. Google Docs is probably the most well known, though I prefer to avoid ‘free’ Google products. Microsoft 365 (aka Word online) is much better than it used to be and a reasonable candidate, arguably easier to work with than Docs. Other options are Apple Pages online (one of you needs to be a Mac user) and Dropbox Paper, which both have clean interfaces.
Of course the biggest problem with all of these is that they require both parties to be comfortable reading and editing documents online. If you’re working with someone who always prefers a paper copy, no online tool is ever going to fit!
If you use any nifty writing tools you’d like to share, I’d love to hear about them.
Photo by Mona Eendra on Unsplash.com