Laura Gale - Ghostwriter
On sunblock and self-publishing
Laura Gale is a multi-bestselling ghostwriter and editor of business books and co-host of the Business of Writing podcast. She helps business leaders stand out and grow with the help of a book.
In this episode, we get into everything from the state of publishing to Australia’s sun safety culture. If you’re thinking about writing a book and/or hiring a ghostwriter, you won’t want to miss this one.
On slow travel versus constant movement
“I like to travel, but not like every week. That is not conducive to getting a lot of writing done. So it was enough to kind of be in one place for several months at a time. It also kind of meant you got settled into a good routine, you found a good coffee shop and you know, a good place to go for lunch and like, you can kind of set your life up pretty quickly if you’re not constantly on the move.”
On self-publishing democratizing the industry
“…Self-publishing still has a slightly less polished reputation. But I think it’s one of the best things that’s happened to the industry in the history of the industry because it’s democratized access to publishing where previously it was very ivory tower, you know, it was very dependent on who you know, where you went to school and did you have the right credentials. And now anyone can can get in there.”
Her full-service approach to client projects
“So, my goal with every client, whether they’re traditionally published or self-published, is that the book is either on sale and going out the door if it’s self-published or it’s with the publisher or at least the agent… The goal is to always kind of have it over the line, like I literally cannot take you any further than this.”
On exciting opportunities in publishing right now
“The opportunity right now is still so high… Even if you start in self-publishing and you kind of get a track record, it’s very easy now to leverage that into traditional publishing because it’s easy to show that you’re a safe bet…
If you’ve sold 5,000 of your own books off your own effort, then a publisher is going to take that seriously. So I think there’s still so much opportunity in this space and there’s so much change happening in this space at the moment that there’s still so much that you can do, you know, whether you’re a ghostwriter, whether you’re writing your own stuff.”
We also talked about
Australian sun safety campaigns and the “slip, slap, slop” motto that follows you for life
A multicultural upbringing as an early education in a the listening skills that go into ghostwriting.
The logistics of slow travel as a digital nomad, finding coffee shops and building routines
How travel shaped Laura’s understanding of different business cultures and client expectations
The full scope of getting a book to market, from ISBNs to marketing strategy
NOTES FROM A GHOST is a podcast about stories and the people who tell them. My name is Charles Daly, and I’m a ghostwriter. If you have an epic story, I’d love to hear it. You can find me at Dalyprose.com or on LinkedIn.
Elements of these show notes were generated and/or edited with AI tools. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.