Author.Direct Tell Us Your Story →
Ghostwriting with Heart — Bringing Your Story to Life. Professional. Confidential. Collaborative. Your Ideas + Our Expertise = Extraordinary Books + 100% Confidential. You have the story. We have the words.
You have a story worth telling. We’ll help you write it — professionally, confidentially, and with heart. From a 30-minute intake form to a finished flipbook and PDF, from $1,999. The Heartfelt Plus tier ($2,999) and above add two weeks of unlimited edits and your curated Author.Direct companion page.
Start the Intake Form → How It Works

Bringing your story to life — with heart.

Most experts, founders, parents, and practitioners have a book in them — the lessons, the journey, the hard-won wisdom. Almost none of them ever write it. The reason isn’t talent. It’s time, structure, and the blank page.

Ghostwriting with Heart is Author.Direct’s done-for-you ghostwriting service. You bring the story; we bring the words. A US-based writer turns your intake into a real manuscript, shaped around your voice and the takeaways you most want to leave behind. You read it, mark it up, send notes — and we publish it as a beautiful flipbook and a downloadable PDF. At the Heartfelt Plus tier ($2,999) and above, your book also gets a curated companion page on Author.Direct.

At $1,999 all-in, this is the most accessible way we know to put your name on a book cover — and to give your ideas a place to live and keep working long after they’re written.

Who this is for:

  • Experts and clinicians who teach the same lessons in person, over and over again
  • Founders, executives, and operators with a point of view worth packaging
  • Professional speakers, coaches, consultants, and educators who want a calling card their clients can keep
  • Parents, grandparents, and family historians preserving a story for the people they love
  • Retirees with a lifetime of expertise that should be shared widely and preserved for posterity

Popular non-fiction categories we support:

“You have the story. We have the words. Together we make a book worth keeping on the shelf.” — Ghostwriting with Heart · Author.Direct
Professional
US-based writers and editors. Real prose, designed pages, finished books — not templates.
Confidential
Your story stays yours. We don’t cold-call, sell, or share — and we don’t market your book until you say so.
Collaborative
Two weeks of revisions, two-business-day turnarounds. We keep going until it sounds like you.
Your Ideas
+
Our Expertise
=
Extraordinary Books
+
100% Confidential
M
A real manuscript
40–80 pages of polished prose, drafted around your voice and your inputs.
P
Downloadable PDF
A clean, designed PDF with cover art, stock photography, and your submissions.
F
Beautiful flipbook
A page-turning, embeddable flipbook readers can open in any browser.
C
Cover art
Custom cover art and stock photography curated for your book.
E
Edits, included
One round at $1,999; two weeks of unlimited edits at higher tiers, two-day turnarounds.
U
US-based team
Your manuscript is drafted by writers based in the United States, not offshore.
You have the story. We have the words.
About this page. This is the front door of Ghostwriting with Heart. The fastest way to start is the intake form — one page that captures your expertise, style, audience, and the lessons you most want to share. From there, we take it to a draft within days. The rest of this page walks through the process, the three pricing tiers, a real case study (Dr. Arlene Strugar, who became a published author at the Heartfelt Plus tier), and the most common questions.
The Process

A six-stage editorial process — drawn from traditional book publishing.

The Ghostwriting with Heart service follows the same editorial workflow professional publishers have used for a century — developmental edit, substantive edit, line edit, copyedit, proofread — with two explicit author-review gates and a US-based human editor in the loop on every project.

Yes, we use AI. Here’s exactly how — and where you stay in charge.

The Ghostwriting with Heart service is a hybrid: AI tools assist at specific stages, and a US-based human editor is in the loop on every project. The inputs are yours — your words, your audio, your articles, your sources, your story. The editorial workflow is the one professional publishers have used for a century. You review the outline before drafting begins, and you review the manuscript before any polish work happens. Nothing goes out under your name without your sign-off.

We don’t hide the AI. We don’t lead with it either. The book is yours.

01
Discovery & Voice Capture
We read and listen to everything you’ve already created — your intake form, articles, podcast appearances, presentations, audio you record for us. AI helps us catalog patterns, recurring phrases, and the way you actually talk.
Your inputs · AI catalogs
02
Developmental Outline
We draft a chapter-by-chapter outline organized around the takeaways you said mattered most. A US-based editor signs it off before you see it.
AI-assisted · human editor
03
Author Review Gate I — Outline Approval
You review the outline. Add chapters, cut chapters, reorder, redirect. Nothing moves forward until you say so.
You decide · review gate
04
Substantive Draft
We write the chapters, drawing language and examples from your existing work. We eliminate overlap and ensure each chapter has a clear job.
AI-assisted · human editor
05
Author Review Gate II — Manuscript Read-Through
You read the full draft and mark what doesn’t sound like you. We rewrite until it does. (One round at $1,999; two weeks of unlimited rounds at $2,999 and VIP.)
You decide · review gate
06
Line Edit, Copyedit & Proofread
Three final passes for rhythm, grammar, consistency, and polish — the same three passes traditional publishers run before any book goes to print.
AI-assisted · human editor on $2,999 & VIP tiers
Optional Add-On · Audiobook Tiers

Want an audiobook?

Audiobooks are optional add-ons. Three tiers, depending on whose voice you want in the recording and how much production support you need.

Add-On A · AI-Narrated
AI voice, your edges
Fast, inexpensive, and surprisingly good for non-fiction.
$99 add-on
  • High-quality AI voice (you approve from samples)
  • Optional 30-second intro & outro recorded in your own voice
  • Distribution-ready MP3 file
Add-On B · Author-Narrated, AI-Polished
Your voice, polished
You record the book yourself; we handle pre- and post-production.
$999 add-on
  • Pre-production: script prep, voice direction, recording guidance
  • AI-assisted post-production: filler-word removal, breath cleanup, retake stitching
  • Audio leveling, pacing, and mastering
  • Distribution-ready files for any platform
Add-On C · Voice Actor
Performed, not read
A professional voice actor brings your book to life.
$2,500+ add-on · quoted
  • Voice actor casting and direction
  • Full studio production
  • Distribution-ready files
  • Best fit for full-length books
What we don’t do. We don’t cold-call you. We don’t share your information. We don’t market your book until it’s published, you’re happy with it, and you’ve told us we can. Then we’ll tell the whole world.

Ready when you are.

The intake form takes about 30 minutes — less if you already have notes, articles, or a draft.

Start the Intake Form →
Pricing

Three tiers. The same heart.

Pick the tier that fits how much book, how much editing, and how much hand-holding you want. Every tier is delivered by US-based writers, includes cover art and design, and ends with a real published book in your name.

Good
The Heartfelt Start
The fastest, most accessible way to put your name on a book.
$1,999 all-in
  • 40–80 page manuscript
  • Drafted from your intake + existing materials
  • Cover art, stock photos, your submissions
  • Downloadable PDF + published flipbook
  • 1 round of edits
  • US-based writers
Start at $1,999 →
VIP
Heart in Residence
A dedicated, masters-level ghostwriter who will interview you and craft a book worth keeping on the shelf.
$5,999+ quoted individually
  • Dedicated ghostwriter (typically Master’s degree, multiple books published)
  • 50–100 hours of drafting
  • Live interviews to capture your voice and story
  • eBook + Flipbook + print-ready layout
  • Extended editing window
  • Companion page on Author.Direct — included
  • Editorial logs as proof of human authorship
  • Optional separately-quoted business webpage
Request a Quote →

A note on the companion page. The Heartfelt Plus tier ($2,999) and above include a free curated companion page on Author.Direct (like the one you’re reading). If you also want a fully separate business website — with your flipbook embedded, your services laid out, and your branding throughout — we quote that as a separate engagement. See Dr. Arlene’s case study for an example of both, side by side.

Want to join the Author.Direct curated roster?

A published companion page on Author.Direct requires the Heartfelt Plus tier ($2,999) or Heart in Residence ($5,999+).

The reason isn’t “AI vs. no AI” — every tier uses both AI tools and human editorial work. The Heartfelt Start tier ($1,999) organizes and refines an author’s existing body of work, with human review at the outline and final-draft stages.

The Heartfelt Plus tier and above add what an Author.Direct curated listing requires: a human editor on every chapter, the full developmental → substantive → line → copyedit → proofread sequence, two explicit author-review gates, and editorial logs documenting the human review and AI-assisted process — your provenance record of meaningful human authorship.

The Heartfelt Start tier ($1,999) produces a real, finished book in your name — a manuscript, a PDF, a flipbook — but does not qualify for a curated Author.Direct companion page.

Dr. Arlene Strugar’s Compassionate Care was developed at the Heartfelt Plus tier, and a second referral project is currently in development at the same tier. Both are examples of what a successful Author.Direct ghostwriting project looks like.

Where we fit, and where we don’t.

We are the best value in done-for-you ghostwriting. We are not the best ghostwriters in the business — and we want to tell you that plainly, because the right buyer will appreciate the honesty.

The very best ghostwriters — the global firms who quietly write for Presidents, Fortune 100 CEOs, and luminaries you’ve heard of, and the quiet artisans with thirty-plus years of experience who have built empires for major thought leaders — charge substantially more than we do, often 5× our prices and up. They are worth every dollar because they are simply the best at this craft. Most don’t advertise; you find them through editors at major publishing houses or through authors they’ve worked with.

If your book is destined for the Wall Street Journal best-seller list, a national speaking circuit, or a Fortune 500 boardroom — and your time is too valuable to spend on the editorial process — those firms or those artisans are who you should hire.

If your project ever exceeds what we can do well, we will tell you. We will share the hidden gems in the industry that match your genre and have proven best-sellers under their belt. We would rather lose a fee than write a book that doesn’t serve you.

Case Study

Dr. Arlene Strugar: from clinician to published author at the Heartfelt Plus tier.

Dr. Arlene Binoya-Strugar is a clinical psychologist with deep expertise in senior care, cognitive health, and family well-being. She had a lifetime of practice and no book. She filled out the Ghostwriting with Heart intake form, and in a few weeks she had a published flipbook, a downloadable PDF, and her own companion page on Author.Direct — at the Heartfelt Plus tier ($2,999).

Compassionate Care: Personalized Support for Your Loved Ones

Arlene’s book translates her clinical work into something families and caregivers can actually read — on aging, identity, emotional resilience, and relationships. Below is the published flipbook, exactly as it sits on her companion page today.

Tier: $2,999 (Heartfelt Plus) ~30 min read PDF + Flipbook Companion page included
Sample Book
Compassionate Care: Personalized Support for Your Loved Ones
Dr. Arlene Binoya-Strugar, PsyD
Live flipbook from Arlene’s book · full-screen for the best experience

Arlene’s engagement is the cleanest example of how Ghostwriting with Heart stacks. The manuscript, PDF, flipbook, and curated Author.Direct companion page were all included in her $2,999 Heartfelt Plus tier. The fully-branded business webpage with the flipbook embedded was a separate engagement, quoted on its own. Both are linked below.

I’d been telling families the same things for years. Now there’s a book in their hands when they walk out of the office — in my voice, with my framework. I never thought I’d call myself an author. Now I do.

Dr. Arlene Binoya-Strugar, PsyD · Founder, Well Being Health Specialists

Want what Arlene got?

The same intake form. The same flow. The same Heartfelt Plus tier ($2,999). Companion page included.

Start the Intake Form →
Common Questions

Ask Ghostwriting with Heart.

Tap any question to get a straight, friendly answer. Or ask your own — for anything outside the chip set, we’ll point you to email so a real human can answer.

Ghostwriting with Heart
Answers grounded in our service · reply in seconds
Common questions — tap to explore

Want to speak to a human? Email info@author.direct or jump straight to the .

Start Your Book

Future author — this is the door.

The intake form takes about 30 minutes (less if you already have notes, talks, or a draft). After you submit, we’ll come back to you within the timeframe you choose, with a draft on the way.

For prospective authors

Send what you have. Or send nothing at all.

You don’t need a manuscript, an outline, or even a clear title. The intake form will guide you. If you do have larger files — drafts, research materials, recordings — you can email them directly to info@author.direct after you submit. We’ll fold them in.

Start the Intake Form →
For VIP & complex projects

Want a dedicated ghostwriter and a print-ready book?

The VIP tier is quoted individually. If you have a more ambitious project — a full-length book, a dedicated writer with relevant expertise, or a print-ready layout — tell us a little about it and we’ll come back with a quote.

Request a VIP Quote →
Different from Author.Direct’s other authors. The writers, founders, and clinicians whose books appear on Author.Direct — Dr. Strugar, Dr. Shetty, Dr. Cortright, Frank Heyl, Andrea Holzner, Saby Waraich — wrote their own books. Author.Direct gave each of them a companion page, not a ghostwriter. The Ghostwriting with Heart service is a separate offering for people who haven’t written their book yet and want help getting it out of their head and onto the page.

The next published author on Author.Direct could be you.

$1,999 for a finished book in your name. $2,999 unlocks two weeks of edits and your curated Author.Direct companion page.

Start the Intake Form →