Hello! Without going into great detail, my girlfriend survived vicious attack by her ex-boyfriend when she was 16. Now many years later, she would like to write a book about her experiences to help other teenage girls spot warning sign and such to prevent the same things from happening to them. The trouble is, neither she nor I are writers and we’re just not good at it! So… Does anyone have any suggestions on how to find a ghost writer or another writer who may be interested in working with her? Does anyone have any kinds of tips or information? She has been checking google and such, but first hand experiences and info will be more helpful. Thanks!
Write the book.
A ghost writer will charge a hefty fee and will not guarantee it will be published. He’s just a hired gun. So you’re out the fee, and are exactly where you were if you wrote it yourself. You might as well save the money. Most likely, if it’s not publishable without a ghost writer, it’s not going to be publishable if you hire one.
Thanks for the info, it’s appreciated! Hah, but the trouble is that she is not good at writing and thus really can’t write the book. She has the story because it is based on real life events. It’s not just to get a book published … she did do some motivational speaking years ago but a book is another means of spreading the word. I believe her intentions are to work with another writer, not just pay someone someone to take the story and turn it into a book.
If she wants to work with a professional writer, she should expect to pay him.
She can join a writing group for critiques, or perhaps find a partner (nonprofessional) to help.
Speaking as a (typical?) grad student in the humanities, I got lots of experience writing stuff but not a lot of experience getting money for it. I can’t imagine it’s incredibly hard to find a wordsmith to do it in a typical university department. How much are you looking to pay upfront for it? Heck, I’d even offer to do it were I not wrist deep in thesis. 
They sell Writer’s Guides at any Barnes and Noble/Chapter’s that tell you how much a Freelance writer should typically charge for a book/essay/article/novel/novella.
Once upon a time, when somebody talked about writing a book the assumption was that it would be sent to an editor for commercial publishing.
Nowadays, the question has to be asked whether the someone plans on self-publishing.
The two are very different.
There is essentially no hope in getting a book like that published commercially unless the writing makes it a personal connection with the readers. Thousands of people have this experience and want to write about it. Anybody good enough to make this commercially publishable wants real money.
Self-publishing and creating a website and doing the self-marketing is different. That gets across more on your personal story. The writing doesn’t have to be of the same level of quality. You might be able to find someone to tackle with without huge expectations.
You need to clarify what route you’re planning on taking.
(Just to note: I did ghost a book once for commercial publication. I wound up writing every word of it, and battling the person with the story every step because the person had only 50 words to say. It was such a miserable experience that I’ve never done it again. Writing a whole book about someone else’s most intimate personal experience is not merely hard but sounds nightmarish. Unless that somebody has a powerful reason, it won’t happen.)
She should write it, not worrying about whether the prose is pretty and all the semicolons are in the right place. She should then hire a good EDITOR. Say, like me. :^)
I and my fellow editors (at least the ones who are as good as I am – a small bunch, it’s true) are skilled at taking copy and making it better without changing the voice of the writer. And we KNOW from semicolons.
You may very well be good at improving the work of writers who need editors. (Touch mine and I’ll break both your arms. )
But there are many people who are so awful that they give you literally nothing to work with. I had that experience. If you work with professional copy you may have no idea of what lurks out in the world.
Of course, neither of us have any idea what level the OP’s girlfriend is at. That’s the real problem here.
Go the bookstore (Barnes and Nobles and Borders carries it, I know for sure) and get a copy of Writer’s Digest magazine. In the back, there are classified ads for ghost writers for hire.
Be sure to include vampires. Teenage girls only read books if they have vampires in them.
Seriously, though, I’m no expert on what teenage girls are into nowadays, but if your/her main motive is to warn others so they can profit from your girlfriend’s experience, I suspect there may be better ways of achieving that goal than by writing a book—particularly if she’s no writer. Like, if she’s had experience speaking, do more of that, and maybe post a video on YouTube or something?
Oh, don’t worry, I won’t touch your work – I HATE editing for people who think their work can’t be improved.
Thanks for all of the ideas and suggestions! I think it’s enough to at least give her some more options to look into. 