The authority book, done right
Your search, knit into cloth. The estimator below runs your numbers.
A business book ghostwriter who has actually shipped 30+ books.
An authority book is a positioning asset, not a vanity project. Done right, it credentials you for a decade — the thing you hand a prospect that closes them before the first call. Done wrong, it's an AI-sprayed PDF nobody finishes, and everyone can feel the difference.
Most results for this search are thin affiliate posts or agencies that quote you nothing until you book a call. This page does the opposite. The estimator below gives you your book's likely length, cost, and timeline before you talk to anyone.
I'm David Weaver — a national-bestselling novelist with 30+ published books and 4,000+ Amazon reviews on the flagship, and a software engineer who ships the rest of what's on this site. One person writes your book and answers your email. No content mill, no junior on the keys.
01
Estimate your book: words, cost, timeline
Book cost / word-count / timeline
Ghostwriting ranges for a finished manuscript collaboration — interviews, structure, drafts, revisions. Publishing (cover, distribution) is separate unless scoped.
Target length
Book type
50,000 words · 4–7 weeks
$7,500 – $20,000
National-bestselling novelist (4,000+ Amazon reviews) who also ships software — structure and voice are the product. Exact proposals are free and itemized.
02
The track record behind your book
- 30+
- books published under my own name
- 4,000+
- Amazon reviews on the flagship title
- 40–60k
- words in a typical authority book
- 1
- byline on the cover — yours, always
03
What an authority book is actually for
A business book earns trust at scale. It's the sales asset that keeps working while you sleep — the reason a stranger walks into the call already believing you. But that only happens if the book defends one clear argument a busy reader can finish.
The common failure is a book that lists everything you know and says nothing anyone remembers. Three hundred pages of 'here's my framework' is a seminar transcript, not a book. My job is to find the single idea underneath your expertise and structure the whole thing to land it.
04
From your expertise to a finished manuscript
You supply the knowledge and the voice. I supply the structure and the sentences.
Find the one argument
The single claim the book exists to prove. Nail this and every chapter has a job. Skip it and you get a padded outline.
Interview for the material
Your talks, podcasts, and client stories become chapters. I mine what you already say well instead of starting from a blank page.
Approve the outline before drafting
You sign off on the chapter skeleton before a word gets written. This is where business books live or die.
Chapters on a schedule
Real deadlines, revision rounds built in. You watch the book grow instead of praying at a deadline months out.
Manuscript and byline are yours
Full commercial rights, KDP-ready formatting, my name off it forever. You own what you paid for, completely.
05
How long a business book runs — words, cost, months
The estimator does this math for your specific scope. Here's the shape of it.
| Length | What it is | Range |
|---|---|---|
| 15–25k words | A lead-magnet short book — one idea, read in a sitting, given away to earn calls | $100–$500, AI-assisted, my edit on every page |
| 40–60k words | The standard authority book — the one that credentials you for years | $500–$1,500, AI-assisted and revised |
| Hand-written by me | Every sentence mine, at a novelist's rate — for when the book is the whole play | $1/word — a full book runs five figures |
Longer is not better. One finished argument beats a 300-page book nobody reaches the end of. Every tier includes outline approval and full rights.
06
Who owns it, and where AI fits
You own the manuscript, the copyright, and the byline — in every tier, permanently. My name never appears unless you ask it to. I never name clients or projects, and an NDA is on the table before you tell me anything.
On the AI question, I'll be straight because you should ask: machines help with research passes and structural drafts, then I rewrite by hand until it reads like you talk. We build voice from your recorded calls, past talks, and emails, and the outline stage catches any drift before it costs you. Raw generated output at ghostwriting prices is a very expensive template — that's not what leaves my desk.
Proof over promises
Open the work. Judge it live.
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Straight answers
Asked often. Answered honestly.
- How long should a business book be?
- A standard authority book runs 40,000–60,000 words; a lead-magnet short book runs 15,000–25,000. The estimator sizes yours from your scope. Longer is rarely the answer — one finished idea outperforms a padded manuscript nobody reaches the end of.
- Do I own the manuscript and the copyright?
- Completely, in every tier. Full commercial rights, the byline is yours, and my name never appears on it. Confidentiality is permanent, and an NDA is available before you share a single detail.
- Will it read like me, or like a generic business book?
- Voice-matching is the craft I've spent thirty books on. We start from how you actually talk — recorded calls, past talks, your emails — and the outline approval stage catches any drift before it costs you a word.
- What's the difference between this and a memoir?
- A memoir is about your life. An authority book is about your reader's problem, told through your expertise — different spine, different structure. This page is the authority-book side; the general ghostwriting page covers memoir and fiction.
- Can you work from my podcast, talks, or client notes?
- Usually the best material is already there. I mine what you say well across your existing content and shape it into chapters, so you're not staring at a blank page trying to sound like an author.
- How much does ghostwriting a business book cost?
- Run the estimator for a planning range. AI-assisted authority books land in the hundreds to low thousands by length; a hand-written novelist draft is $1/word. The exact quote is itemized and free — no call required to see numbers.
- How long until I have a finished book?
- A short authority book can ship in a couple of weeks. A full 40–60k-word book runs several weeks to a couple of months, paced mostly by how fast you review chapters. Hand-written novelist work takes longer because craft at that level doesn't rush.
Run your book through the estimator, then tell me the one idea it defends. You'll get a written scope back from me — not an intake form.