Job Description

Ghostwriter Wanted: Nonfiction Book on Chabad, for Readers Who Don’t Already Know It

Looking for an experienced nonfiction ghostwriter to help write a book for secular and unaffiliated Jewish readers.

The book has two jobs. It tells the story of what Chabad actually does: the Chabad houses, the crisis help, the Shabbos tables open to strangers, and the quiet chesed that rarely makes the news. It also takes on, directly and honestly, the questions skeptics ask: Who pays for all this, and what’s the agenda? Why the outreach? What about the Rebbe and Moshiach? Is it a cult? We are not looking for a brochure. Readers can smell promotion a mile away, and candor is the point.

What exists now:

• A complete chapter-by-chapter outline in six parts
• Access to the author and to a wide network of community members, rabbis, and people whose lives were changed. These people are available for interviews.

What you’ll do:

• Interview the author and community members, and shape their stories into narrative chapters
• Research Chabad’s history, teachings, and its critics fairly and accurately
• Write a full manuscript, roughly 60,000–75,000 words, in an approachable voice that feels like the author’s own
• Revise collaboratively over about 9–12 months

You should have:

• At least two published nonfiction books, ghostwritten or under your own name, with samples and references
• Solid knowledge of Jewish life and comfort with Chabad terminology, plus the ability to explain it to someone who’s never seen tefillin
• Reporting and interviewing skill, since the stories carry this book
• The judgment to present criticisms fairly and answer them honestly, without getting defensive or preachy
• Discretion: some stories involve private matters

Compensation: Competitive flat project fee paid in milestones, commensurate with experience. A paid sample chapter comes first.

To apply: Send a short note on why this project interests you, two writing samples (one on a religious or cultural subject if possible), and your rate structure.

Experience Required

1-2 years