Memoir Ghostwriter Olga Sverchkova

Memoir Ghostwriter:
Your Story in Russian and EnglishYour family’s story in two languages: Russian for older generations, English for children and grandchildren.

Every family has stories that have been told around the table for thirty years, and never quite the same way twice: how a grandmother left her home town with a single suitcase, how your parents met, how someone started a business when nobody believed it would work. People retell these stories, argue about the details and laugh in exactly the same places. And if the family has long since settled in another country, the grandchildren sometimes half-listen, because half the words mean nothing to them. Writing it all down is always something for another day.

I’m Olga Sverchkova, a writer and lawyer. I turn your memories, letters, photographs and documents into a book about your life, family or an experience you want to preserve. You tell the story; I shape it into a manuscript in Russian, English or both, keeping your voice. I write every chapter myself, and you work with me throughout. A few lines about your idea are enough for a first message. There is no need to send a family archive or personal documents yet.
Discuss your book

Discuss your project

Send me a message on WhatsApp or Telegram, whichever you prefer. Tell me what you have in mind. We’ll discuss your project in writing.

One book, two languages

The Russian version keeps the way your family actually speaks: the pet names, the sayings and the turns of phrase that are usually the first casualties of translation. The English version is for those who grew up elsewhere and read Russian slowly, if at all, but want to know their family’s story as well as their elders do. I write both versions myself, from the same material and in the same voice, so this isn’t a word-for-word translation but two versions of one book.

When a story has yet to become a book

Almost everyone promises themselves they’ll write it all down one day. Then comes an evening, a blank document and the question of where to begin: with childhood or with the event that changed everything, and how to keep a life story from reading like an employment form. Your aunt remembers half the details, the letters are in a box on a high shelf, and the photographs have been waiting for captions for years. A year goes by, then five, and the book remains an idea. Voice messages vanish with an old phone and thousands of photos sit there without a single caption. A written book lasts: in twenty years your grandchildren can open it and hear their grandmother in her own words.You don’t need to sort out the entire archive or learn how to write before we begin. You can start with a single memory, a few notes or simply the question of who you want to preserve this story for. I’ll help you find its thread, give the material a structure and recognise the details that make the story your own.
Memoir Ghostwriter

Who will write your book

I’m a writer and a practising lawyer. I’ve been practising law in St Petersburg for more than twenty years, including criminal cases. Throughout that time, I’ve listened to people, asked questions and worked to understand what happened. I know how differently the same event can be remembered, and how rarely the most important detail appears in the first answer. Writing someone else’s story calls for that same attention.

I’m a recipient of the Golden Pen of Russia award and the author of a legal column whose title translates as A Lawyer to the Rescue. Nobody Told Me About Tbilisi has been published, and I’m currently working on The Alibi of St Petersburg, a crime novel. You can read the prologue and first five chapters of Nobody Told Me About Tbilisi for free to get a sense of how I write. Your book will sound different: when you read the manuscript, you should recognise yourself.

What kind of book can I write for you?

A book about your life

A memoir, a collection of memories, the story of your working life, or the events and decisions you want to make sense of and preserve. It doesn’t have to start at birth: sometimes one period of a life offers more for a book than an attempt to fit in every date.

A family history

A book about parents, grandparents or several generations of your family. It can draw on different people’s memories and everything that remains in the family archive. Separate letters and accounts become one story the family can read from start to finish.

A book about an experience

For the story of a company, its founder or a family business, there is a separate service: a corporate history book.

How the manuscript takes shape

You tell me about the idea
Send me a few lines about who or what the book is about, who it’s for, which language it should be in and what material you have. If you need it by a particular date, mention that straight away. You don’t need a formal brief; a few sentences are enough.
We start with a trial chapter
Before you order a trial chapter, I give you an indicative budget for the whole book. I then ask questions about one period of the story, draw up a provisional outline and write a first chapter of 8 to 10 pages, usually within a week of receiving your answers. It gives you a chance to hear the voice of the book and decide whether we work well together. The trial chapter is written in the book’s main language and costs $300 (€280). If you go on to commission the book, that amount is credited towards the first payment under the agreement. Before I begin, we agree in writing on the chapter’s length, deadline and payment, and how you may use it if you decide not to commission the full book.
We agree the terms for the full book
The agreement sets out the length, the language or languages, the stages, timetable, fee and how revisions will work. We also agree how names will appear, the transfer of exclusive rights to the text and confidentiality.
I gather the material and write the book
I ask questions about each period and each story, and you answer in writing, in your own time, sharing the memories, letters, photographs and diaries you’ve chosen to use. Before including other people’s letters, photographs or private information, we discuss any permissions that may be needed. If memories have gaps or contradict each other, we work through the questions rather than filling them with invented facts. I then write chapter by chapter, while you read, add details and tell me what to change. The final manuscript contains only text you’ve approved.
I deliver the final manuscript
You receive the finished text of the book in one or both languages. The cover, illustrations, layout, printing and publication are not included in writing the manuscript. If you need them, we discuss their scope and cost separately. A legal review of the manuscript isn’t included either.

What does a memoir ghostwriter cost?

A commissioned book of up to 120 pages in one language costs from $5,000 (€4,500). A version in a second language adds 50% to the fee, so a bilingual book of up to 120 pages starts at $7,500 (€6,750). A page here means 1,800 characters including spaces, not a page in the printed book. A 120-page manuscript is therefore approximately 216,000 characters including spaces.The fee covers the agreed writing work, from my first questions about your material to the finished manuscript. I confirm the final fee after the trial chapter, once the length and the condition of the material are clear: an organised collection of memories and a scattered family archive call for different approaches.A book usually takes at least four months. Longer memoirs and bilingual books take longer, and we set the timetable in the agreement. Payment is in three stages: half when we sign the agreement, a quarter once the final outline and the first part of the book are approved, and a quarter on delivery of the manuscript.
Discuss your book

Discuss your project

Send me a message on WhatsApp or Telegram, whichever you prefer. Tell me what you have in mind. We’ll discuss your project in writing.

Author Olga Sverchkova

I’m a writer and a Russian lawyer with more than twenty years of legal practice in St Petersburg. I write about relationships, choices, memory, cities and everyday life.
Olga Sverchkova writer sta

Frequently asked questions

No. You can tell the story in your own words. Shaping it and finding the right language is my part of the work.

Yes. You can commission a book in English only or Russian only. If you decide to add a second language version later, we agree its fee and timetable separately.

We piece the story together from your memories, relatives’ accounts, letters and documents. Where something can’t be confirmed, we decide together how to say so honestly in the book. Nothing invented is passed off as fact.

Yes, as a family keepsake or as a gift to the person it’s about. We’ll agree in advance which material goes into the book and how to write about other people with care.

Yes. Relatives’ memories, letters, photographs and documents can form the basis of the book. We discuss conflicting accounts, do not present unconfirmed details as facts, and agree how to write with care about people who can no longer clarify their side of the story.

Yes. The person the book is about can tell the story directly, or you can help, if that’s easier for them. We agree how it will work at the start.

Yes. I live in Tbilisi. In English, we communicate in writing, so you can answer in your own time and keep a record of everything we agree. No calls are needed.

We agree in advance how names will appear on the cover and in the book. I can work without being credited. I transfer the exclusive rights to the text to you on the terms of our agreement; the right of authorship is a personal right and, under Russian law, cannot be transferred. Without your consent, I won’t disclose our collaboration or include material from your book in my portfolio, and we record this in the agreement.

Mention your date in your first message, and I’ll tell you whether I can prepare the manuscript in time.

If a shorter piece suits the story
Not every story needs a whole book. Sometimes an essay, an interview, a profile or an article is the better form. I work with these formats too, and the principle is the same: the piece keeps the voice of the person it’s about. We agree the subject, length and intended publication before work begins. You can find out more on the Bylined Articles page.

Tell me about the book you have in mind

Send me a few lines about whose story it is and who the book is for. I’ll reply with my first questions and suggest we start with a trial chapter. That’s usually where a book begins.
Discuss your book

Discuss your project

Send me a message on WhatsApp or Telegram, whichever you prefer. Tell me what you have in mind. We’ll discuss your project in writing.