My mother would like to write a book on her life or memoirs. Where can
I find someone to write the book for her for a fee or contact a
publisher with the idea? She does not wish to write the book herself
but wishes to relate the stories which can them be turned into a
powerful novel.

Hi nkat,

Your question refers to the practice of ghostwriting, in which a
non-writer with a story to tell hires someone to bring it to life. The
ghostwriter generally receives little or no credit; for example, many
so-called celebrity autobiographies receive little input from the
subject themselves, who take most of the credit. Since there's not
much glory in ghostwriting, most who ghostwrite do it primarily for
the money. Thus, you may have to shell out a fair bit to secure a
qualified ghostwriter, especially for a book-length manuscript.
However, preserving your mother's experiences for future generations
may well be worth the investment. And though she may not contribute a
word to the actual text, she'll be credited as "author" and retain all
rights to the manuscript. With her story in the hands of a capable
ghostwriter, your mother can be confident that she'll be accurately
represented -- it's a ghostwriter's job to capture the "author's"
style and voice without editorializing.

The tricky part is finding a qualified ghostwriter. Your best bet is
posting your project on Elance (www.elance.com); you'll receive bids
from a pool of qualified freelancers for your perusal. Elance
freelancers are ranked and pay a membership fee, so you can be
reasonably sure you're dealing with serious writers.

Another option for attracting ghostwriters is to post your project
details on any high-traffic writing job board, though given the wealth
of starving writers looking for work, any writing job board is pretty
high traffic. Here are a few of the best:

Writer's Resource Centre job board
<http://www.poewar.com/freelance>

Classified Ads at Authorlink
<http://www.authorlink.com/classifieds/XcClassPro.asp>

FreelanceWriting.com Paying Freelance Writing Opportunities
<http://www.freelancewriting.com/forumdir/fjb/index.html>

Some ghostwriters will take responsibility for shopping the finished
manuscript around to publishers; others won't do so, or will do so
only for an additional fee. Be sure to establish such details in your
initial contract.

Bear in mind that it's imperative to get references and writing
samples from any potential ghostwriter to ensure you'll get your
money's worth.
Check out the following websites for more information on finding and
evaluating potential ghostwriters:

Ghostwriting 
(includes tips and advice for selecting a ghostwriter)
<http://www.hodi.com/ghostwriting.html>

Finding Ghostwriters (Q & A at businessknowhow.com)
<http://www.businessknowhow.com/QandA/ghostwrite.htm>

I used the following search strings in my quest for the skinny on
ghostwriting:
ghostwriting
find ghostwriters
freelance writing job boards

Happy hunting!

Regards,

Emjay-ga

good job =]