Want to write a book? Take your time. You’ve got longer than you think. After all, Robert Ludlum’s still producing books from beyond the grave. (Ludlum died in 2001.)

Lloyd Garver: Words From The Afterlife reports:

(About Ludlum’s new books) “His executor and his agent say that some of the works have been books that Ludlum wrote, but just weren’t published before he passed away. Others have been written by other writers including an old friend of Ludlum’s whose name sounds a bit like a Ludlum villain – - Eric Van Lustbader. However, it’s the Ludlum name that sells books. Van Lustbader wrote ‘The Bourne Betrayal,’ but on the book’s cover, Ludlum’s name is twice as tall as Van Lustbader’s.”

So Robert Ludlum has become a franchise operation, and ghostwriters are even now toiling away, producing the dead master’s next bestseller.

Here’s another franchise, V. C. Andrews, of “Flowers in the Attic fame (she died in 1986):

Her novels were so successful that after her death her estate hired a ghost writer, Andrew Neiderman, to write more stories to be published under her name. In assessing a deficiency in Andrews’ estate tax returns, the Internal Revenue Service argued (successfully) that Andrews’ name was a valuable commercial asset, the value of which should be included in her gross estate.

(Quote from Wikipedia)

Apropos of which, next week’s theme in Fab Freelance Writing Ezine is: “Write for Others as a Ghostwriter – and Get Paid Well”. The issue might just inspire you to speak for dead people.

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Here’s a slideshow presentation from Kelly Gallagher, VP of publishing services at R.R. Bowker: “The Customer’s Always Right: Who is today’s book consumer?”

It gives you great information you can use in marketing your book — and remember, marketing starts BEFORE you write your book.

Do you use mind mapping as you’re writing your book? I’m an avid mind mapper — I tend to think in mind maps, after using them daily for many years.

NovaMind’s (mind mapping software developer) latest newsletter contained this snippet:

Author makes over $500,000 using NovaMind; eagerly awaiting NovaMind 5

Juan Gómez-Jurado uses NovaMind Mind Mapping software to write his books…and apparently it is working out rather well for him, seeing as he has sold over a million copies of his book “God’s Spy”, and has also received over half a million dollars for his last book.

If you’re not using mind maps, get acquainted with them and start using them — they can help you at all stages of writing your books, or of doing anything else.

What can you use mind maps for?

* Every stage of the writing process

* To do lists

* Thinking — discovering what you really think about something

* Planning

* Studying

* Fun

* Presentations, speeches

* ???

Everyone’s an individual, so you’ll find your own unique processes for using mind maps. As stated, I use them every day, usually I draw them on index cards, and use the iSight camera in my iMac to transfer them to my computer — EverNote does this in just one second.

(If you’re an iPhone/ iPod touch user, watch for NovaMind’s new iBlueSky mind mapping for the iPhone.)