A Terrific Trio of Ghostwriting Options

A Terrific Trio of Ghostwriting Options

Ghostwriting takes content clients give you and rewrites it into publishable copy that is in their words, reflects their voice, goes out under their name, and is copyrighted as their material. As the name suggests, you serve as the invisible “ghost” behind your clients’ content. Many people and organizations have messages to deliver or stories to tell, but they need someone to do the writing for them. That someone can be you, and the compensation you receive is excellent. Last week, I gave you three compelling reasons why you should consider being a ghostwriter. Today, here is a terrific trio of different types of ghostwriting.

1. Corporate writing
Several years ago in Writer’s Digest magazine, Carl Friesen wrote an article entitled “The Well-fed Ghost” in which he detailed how he became successful as a ghostwriter. His operating principle was, “Find someone with money who has a problem you can solve.”

He dissected that statement like this:
Find someone with money… His clients were architects, attorneys, consultants, and engineers with a pressing need to write expert articles in magazines read by clients, but who didn’t know how to write publishable copy. These clients paid Carl up to three times as much per word as a magazine would to write an article for them under his byline.
…who has a problem… A ghostwriter needs to be a solution, not just a service. Carl suggested finding “a badly written corporate newsletter, a stale website, or a corporate honcho who’s heard that blogs are in but doesn’t have time to write.”
…you can solve. Carl rightly believes that a ghostwriter needs to be a project manager—someone who can “develop the concept, find the right magazine, pitch the idea to the editor, ghostwrite the article, and work with the editor on getting the article published.”

2. Fundraising and Marketing writing
With this type of ghostwriting, you are no longer a “writer” alone; you’re also a salesperson. You take something that your client is passionate about and translate their passion into your writing. You also communicate the benefits to the end user, giving them a clear call-to-action and a way to respond to the “ask” or their product. You need to let the reader know what’s in it for them.

When you ghostwrite in this category, you must keep the reader (target audience) in mind, know your client’s end user / customer, and follow the guidelines given to you. In marketing and fundraising writing, every word matters. In addition, you must remember that the person paying you makes the final decision on your content. Keep in mind that the bigger the organization, the more stakeholders there are. All those folks could have a say in what is ultimately published.

3. Books
These are long-term assignments, so you need to be very disciplined and able to meet regular draft and revision deadlines. For my business, I can edit and ghostwrite a minimum of five book projects simultaneously. For each project each week, I interview my client one day, transcribe the interview the next, and then write or edit a 500-1,500 word segment the third day. This keeps the client and me on a consistent and realistic schedule that allows all of the drafts and revisions of the manuscript to be completed in a 12-18 month period. I invoice each client on a monthly basis, creating steady income that most freelance writers struggle to achieve.

Ghostwriting is best for memoir/creative non-fiction or self-help non-fiction books, though fiction is commonly ghostwritten. (No, I don’t know which authors have ghostwriters, but you might be surprised how many best-selling novelists don’t actually write all of their books.)

These three are by no means exclusive of the options available to you. Again, identify your areas of interest, be ready to learn new things, and consider how ghostwriting can be a powerful addition to your writing arsenal. Next week, we’ll look at some of the dangers of being a ghostwriter.

I want to hear from you!
If you were working on a book project, would you rather ghostwrite fiction or non-fiction? Why?