new logo wc

About  //  Professional Editors & Writers  //  Writing //  Copyediting  //  Proofreading   //  Ghostwriting  //   Persuasive Writing   //  Magazines   //  Technical & Educational Writing  //  Web & Blog Content  // Rates  // Examples 

GHOSTWRITING

 Writing Under The Name of the Client

Ancient Greek writers called on the Muses for guidance and inspiration. Comparing life then and now, it seems logical for people who do not have the time or the talent to write, to call, not on Muses, but on ghostwriters to help them tell their story.

GHOSTWRITING TODAY 
Today ghostwriters write anything from books, articles, stories, reports, or other texts for celebrities, businesspeople, politicians, top-selling authors who need to churn out more books that their publishers demand from them, and anybody who wants to establish themselves as experts in their field.

Nobody wants to give the actual figures, but guesswork shows that ghostwriters have written ±40% of the books out there. The growing lack of time is the key factor for the rise in the popularity of ghostwriters. 

IS IT ETHICAL? 
The publishing industry uses ghostwriters widely. The ghostwriter acts as a professional consultant, offering the expertise in bringing together all the information, organizing it, and writing it up to produce a marketable and readable book or document. 

As for it being unethical, it is not as the client is usually actively involved in providing the content to the ghostwriter. Celebrities think that it is a status symbol and mark of their success and riches to have their own ghostwriter.

CLIENT & AUTHOR COLLABORATION 
Involvement by the ghostwriter varies depending on what the client wants. Ghostwriters may do the editing and cleaning up a draft or do all the writing based on an outline that the client provides. Others must write in the client’s style or of another famous author. 

When writing a biography or specialist content, for example, the ghostwriter will spend months of research before the writing can start. It is a collaborative win-win effort between the client and the ghostwriter. 

PAYING FOR GHOSTWRITING 
Payment to ghostwriters is per page, a flat fee, or a percentage of the royalties of the sales, or a combination thereof. Royalties range between 15-50%. The easiest way for the ghostwriter, however, is a flat fee as they do not have control over book sales, nor their royalties.

SKILLS & CHARACTER 
Ghostwriters need particular skills to deliver content for their clients, such as: 

  • Good writing. This might sound obvious, but ghostwriters must be talented writers. If you cannot write your own material, you cannot write for somebody else.
  • Interviewing skill. The secret to useful content is having good interviewing skills to draw out the best and maximum amount of useful information in the shortest time. 
  • Writing in another voice. Writing for another person means that you must write in his or her “voice.” All novelists understand about the author’s voice coming through into the speech or thoughts of a character. In ghostwriting, this is unacceptable. This applies to all writing, not just narratives. The client’s personality and mind-set must come through, not that of the ghostwriter. 
  • Creativity. This is essential, especially if the ghostwriter wants to create an image of the client in an autobiography.
  • Knowledge. Knowledge of or insight into market requirements for a genre and what the public wants. 
  • Trustworthy. Clients need to know that they can entrust their memories, acquired knowledge, and a good name to the ghostwriter, who must have a depth of character not to reveal anything that might negatively affect the client. They must value trust and confidentiality primarily. 
  • Frugal. A ghostwriter cannot be a money chaser trying to fit in multiple books per year. To deliver painstaking effort and quality work, ghostwriters can write 2 (3 at the most) quality books in a year.
  • Relationship. A personal connection with the clients to build up good relationships is essential.

YOUR CONTENT & WHY IT NEEDS TO BE WRITTEN 

What can you capture in writing? 

  • Biography, personal experience, inspiring stories, extraordinary experiences, how you overcame a hardship, or a success story. 
  • Self-help information.
  • Knowledge that you acquired in your field of expertise. 
  • Social or political commentaries.
  • Organisational information.

Each of us has peculiar talents, gifts, experiences, and knowledge. Magnanimous gods did not drop these in our laps for our own enrichment. We must use what we have for the higher purpose of enriching those around us. 

If you have, for example, facts about how to prevent disease, or help athletes to succeed, or help people out of poverty, then the purpose of your gifts and talents is to help others. Written material can reach others where you cannot, for example, in their bedroom or lounge.

Your material extends you to connect with stakeholders anywhere and will remain long after your death. More knowledge is stuck in our minds than what Google can ever list. Teaching, inspiration, information, and entertainment is locked away in the heads of those who do not necessarily have time, talent, discipline, or the knowledge how to write it down.

You need a ghostwriter if: 

  • You do not have passion or drive to start, let alone finish a written project. 
  • You do not know how to connect with your readers or stakeholders.
  • You want it to be the best, but you do not have the confidence. 

People are waiting to hear what you have to say.  Contact me to help you spread your ideas.