Chances are you are pretty good, perhaps even excellent at spoken communications. Chances are you are also pretty good when it comes to very short factual written communications, like emails, or short business letters.
However, whether you have major writing-related business plans such as creating in-depth websites, or writing white papers or e-books, books for traditional print publishing or presentations to be distributed, you may benefit from the services of a so-called “ghost writer” or “ghostwriter.”
Ghostwriters can help you with fiction or non-fiction; they can help you with materials you have in development or they can help you with crafting materials from scratch. They can even help with every day business communications, though they may not be as cost-effective for that.
Like any ‘human capital’ resource, the trick with finding and using a great ghostwriter is in understanding what you’re trying to achieve, matching the resource to your goals, timelines, and budgets, and recognizing what a ghostwriter can and cannot do for you and your business.
Chances are, he or she can do a lot! Ghostwriters Are Your “Secret” WeaponYou’ve probably worked with various writing professionals before, such as copywriters or an ad agency.
Ghostwriters are different from other forms of professional writers for hire, mostly in one important way. The understanding with ghostwriters is generally that the written material will be published under your name – as if you wrote it. This is the explanation of the term “ghost” since in most situations the ghostwriter will be “invisible” to the normal reader of the material. In other ways than this, ghostwriters are not too different from any other writing-related professional you might hire, such as a marketing or ad agency, copywriters, lawyers, or others.
In almost all of these situations, everything you pay for becomes your material through a legal concept called “Work For Hire,” but there are often specific restrictions on what you can do with the materials.
With a ghostwriter arrangement in most cases you can do whatever you want with the materials, including present them as if you wrote them, cut up and reuse the materials any way you like, or, and most importantly, sell them!
Who uses ghostwriters?More people than you would think. Ghostwriting is an “open” secret, not only in the world of consulting and internet marketing, but also in major publishing.
All the celebrity books that come out each year, for example, are almost all written by ghosts, and sometimes this is credited openly and sometimes it’s not. There are even well-known ghostwriters who work on any number of political, sports or entertainment titles in a given year. Once they are known, of course, they are “collaborators” or co-authors, but the idea remains the same. Hollywood scripts are often rewritten by ghosts. The most famous of these recently is Carrie Fisher – a “script doctor” – who is of course best known for playing Princess Leia in the original Star Wars movies! Some of her rewrites are credited and many others are not, though her involvement is usually known about among the industry. And there are hundreds of lesser known writers doing this too.
Regardless of whether it’s a screenplay or a book on business ideas, unless you’re borrowing the “expertise” of your ghostwriter to gain credibility, you generally won’t want to use his or her name -- you’ll want to use your own.
Is this like hiring someone else to write a paper for you in school? Of course not, although some entry-level ghostwriters actually do write school papers (and we recommend against ever using a writer who is willing to do school papers – this is a seriously grey ethical area to say the least).
There is however no ethical issue with using a ghostwriter for business writing any more than there is in hiring a mechanic to fix your car or a landscaper to do your lawn. You hire professionals to do what they can do better than you, when it needs to be done right. Or in this case, done “write”!
The bottom line is there is no shame in using a ghostwriter! And a ghostwriter can help you accomplish things in your business you’d never otherwise achieve.
The rest of our report will teach you about how to find, choose, use, work with, and get results with a ghostwriter; as well as some of the major pitfalls and red flags to avoid; and some ideas to get you started in finding that great ghostwriter for your next project.
For a moment, think about why and where you might want to use the services of a ghostwriter:• E-books – without question this is the most popular use for ghostwriters today. While traditional big-house publishing is out of reach for most entrepreneurs and would-be authors, it is also unnecessary with the advent of the “e-book,” or electronic book. E-books range in length from just a couple of dozen pages in Microsoft Word format to elaborate “publications” in formats like Adobe Acrobat, complete with illustrations. E-books have a variety of business uses including brand-building, promotion of a services business, and in many cases, the direct sale of information itself.
• Traditional manuscripts or screenplays – another common use of ghostwriters is where people have ideas for, say, a novel or movie, and can’t quite flesh out the story in the way they want. You can present a ghostwriter with some chapters, a full book that needs to be “scrubbed” or “punched up” or even just some ideas, and get a better book written much faster than trying to complete it on your own.
• Articles for publication – one great way to build a consulting brand is to publish articles in relevant places, online, or elsewhere. Frequently though, subject matter experts have great insight into materials but less than great ability to craft compelling reading about it. A big percentage of the articles in major legal, medical, marketing, and other trade and professional journals are ghostwritten, and it’s a great way for anyone to look like a star in print.
• Marketing materials with a byline – such as letters, direct mail, emails, “welcome” materials on web sites, auction listings.