Are You a Ghostwriter?
Well, even if you are, I don’t think you’d want to admit it. There are many ghostwriters out there and I’m one of them. Here are some of my thoughts on ghostwriting.
I ghostwrite a couple of articles for a semi-government organisation two years ago. The articles were placed on their website and they did not want my byline to appear. Thus, they paid me to ghostwrite those articles. It was a simple job and I enjoyed it.
1) A Good Way to Earn Money
Many ghostwriters write autobiographies for celebrities, businessperson and politicians, or e-books for marketing gurus. Most of these people do not have the time to write a book. For ghostwriters, it is a great way to earn extra money. I was not paid a lot for my articles, and it may not seem to justify the time spent on them. But I really enjoyed the experience and was hoping for more assignments.
2) Skills Ghostwriters Need to Have
Ghostwriters need to be able to write well, from the point of view of the person he/she is writing for. This is mostly applicable for ghostwriting for celebrities, businessperson and politicians. They need to put themselves in their shoes to be able to tell the stories from the other person’s perspective.
Ghostwriters also need to be able to have good interviewing skills. Many a times, if they are ghostwriting an autobiography for others, they would have to spend hours interviewing and transcribing the conversations. He/She needs to be able to ask pertinent questions to draw out the interesting aspects of their lives.
3) Is ghostwriting ethical?
Many people see ghostwriting as a deception, since it is seen as trying to fool readers to believe that that person is the actual writer when he is not. But ghostwriting is widely accepted in this era. Many ghostwriters enter into a mutual agreement with their client. The client produces the ideas, the storyline and experiences while the ghostwriter writes/transcribes, rewrites, reorganises the content into a sellable masterpiece. To me, ghostwriting is perfectly ethical.
There are many people out there who wants to tell their life stories, but somehow they just do not have the time or writing expertise to produce one on their own. As such engaging a ghostwriter to write for them seems to be a viable solution. As long as there are people like these, ghostwriters will continue to be in demand. So, are you planning to be a ghostwriter?
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Tags: article, autobiography, e-books, ghostwriter, make money, skills, writer, Writing
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August 12th, 2010 at 4:30 am
Incidentally, there’s a current movie entitled The Ghostwriter. Hahaha..
I don’t think I want to be a ghostwriter myself.
August 13th, 2010 at 11:22 am
Who knows, anyone of us may need help from a ghostwriter one day..
September 6th, 2010 at 12:21 am
I do ghostwriting currently, although I suppose I never considered it such. I essentially write real estate-related articles for an internet company that then sells them to realtors who use them on their blog. My name’s not on the byline.
By and large, I’m okay with that. I personally think they’re not my best work (they allow me to write them in a very conversational, non-formal tone), and I get paid about $25 an article (including two rewrites). I can get them done in 1-1.5 hours, so it’s worth my time while I’m in between jobs.
The only problem with ghostwriting I really see is the inability to link to a portfolio of your work. I most definitely list the internet company under the freelance section of my resume, but still, it’s not the same as linking to my actual work. I’d recommend doing it for some extra money but also writing your own articles, as well. Employers want to see examples of your work, from what I’ve seen, so a mixture of both is probably preferred.