What exactly is ghostwriting?
Ghostwriting is when someone writes material on behalf of another named author. It’s not the same as anonymous writing as a named author is taking credit for creating the piece, even though they haven’t written it. There are many reasons that people use ghost writers, including, but not limited to:
- Lack of time to create the articles, blogs, books, or other written material that they need produced.
- Poor writing skills that require more than just an editor to tweak the written work
- The credited author is a celebrity or popular figure and they want to use this celebrity to get the written content out
- A business wanting to build up their written content, but needing their staff to focus on working on the job rather than creating such content.
So give me a bullet point list and I’ll turn it into a powerful written piece. If it’s an industry I’m familiar with I may not even need pointers…
P.S. Yes there is a premium fee charged for ghostwriting work since I’m not getting any credit.
P.P.S. In some situations it is unethical or even illegal to use a ghost writer. Don’t even go there…. I’ll just ghost you.
Do People Really Do This?
Yes they do. Honestly, when I first entered the industry it surprised me how often this was done. However it makes sense. It’s not unusual for a business to hire a ghost writer or two to pump out their blogs. Magazines hire ghost writers to prepare articles that are attributed to a standard author in order to retain continuity within a category, and books can be written by ghost writers when the named author has a great story to tell, but isn’t able to write it themselves. I’ve done so many fluff pieces that sometimes I wonder if I’ve gone soft in the head…
On the other hand you shouldn’t hire a ghost writer if you’re writing expert material that is designed to increase your credentials as a specialist. If you’re not the one actually doing the work and presentation, then there’s no basis for you to claim credit and it could get all kinds of icky. If you need to write such articles but your writing skills aren’t great- check out editing services instead. You also can’t hire a ghost writer to prepare material for the purpose of assessments for yourself. It’s cheating. Fullstop. Don’t do it.
Blog Ghostwriting
This is a common place for ghost writing. A business wants to build up their presence, so they need blogs written. Unfortunately they don’t have the time or skill to create the desired material. That’s where I step in. Whether it’s for isolated pieces, ad hoc work when required, or creating regular content, I’m on hand to help build your online presence.
Article Ghostwriting
The only unfortunate thing about ghostwriting is that I can’t claim the credit for the work that gets published. Do you know how weird it is to see your articles in popular magazine while someone else gets the credit? Weird, but cool. Some of the pieces I’ve written have been far from my field of interest and not something I particularly want to attach my name too anyway. Others I would have loved to shout out as being my own. I can’t even tell you which magazines they’re in, because, you know, ghosting…
If you’re looking for a fluff or generic piece that you don’t want to give out credit for, this is where a ghost writer can help.
