Content writing is not so hard job, the only thing it requires is a lot of focus and a bit of creativity. There is no specification to become a ghostwriter. Many have well educated and specialists in some of the fields but because of some reason not getting them a suitable job.
If you are interested in writing, you can also start writing blogs, articles, or work as a ghostwriter, and sitting at home you can earn more then what you are expected.
To start with you can choose your interested and specialized topics to write blogs or articles. But when you get the hands-on experience you should start writing on all the topics that you could. This will helps you to become a professional ghostwriter.
Well, you will understand the topic better, as you move on and start to think about ghostwriting, the first thing that flows in your mind is what is ghostwriting? How to become a ghostwriter? So on.
Come let’s discuss what is ghostwriting?
Ghostwriters are hired writers. They create articles, blogs, and speeches and just take money for no credit for their work. That means the article which you have written will not be published in your name. The ghostwriter usually paid money in advance as he is hired for the work.
Through your writing, the clients will show up and make speeches on television or interviews and collect the accolades, and you will remain anonymous. Even after knowing you will not get any credit why would anyone become a ghostwriter? And lose their identity.
Before we go forward and start discussing ghostwriting job we should know why you want to become a ghostwriter for no credit?
- You’ll get paid upfront: You will be paid in advance for your work, no need to waiting for royalties like you would for writing your own article.
- Ghostwriting lucrative: Ghostwriting job with the right clients you will earn more profit. Your earnings will be significantly higher than all the writings which you have created.
- Publishing not required: Since you will not receive the writing credit, don’t bother about marketing your article. As soon as you have completed your article you can accept your next project and start working on it.
- Fascinating subject matter: When you came across the right client, you will experience an entirely different experience. That maybe people’s lives, professionalism, and the industries you have never come across.
- Reduces burden: If you feel difficult in meeting daily word count or facing challenges in writing, you should try ghostwriting a book for a client who has already paid you!
As in every writing there are pros and cons, in ghostwriting job also we find a few of them, such as
PROS:
- No need to worry about a publisher and negotiate commissions. You are a writer and you will write that’s all.
- Your writing is not depending on sales, rather credited for the quality of work you produced.
- Since you will work with the different geographical areas of the world, you will get to explore their lives and experience different cultures and locations.
- The ghostwriting permits you to write consistently and stay current on your skills.
- You will get an opportunity to write about topics you might never encounter, such as the lives of politicians, celebrities, or famous people.
- You can increase your link, and make some contacts who may be willing to promote for you when you do publish your book.
- You have the liberty to create a work in someone else’s voice, expressing thoughts.
CONS:
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- You will be invisible in your writing.
- You will not receive any credit for your own writing, though you may obtain an acknowledgment as an ‘adviser’ if you negotiate this when you take on the contract.
- You cannot showcase your work samples in the resume, though you will be keeping every work drafts that will be totally confidential.
- Even though the book sells millions and won a prize, you will not receive any credit for it even though you are the creator of the book.
- If you publish your own work you will be having visibility. You will be having a chance to expand your network with editors or publishers.
Considering all the above points, we will start discussing how to become a professional ghostwriter. The ghostwriting job is not so easy, it needs the same experience, patience, determination, confidence as it requires for the other types of writing. Along with this, you should have experience in freelance writing which has been paid regularly for your writing.
Once you will be an expert in handling your clients, learn the ins and outs of a ghostwriting career. This will surely help you in becoming a successful or professional ghostwriter.
How to become a professional ghostwriter?
Let’s discuss how you will become a professional in this lucrative profession?
Here are the few tips to achieve your goal as a successful ghostwriter
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Listening skills
An active listener and who could converse well can immensely improve your writing skills. When you converse with an unknown, they might have more experience, knowledge, and insight into things you may not know anything about.
One conversation with that person will trigger the idea for your writing and help you in solving the problem. This may make your writing more interesting. So listening skill is the most important skill that should be adorned by every writer, especially a ghostwriter.
Listening skill is the most crucial part of ghostwriting. You should be a good listener. Whatever your clients explain you listen carefully and put them in words. When you are willing to become a ghostwriter you should put yourself in your client’s shoes, so that the flow of your client’s thought surprisingly will matches your writing perfectly.
Many times clients are confused what is being said or what is not being said, maybe they want to shine themselves in front of other clients or there might be something painful they don’t want to share with others, pull out the facts from them and give meaningful words to their thoughts. Which will make your client happy and satisfied.
Regarding the listening skills, Jon Reiner says –
A successful ghostwriter is first a good listener, and then a good writer.
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Gain experience
To become a ghostwriter one should well verse with all kinds of writing. You should not stick to a particular kind of writing. If you are in the list of other types of writers, you will give importance to your niche, but as a ghostwriter, you should be an expert in all the forms of writing such as short or long articles, blogs, speeches, and essays. Being a ghostwriter if you have to confine yourself to just one area will potentially restrict your growth.
Being a writer everyone should read a lot, reading will enhance your writing skills as well.
As Stephen King wrote –
“If you don’t have the time to read, you don’t have the time or the tools to write.” It’s as simple as that.
So to gain knowledge on any topic you should read and write on what you have read.
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Be patient
Being a ghostwriter you should be more patient. Patience I don’t mean biding your time until you get the right client, patience means relentless practice your writing skill until you’re ready for the right person to contact you.
Novelist Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton said –
Patience is not passive; on the contrary, it is active; it is concentrated strength.
If you ask me no one will be perfect in any skills by birth, you have to try hard and cultivate your skills to be perfect.
Hemingway, who argues himself as an expert says-
We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master.
It’s being said that a patience writer finishes his work quicker and it true as well. Being a ghostwriter be patient and finish your work before the deadline.
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Prove yourself
Doing a ghostwriting job is not so easy, it needs more experience and you have to prove yourself. Most of the writers before they become a ghostwriter they might be writing small articles or working on any smaller writing projects. After proving themselves as a writer they will start a career as a ghostwriting.
Always your writing should showcase your personality so that a publisher or any client identifies you as a successful writer and offer you to become a ghostwriter and writer for them. This is how you should prove yourself and become a successful ghostwriter.
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Write your books first
There is a great saying “listen to the music and enjoy the rhythm before you picking up an instrument.” In the same way, before you start writing for someone else write one or two books for yourself.
Try to write more than 50,000 words that will feel that you have written a long piece of work, this will help in dealing with nuances of voice, narrative, flow, and many more.
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Act like a professional
You may question yourself that what this “act like a professional is”?
Yes, there is a huge difference between acting like a professional and to be a professional.
When you introduce yourself with someone you will say “I am a ghostwriter”
He might be running a business, and was looking for a writer to write his website, he will ask for your work details to check. At this time you cannot say I don’t have any. That will be a vague answer.
For which you should be ready with your professional email address, business cards, create social media accounts. Update your LinkedIn and Facebook profile as a ghostwriter. This is a self-publication which you are creating yourself for getting business. Which is reflects your professionalism and urge to become a ghostwriter?
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Build your credentials
The ghostwriting job is a very competitive industry, before thinking about the work you should reserve a bench for yourself. The great way to do this is by contributing to famous magazines or publications.
You have to approach your clients through your profile and offer them ghostwrite articles. That might be an article or their own blog or for outside publication, you will be writing on behalf of them. Huffington Post and Forbes are both dependable choices that receive guest proposals.
Being a ghostwriter its a great idea to publish your fiction or non-fiction in literary magazines. You can add these details in your resume as well. As a writer, it’s important to write regularly on any of your interested areas to improve your writing skills and that will be an addition for your personality showcase.
If you want to become a ghostwriter write an article about ghostwriting and publish that in your own blog or on the other sites as emphasize your authority in that particular field.
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Treat your first two books as on-the-job training
Being a ghostwriter or writing a ghost article is completely based on your previous experience. To build this foundation of experience, freelance ghostwriter Toni Robino suggests you should look back at the early phase of your career.
Even if you’ve been a writer your entire life, there are lots of things you’ll need to learn about how to conceptualize, structure, and ghostwrite a full-length book. For that reason, you’ll have a much better chance of getting hired if the fee you set is lower than the fees set by experienced ghostwriters with established track records.
Writing is a never-ending process and there is always scope for improvements that applies for a ghostwriter particularly. It’s the old proverb that ‘there’s always room for improvement’ applies to ghostwrite.
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Explore Creativity
Being a ghostwriter it’s most important that you should always come up with new ideas, solutions, and approaches that are the contribution that is giving for your project and its part of your profession as well. Not all the clients will be having a clear idea and often a ghostwriter should have to develop the entire concept with a small tail which was is explained by his client.
Here your creativity helps to infuse new ideas and approaches into your writing. That will make your writing more interesting and gives value to your writing.
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Adaptability
Every ghostwriter has to mimic the voice or style of himself or his client. For this, you require strong adaptability. If a ghostwriter has a strong personal style and voice, that will be difficult for him to emulate his client.
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Flexibility
Being a ghostwriter tries to be more flexible because when you create your own work you will be doing research. Whereas if you become a ghostwriter you will get information from your client through email, phone, a written piece, or in-person interviews—directly from that person.
You should be very careful while taking the information because he might not be available when you need him to gather more information if required.
So it’s most important that you should be flexible about these situations. He might not be available when you need him, and you may fall behind and will not be able to meet the deadline. For which you will not be paid. The most important key to remember is that when you will be a ghostwriter you may at the whim of your key.
In the ghostwriting job, a writer should be flexible enough to understand what his client desire for and moreover there is no room for his opinions, simply he is giving shape to his client’s thoughts. So many a time you will face combining the difference of opinions, being a writer you should cultivate a habit to be flexible towards your work.
Few times there are chances to stand up and express your opinion or point of view to your clients. If they show a green signal that’s well and good, suppose if your thoughts are undermined, you should be ready to take both the things. So be flexible in your profession.
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Focus on Facts
The most focusing part of a writer is to focus on the factual details, for which he should have to be a good researcher to mimic the client’s voice and style along with the topic of the project. Your creation should always be factually accurate and authenticated from authoritative references.
Be diligent in your work. Cultivate a vision to dig in-depth for the information you needed. It is imperative that whatever you create is well examined and authenticated.
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Take Responsibility
As a writer you should have the ability to take responsibility, self-motivated and diligent is highly esteemed in any working relationship including ghostwriting as well.
On-time delivery, being honest, communicative, and available to your clients all the time are the key success of ghostwriting. Being a ghostwriter keep regular touch with your clients and take or give the updates will be apprised of the progress.
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Be Eager to Learn and Improve
In the fast-growing world, there is no room for stagnancy. As a writer, you should update yourself daily ongoing. You should have the zeal to learn and adapt the new skills.
A writer does not stop researching and developing skills. He should be open to new ideas and experiences around the world. The most important point in a ghostwriting job is that you will receive criticisms multiple times, don’t get disappointed, these condemnations are steps for your success. This will help you to learn more and more to achieve your goal.
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Work on different voices and styles
No one will achieve success in the first instance, it needs many trials. So being a ghostwriter you should have the ability to practice different voices and styles. The foremost important is you should learn to find and become perfect in your client’s voice. This is the key success and money-making tricks as a ghostwriter.
The great ability of a ghostwriter is that your final product should be so professional that your clients should feel proud. This will helps you to capture their attention.
The only way to get good at this is to force yourself to write outside of your usual voice and your genre comfort zone. Try mimicking the styles of some of your favorite authors in short exercises in your spare time.
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Reach out for your own stories
If you are willing to become a successful ghostwriter, you should practice more and more. Sometimes you can mimic someone else’s book for your practice.
If you come across a story and if you feel that could be a great piece don’t hesitate to approach and share that in social media like Facebook writer’s group, with your friends or any local newspaper and get an offer.
Are you willing to become a successful ghostwriter?
Being a ghostwriter you should consume more and more writing or should cultivate a habit of practicing any piece of work. This is the only way you will get exposed to more ideas which will enhance your writing skills. More than this try to mimic another person’s voice.
When you start writing the opening scene in a client’s memoir, you should feel it as if you are watching a movie and when transferring that into a paper it should look as if you are producing the complete picture as it is.
This is how you should try writing any articles and blogs as a ghostwriter. Being a ghostwriter you must have lots of determination, patience, and persistence to handle different types of clients.
The path to becoming a successful ghostwriter is similar to that of a freelance writer. One of the greatest differences between both is that being a ghostwriter you should prove yourself to walk in the same path.
Apart from all these, you should learn to market yourself as a ghostwriter for hired by your clients. And accept to write as freelance writing. This will help you in marketing your business which will end-up in ghostwriting.
To sum-up with, becoming a successful ghostwriter will not happen overnight. This takes a bit of time to create an attractive portfolio and stand-up in between your competitors. However, being a ghostwriter you will absolutely experience a comfortable career and easily overcome all the obstacles.
Ready to ghostwrite?
No doubt, the above blog will help you to fulfill your zeal and you will surely shine by pursuing a ghostwriter career.
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