People take ghostwriting services all around us without anyone really realizing it. We are referring to the TV shows, music, ads, internet content, e-books, and movie scripts that people see day and night.
If we were to define ghostwriting – we could say that it refers to the process of writing that is published under someone else’s name. A ghostwriter writes for another person and doesn’t claim any rights to the written material.
Ghostwriting – A Brief Historical Overview
Ghostwriting has been around for thousands of years, which is why it isn’t actually a new concept. The Holy Bible is proof of ghostwriting as many parts of it have been written in a collaborative arrangement and by people hundreds of years later from when the event occurred.
For many years, history and stories were passed down from one generation to another in the form of ghostwriting.
If we look at history, we see that it wasn’t until the age of enlightenment that people started wanting to have individual credit for their ideas and inventions – which brings us to today.
Why Do People Hire Ghostwriters
People hire ghostwriters for a number of reasons – for instance, it saves them time. People also hire ghostwriters if they aren’t good at reading, researching, or writing. Ghostwriters can also be a good source of additional research on a topic.
Ghostwriters can even give feedback and provide a third-party perspective on something – if the ghost writer knows the topic.
And realistically speaking – some people might be too lazy to write today, which is awesome for people who are good at writing and who want to make money as copywriters. If this sounds like something you are interested in, you might want to check out these amazing ghostwriting tips and polish your skills.
Ghostwriters charge three to four times more per piece of writing than just doing regular freelance writing.
How to Become a Ghostwriter?
For you to become a ghostwriter, you will need to be good at your work. Since you sign contracts stating that your written work doesn’t belong to you, it can be quite difficult to prove to somebody that you can write.
So, the first good part of becoming a good ghostwriter is either publishing your own material – or – simply having evidence that you can write. And the easiest way to do it is to publish digital or print material – but – something that is legit, and there is no doubt as to whether you are the author.
If you have a book or a couple of blogs in your name – it has to be very clear that it is you who wrote the content and no one else.
Know How to Sell Yourself
Another essential thing that you need to become a ghostwriter is to sell yourself. Suppose you have written or published anything – it could be a book, music, poetry – or – anything else that you wrote and published – you will want to market it and speak about it.
You also want other people to give you feedback about your work and speak about your work and therefore testify to your writing skills. Now, if you think about the importance of this aspect – you see that if somebody who wants the material written comes to you and does their research about you – they will find evidence.
Prepare to Take Criticism
So, initially, you might not have to market yourself to get clients – but to get people to read your material and talk about it whether they like it, criticize it, complement it – or simply take notes of it.
As an aspiring ghostwriter, you will want people to speak about your material because that is the only way other people can know about you and your skills.
Marketing with Self-Publication
As an aspiring ghostwriter, make sure you have written something, started to market your skills and your material, and gotten people speaking about it. In other words, you will have to make yourself accessible to people who are looking for a ghostwriter.
When it comes to the published material that you have under your name, you will want to make it accessible so that anyone who wants to read it can reach it and view your work. For instance, you might want to start with self-publishing your book on Amazon and hence make it accessible to people from all around the world.
Also, as the people from Spines add, in the world of publishing, authors often stand at a crossroads between two distinct paths within the broad landscape of the publishing industry: traditional publishing and self-publishing. Self-publishing is a great way to get your name out there and showcase your writing skills to potential clients. Plus, it gives you more control over the publishing process.
Essential Things to Know Before Signing a Contract
Now on the surface, a contract might look like a simple document that you and your clients sign. But – with a contract, you have to ensure that you protect yourself and your clients enough.
Or else there will be consequences, including the non-disclosure agreement where you agree that once you have completed working on the material, you will sell all the rights to the author and never speak about it.
More importantly, you will need to find the integrity to stick by your contract – even when the book becomes a best-seller – or – the song becomes a hit. Whatever you have created – whether it becomes a hit or not is no longer yours.
Also, you cannot brag about it, and you cannot go around telling people that you did the work because you signed the contract and you did the work wholeheartedly and professionally for somebody else, and you have to respect that contract.
So, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that as a ghostwriter, you have to have integrity and you have to be an honorable person who knows how to keep their word – especially when you want to make a career as a ghostwriter and want clients to keep contacting you and asking you to do their work for them.
As a ghostwriter, you might be asked to write a biography, a memoir – so you will know things about somebody as a ghostwriter; you will have to respect yourself and your career and be secretive about things instead of blurting out secrets to the public.
What is the Future for Ghostwriters?
As more businesses appear online, they need more people to write content for their websites, blogs, and e-books. Even regular people who don’t even own a business are hiring ghostwriters to write ebooks for them so they can list them on Amazon and make passive income.
If you look at it – the more businesses are being established online – the more the demand for ghostwriters and freelance writers in general.
