Not every ghostwriter out there is made equal because, like every professional out there, there are experts and there are amateurs.
If you are hiring a ghostwriter for the first time then it might be very difficult for you to differentiate between the professional and the amateur and you might accidentally hire someone without a lot of experience.
This has the potential to ruin the project for you and produce very bad results if you do not get to hire the right person with the right level of skillset and experience.
That is exactly why you need to know how to hire the right professional for the right kind of job and a simple way to do this is to look out for red flags.
These are going to be some habits and some patterns that will help you distinguish the amateurs from the professional ghostwriters.
So, let us look at some of these red flags.
Red Flags When Hiring a Ghostwriter
No Writing Samples
The very first red flag definitely has to be no writing samples because samples are standard for any profession and professional out there.
If you are a professional and want to showcase your work then samples are the best way to show it.
That simply means if you are not good at your work then you might choose to not show samples to the clients.
That is why if you are a client and planning on hiring a professional ghostwriter then you should ask for samples before hiring the ghostwriter.
Lack of a Clear Portfolio
A professional ghostwriter should have a clear portfolio that is there to showcase their work and we can understand having a small list of portfolios simply because ghostwriting is such a profession where confidentiality is necessary most of the time.
However, almost every ghostwriter out there has content that they can show for a kind of project they have done and if we are talking about an experienced ghostwriter. They will have a portfolio only consisting of projects that they can actually show such as public projects.
If the person you are looking for does not have any portfolio, then that should be a warning sign.
No Testimonials or References
The thing you have to understand about red flags is that they should not be the ultimate factor for you to decide whether to hire them or not but red flags should raise alarm bells.
One such alarm bill is going to be no testimonials or references. Every professional out there will try their best to get testimonials from happy clients.
Yes, we understand that ghostwriting is a confidential profession but not all types of ghostwriting needs to be confidential and a professional can easily get a testimonial of their work from the client and post it on their website or LinkedIn profile.
If the ghostwriter you have chosen does not have any credible reviews or any reviews then that is a red flag.
Unprofessional Communication
There is a certain way a professional communicates and this can be in the form of how fast they respond and how clearly they respond.
It can also be judged by their communication channels.
If your ghostwriter does not communicate through email or a reputable app that is utilised for business communication then that might be a red flag.
One of the other red flags is going to be how fast they respond to your questions and how clear they are in conversations. You must also check their style of writing during communication and it will also be a good sense of their writing caliber.
Unrealistic Pricing
Unrealistic pricing is a red flag that is applicable to every industry out there because before you avail any service from any professional or even buy anything you should check out the market price of that service or item.
If you have even a rudimentary idea of the pricing in mind then it will help you navigate the market much better.
And if you have an idea of the price in mind and the ghostwriter quotes a pricing much higher or much lower than the average market pricing then that should be a red flag to watch out for.
That is why you should always have an idea about industry standard rates because if the pricing sounds too good to be true then that should immediately cause you to have doubts with the ghostwriter.
If the pricing is too high and it is still within your budget then you need to do a good assessment of samples and testimonials and you might just find out that it’s either a scam or one of the best industry professionals.
Lack of a Contract
A professional ghostwriter should be able to draw up a legal contract for the project where all the deliverables, as well as timelines, revision details and even the confidentiality clause, are outlined perfectly.
This project contract should mention every minute detail of the project including the pricing of the project. It should be structured very well.
If your ghostwriter is not able to produce a professional contract then it will only cause problems with project delivery and miscommunication and misunderstandings in the future not to mention the lack of professionalism will also indicate an amateur quality of work.
Bad Quality of Work
The last red flag is probably the most prominent and easy-to-spot red flag out there and there is a reason why we have kept it as the last point. We are talking about bad quality of work.
This is simply because while this red flag will help you understand for sure if you have a good ghostwriter or not but the thing is if you understand the quality of the ghostwriter by their work then it means you have already hired them and it is too late.
That is why we hope you do not have to identify the good ghostwriter from the bad one at the last moment after you have hired them.
We hope this blog has been helpful for you to understand what are all the red flags that you should look for when hiring a ghostwriter for your ghostwriting project.
If you are someone who is looking for some of the most experienced professionals and you do not want to go through this extensive list of red flags then we are here for you.
We are Ghostwriting India and we will help you with all your ghostwriting needs. We do every form of ghostwriting whether it is novels or online web content as well as children’s book writing and script writing and much more.
We welcome you to visit our website and check out everything we do.
