Ghostwriting is one of the most fascinating industries you can come across and there are several ghostwriting secrets. By secrets, we do not mean the secrets that should not be told as these secrets are less known things about the industry.
We are going to talk about some of these professional ghostwriting secrets that professional ghostwriters actually want people to understand.
We will talk in detail about these hidden aspects of ghostwriting so that you can have a better understanding of the whole industry.
This is because ghostwriting is not just about ghostwriting experience or even ghostwriting techniques but it is much more, whether it is ghostwriting for blogs or ghostwriting for books.
Ghostwriting is also about doing the right thing because there are several ethical considerations in ghostwriting as well.
In order to understand things better let us understand what is ghostwriting for starters and then we can go into the secrets.
What Exactly Is Ghostwriting in Simple Terms?
Ghostwriting is easy to understand, it is just writing as a professional for money. Ghostwriting from the perspective of the client is hiring someone who knows how to write and who knows how to do research.
Ghostwriting is simply when you hire someone who will be able to understand your vision and will be able to write exactly how you want them to write.
You can hire a ghostwriter to write anything and everything which can include everything from academic ghostwriting to financial content writing and much more.
Ghostwriters are utilised everywhere from political speeches to children’s books and TV series scripts and movie scripts.
If you pick up any product that is lying beside you and if that product has an instruction manual there is a 99% chance it has been written by a ghostwriter.
Ghostwriting is one of the quintessential jobs that help regular people get access to best-selling author-grade writing.
But ghostwriting is much more than just listening to someone and understanding them and writing because ghostwriting takes a few secrets to understand and master.
So let us talk about these lesser-known facts and secrets of successful ghostwriters so that you can understand ghostwriting best practices even better.
Here Are Less Known Ghostwriting Secrets
Communication Skills Matter
One of the secrets to being good at ghostwriting is to simply develop communication skills. This is because ghostwriting is not just about how good you write but it is also about how good you can talk to people.
The writing part is only half of the work because the other half is to understand the needs and desires of the client. You can only do that if you are good at conversation and if you are good at understanding people.
That is why the better you are at conversation the better you will be able to communicate with the client so as to understand their needs. The better you can understand their needs the better you can execute the plan.
The other important thing is that communication is also important because misunderstandings can be costly in ghostwriting.
If the ghostwriter can stay in constant communication with the client and assure them and understand them as well as give them updates then that is the best way to go about things.
Ghostwriting is not a job for introverts. This is because if you shut yourself down and if you do not speak to the client whenever you need to, you will be in a deep mess.
This is one of the quintessential secrets of ghostwriting that people fail to understand as new ghostwriters.
A Researcher Is a Good Ghostwriter
One of the most important things about ghostwriting is research because of several reasons. A person might or might not know everything in the world. But if that person has the ability to find out that information then they can definitely write about it.
That is why if someone is good at writing and we compare them to someone who is good at research we will find something surprising.
The person who is good at research will be a far better ghostwriter than a person who is just good at writing. This is because when we do ghostwriting we are not just looking at the imagination capabilities of the ghostwriter.
The ghostwriter has to find out things themselves and the ghostwriter has to know where to get information and how to get information.
This is because most ghostwriting is for nonfiction. That is an area where the better the person is at research the better they will be at writing it.
This is just one of the things that new ghostwriters do not understand because they think if they can write very well they will be able to do ghostwriting.
But writing is just half of the work because if they’re able to find out information whether it is from the client or other sources then they will be actually able to do something with that information.
Compare that to someone who can write extremely well but does not understand how to research, while the content might be beautiful but it will lack data and rich material.
Discipline Will Go a Long Way in Ghostwriting
Ghostwriting is not being an author in the traditional sense of the term. When we think of an author we can think of a person that writes according to their own terms.
We can think of someone who is comfortable with their time and takes time to write what they like. Yes, this is also a misconception because being an author is also about discipline.
But when we come to ghostwriting that discipline is going to be 10 times higher. This is because when someone is doing ghostwriting they are not writing for themselves.
They are lending their skills and their professionalism for money and that is why it is essential to be highly professional and disciplined.
That means the ghostwriter has to give value to some important things. The first of these being the value of the client’s time.
The reason why there is a client in the first place is simply because that client does not have the time to do the work themselves and that is why they have to hire a professional.
That is why the ghostwriter needs to respect deadlines. The ghostwriter needs to respect the time and the opportunity they have been presented.
They also have to respect the choices of the client because the client is the primary person in this creative endeavour.
Ghostwriting Does Save a Lot of Money
While ghostwriting is very popular and a huge part of a lot of industries but ghostwriting is still unknown to a lot of people in different industries.
Companies tend to think that they can save money if they just one of their employees to write literature regarding the company. That can be web content as well as other types of content needed by any company.
But doing that will compromise the quality of the literature. When you are running a company you absolutely need everything to be premium and the best quality.
That means everything from the About page of your company website to the sticker of your company’s product mentioning how to use the product.
One of the other things companies do is that they permanently hire a ghostwriter and keep them on the payroll. That single person might not be able to handle a huge volume of content themselves.
They might not be an expert at everything because that is just a single person we are talking about.
But if the company hires an agency then they can get the job done at a fraction of the cost it takes to permanently keep a ghostwriter on the payroll and they can save a lot of money.
We hope this blog has been helpful for you to understand a few secrets and lesser-known things about the ghostwriting industry.
And if you are someone who is looking for a professional ghostwriting agency with years of experience in writing absolutely everything from offline content and online content then we are here for you.
We are Ghostwriting India and we are the pioneers of ghostwriting in India. We have some of the finest writing talent in the country and we are also the fastest growing ghostwriting agency in India.
We do everything from fiction and non-fiction ghostwriting to academic ghostwriting as well as finance ghostwriting etc. We do online work content such as blogs and website content and we also do every kind of offline content.
We welcome you to check out everything we have to offer on our website.
Common Ghostwriting FAQs
How much should you pay a ghostwriter?
There are several factors that determine how much you should pay a ghostwriter. When you are trying to think of a ballpark figure you need to consider a few things.
You need to consider the country you are in because different countries have different rates for ghostwriters. You also need to consider the kind of work you are assigning the ghostwriter to. Different kinds of content have different kinds of fees.
You also need to understand the popularity of the ghostwriter because if you are hiring industry leaders then you need to pay that kind of money, if you are hiring amateurs then you can expect cheaper rates.
And finally, you need to do market research because if you understand what the market is asking for and paying for that kind of work then you will get a good understanding of what you should pay as well.
Are ghostwriters worth it?
Ghostwriters are definitely worth it and ghostwriters are the staple of nearly every kind of industry. Take for example Apple, when you buy a new iPhone, the instruction that you get with the box is written by a ghostwriter.
When you buy an autobiography of a really old person who is physically disabled then that has probably been written by a ghostwriter.
When you hear very busy political leaders speak, that speech has probably been written by a ghostwriter.
That is why if you need quality content and you do not have the time to write it yourself then ghostwriters are definitely worth it for you.
If you run a company and you do not want amateur work that can compromise the quality and brand value then ghostwriters are worth it for you.
Can a ghostwriter steal your story?
It will literally be illegal for a ghostwriter to steal your story because they can legally never steal anything they write.
This is because when you go into a contract with a ghostwriter you make them sign non-disclosure agreements(NDAs). These agreements not only guarantee that the ghostwriter is going to talk about the project but also guarantee that the ghostwriter cannot claim any word of that project.
That is why it is very safe for you to hire a ghostwriter for your story because legally it is not possible for them to steal your content and if they steal it, they will face strict legal consequences.
Why do celebrities use ghostwriters?
Celebrities use ghostwriters because they either do not have the time or the skills for the content they need.
Let’s take for example a sports person who is a celebrity. They might be extremely good at what they play. They might be an expert at that sport. That does not mean they will be an expert at writing as well.
That is where ghostwriters come in because ghostwriters are professionals at writing and understanding their clients and expressing the vision of their clients.
Celebrities are busy people and sometimes they simply do not have the time to write the content they might need regularly.
Celebrities might need content for their book and they might need content for the numerous speeches they have to give at different events.
That is why if they hire a ghostwriter and explain to them what they feel and what they want to say then the ghostwriter can put their feelings and vision into words.
If the ghostwriter does a good job then it would be virtually impossible to tell if a celebrity has used a ghostwriter or if it’s their own words.
