Welcome to Writer’s Room Wednesdays! Each week I like to have writers from different genres and specializations be a guest blogger and offer their take on their career as a writer. I believe information shared is a great way to learn something new that we’ve never considered before and can add to our skills and knowledge as freelance writers and authors, or know whom to consider for the right job.
This week my guest blogger is Karen Cole of Rainbowriting.com, her site offers services in ghost writing. The world of ghost writing is not for the faint of heart as far as those seeking acknowledgement for their work but can be just as satisfying a career if you truly love to write in whatever form it may be. Here’s Karen’s take on ghost writing.
What is Ghost Writing, Exactly?
By Karen Cole
Ghost writing is basically a piece of work written by one individual, called a ghost writer, while another individual gets all of the credit for the piece. For example, lots of celebrities and popular politicians enlist the help of ghost writers when they create their speeches, biographies or memoirs.
Reasons for ghost writing
The most important thing about using a ghost writer is that it gives the clients an opportunity to get a good writing piece without worrying about things like grammatical mistakes and spelling errors. In some cases, these individuals opt for ghost writers because they are so busy that they cannot write a text piece.
Clients may hire the services of ghost writers in order to create a positive impression on the mind of the public or their competitors. The best example in this regard is politicians that hire ghost writers when it comes to writing their speeches.
Functions of a ghost writer
You will find variations in the text amounts and types offered by a ghost writer, depending on the ghost writing contract between you. It is worthwhile mentioning that plenty of individuals decide to write the major chunk of their writing on their own, using a ghost writer just for polishing the content.
In this scenario, the main function of the ghost writer is to edit the document in a proper manner, getting rid of errors and giving professional feedback. However, when you hire a ghost writer for the full project, he is going to do everything – from content creation to research work.
For writing a biography, the ghost writer needs to review your background thoroughly. He may need to interact with your friends and colleagues, because without getting the right kind of information he will not be able to ghost write a good biography. You must also help your ghost writer by offering him a full outline of your past for your biography.
Cautions for ghost writers
If you are interested in becoming a ghost writer, you need to have certain skills. To start with, your grammatical skills need to be good. In addition, you should have a proper understanding of text usages. As a ghost writer, you also need to understand the requirements of clients. If that is not the case, you will not be able to give a personal feel to the written text. Ideally, when someone hires your services as a ghost writer you will ensure that the text you ghostwrite highlights the personality of your client. You need to modify your ghost writing style on the basis of this.
While working as a ghost writer you are not going to get much recognition, but there are several advantages associated with it. You are going to get decent payments from your clients for your hard work. The kind of payments that you get will be dependent on the complexity of each project and the contract between you and the client. Upfront payment is usually the mainstay of a professional ghost writer, but that will depend on the agreements between you and your clients.
GHOST WRITER, INC: Karen Cole is an affordable book ghost writer, copy editor, proof reader, rewriter and book author with a team of 100+ writing field and book / screenplay workers, some of which are New York Times best-selling authors. We do inexpensive marketing, promotions and publishing or optioning assistance, and we have contacts with literary agents, commercial publishers and literary or film field professionals. We also offer ghost writers for music and composition, such as rap music and other genres, and we have ghost writing for Facebook and Twitter as well.
Gwen Hardin 