Have you
ever dreamed about helping a famous actress write her life story? Are you
okay with writing behind the scenes and not receiving acknowledgement for your
work? Do you enjoy research and are able to adapt to another person’s
style of writing or speaking? Then becoming a ghostwriter may be something
you could enjoy doing from home.
What Exactly is Ghostwriting?
Despite its name,
ghostwriting is not about
writing ghost stories. Believe it or not, I actually had a guy ask me this when
I told him I did ghostwriting from home.
Ghostwriting in its
simplest definition is writing for someone else as if you were that person. In
other words, you will not be able to use your own byline or get any
acknowledgement for your writing, because you are writing as if you were that
that person.
They will get credit for
your literary work (book, article, essay), but you will receive financial
compensation.
Your job as a ghostwriter
is to take on the voice, style, and personality of the person for whom you are
doing the writing.
Why Would Anyone Hire a Ghostwriter?
The main reason anyone would hire a ghostwriter is time. The individual wishing to hire
a ghostwriter does not have the time to actually write the literary piece.
Other reasons are:
·
The
individual lacks the writing talent or basic mechanics of writing.
·
The
individual is too close to the topic to write about it.
·
The
individual isn’t certain which parts of the literary piece are important or
worth mentioning.
What Are Some of the Challenges of
Ghostwriting?
The main challenge of
ghostwriting is to be able to adapt to the current style of the person to whom
you are providing the service. Questions to ask yourself before agreeing to
ghostwrite for anyone are:
·
What
is the current literary style or voice of the author, celebrity, politician,
etc. needing the service?
·
Will
I be able to capture his/her way of speaking on paper?
·
How
passionate or knowledgeable is he/she on the topic?
·
What
are the goals or objectives for having this piece written?
·
What
are his/her beliefs and ethics regarding the topic?
·
How
much value or worth is riding on this literary piece?
·
How
long does this piece need to be?
·
What
is the final deadline for this project?
What Skills Do You Need to Get Started as a
Ghostwriter?
Obviously, you will need
good writing skills as far as grammar and spelling are concerned.
You will also need to
possess excellent interviewing and researching skills as you plan how to
approach this topic and the direction or slant the literary piece needs to
take.
Many times the ghostwriter
is able to pick up ideas or details in the interview that would initially have
been left out if the celebrity or the individual was left to do the writing on
his/her own.
What Kinds of Things Can You Write as a
Ghostwriter?
While everyone has probably
heard of celebrities wishing to publish their autobiographies, biographies or
memoirs, you are not limited to just these.
Many times an editor or
author will work with a ghostwriter as a third party brought in to do the
initial writing or at least assist with it. Other pieces that you can
ghostwrite on a variety of topics include:
·
non-fiction
books of all types
·
fiction
books of all types
·
e-books
on various topics
·
online
and offline articles
·
blog
comments or other opinionated pieces
How Much Can You Earn as a Ghostwriter?
Just like all freelance
work, it will vary from client to client or from company to company. I’ve seen
ghostwriters making as little as $9 an hour to as much $800,000 for a 300-page
non-fiction book. So, be prepared for that.
Where Can You Find Work as a Ghostwriter?
Now since I have you all
excited about becoming a ghostwriter, where can you find work—especially
working from home? Some places to start are:
Textbroker –
Read Textbroker Review –
Textbroker is always hiring article writers to write for clients on a wide
variety of topics. Here you will be paid so much per article based on the
number of words in the article. You can increase your star rating here over
time and begin earning more per word once you gain a lot of experience.
BKA Content – Read BKA Content Review – BKA
Content is similar to Textbroker in many ways. You sign up as a writer and then
choose the articles you want to write. And like Textbroker, these are ghostwritten
articles.
Craigslist – Private
clients can sometimes be found on Craigslist. I would recommend searching in
some of the Craigslist sites for bigger cities and using “freelance” and “freelance
writer” or “freelance writing” as my keywords. However, be very careful you
don't get scammed. If anything feels fishy to you, don't contact the poster.
Facebook Groups – If you're not using Facebook for finding
freelance or other work, you're missing out! And there are Facebook groups out
there now for people in every industry to help them find work. Here are just a
few I found that are for freelance writers looking for work:
Association
of Ghostwriters – This and other industry-related websites that
are geared more towards just ghostwriters are a great source for networking and
finding clients. You can join for a fee and sign up as both a ghostwriter or a
speaker.
Local community organizations – Organizations such as the VFW (Veterans
of Foreign Wars) and American Legion or any
local historical society are often looking for ghostwriters (many times as
volunteers, but sometimes paid) to write war stories, or help aging veterans
write about their heroic deeds or battles.
And sometimes they will try
to sell these works to publishers or simply pass the stories down to their
grandchildren.
Contena – Tons of
writing opportunities, including opportunities for ghost writers, are listed at
Contena. There are literally thousands of freelance jobs posted, most of which
are high-quality and well-paying.
Contena is not a free job
board to access, though. To get 10% off any membership plan, use coupon code ways2earn at checkout.
How Does an Interested Individual Get
Started With Ghostwriting?
Even though you may not
have been a ghostwriter before, you may have engaged in copywriting, resume
writing or speech writing.
All of these are similar to
ghostwriting, so it is sometimes just a matter of being able to sell yourself
by convincing clients that this is something you can probably transfer into
doing.
You can always start with
one of the bidding sites such as Upwork and begin there
by building your portfolio. Another idea is to volunteer to write for
a local community organization, such as one of the ones mentioned above,
and gain additional experience that way.
Not Sure What You'd Write About as a
Freelancer Ghostwriter?
If you're not sure what
you'd write about/specialize in for your ghostwriting career, consider grabbing
a copy of Gina Horkey's FREE list of 200+ writing niches to
consider! That should definitely get your wheels turning.
Whichever way you decide to
launch your freelance ghostwriting career, you can do it. You may not get your
name in print, but you can get inside the heads and hearts of some very special
people needing to tell their stories. All that, and you get to work from
home!
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