Becoming a Ghost Writer
Careers adviser James Hill gives advice on becoming a ghost writer.
A ghost writer is someone who provides content writing services for others but whose identity remains anonymous. They often write in the form of an expert in a respective field. It could be an expert in the field of travel; in the field of health; in the field of internet marketing and so on, and they may also write novels and biographies. They write on someone else’s behalf without revealing their name and identity in the process.
Ghost writing is always in-demand. It’s flexible, rewarding and can often pay well, but to be one you can’t be possessive of your work, for obvious reasons.
If you have a strong portfolio of writing already then you might not have any trouble gathering clients, but if not ,a good way to start is by specialising in a particular area or several. You may already have a deep interest in something; food, video gaming, music or any thing else. Depending on what you’re writing about, how comprehensive your knowledge needs to be varies, but it’s good to be well-versed in something to begin with. The more topics you know well the more you can write about, but you can also do research in an area that you’re commissioned to write about too.
You need to be good with working towards deadlines. Ghost writers often have tight ones, so writing under pressure isn’t uncommon.
Build a website describing your services then approach online businesses to build your portfolio. There are many forums, such as Online-Literature, that are filled with internet marketers and website owners looking for help with their content creation.
You can use your website to promote your ghostwriting services, and once you get started you can gather good testimonials from your clients to further boost your credibility.
A good place to begin is by participating in online communities and forums like Composers Forum where marketers are. Most communities will let you include a link back to your website and services, and you can also write a few lines to go with it, such as “Need help with your writing? Click here for affordable ghost writing”, or something similar.
Make sure that on your website you list all your services, fees as well as a little background information about yourself and how you can help clients. You may also want to state the benefits of using a ghost writing service.
If you’re reading this then you’re writing skills are probably quite good, but if you’re unsure how to capture your skills in an enticing manner, don’t hesitate to contact a resume writer, like the ones on Career Bloom. They can create a ghost writer resume you can put on your website that encourages clients to get in touch with you and that can compete with other ghostwriters who may have more experience than you.
If you want to be a ghost writer, it’s worth taking in all of the above suggestions and seeing how it works out for you.
James Hill is a self-employed careers adviser based in London.
Featured image by Miguel A. Padrinan
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