You’re a business owner, entrepreneur, or in-house writer. You’re busy, you’ve got a million things to do, and suddenly someone asks you to teach them how to write. Are you feeling overwhelmed?
Don’t worry! We’ve got your back. Here are 13 things every ghostwriter (and business owner) should know about teaching their ghostwriters:
| Takeaways |
|---|
| 1. Importance of Communication: Effective communication with your ghostwriter is key to achieving the desired outcomes. |
| 2. Clear Project Guidelines: Provide detailed guidelines to ensure the ghostwriter understands your vision and requirements. |
| 3. Establishing Deadlines: Set realistic deadlines to keep the project on track and ensure timely delivery. |
| 4. Confidentiality and NDA: Emphasize the importance of maintaining confidentiality and consider signing a non-disclosure agreement. |
| 5. Style and Tone Preferences: Communicate your preferred writing style and tone to maintain consistency in the content. |
| 6. Feedback and Revision Process: Establish a constructive feedback loop to refine the content and make necessary revisions. |
| 7. Understanding Target Audience: Educate the ghostwriter about your target audience to tailor the content for maximum impact. |
| 8. Research and Fact-Checking: Encourage thorough research and fact-checking to ensure accuracy and credibility in the content. |
| 9. Collaboration and Teamwork: Foster a collaborative environment where ideas can be freely shared for better content creation. |
| 10. Contractual Agreements: Formalize the working relationship with a clear contract outlining project scope, payments, and rights. |
| 11. Flexibility and Adaptability: Be open to adjustments and changes during the writing process to meet evolving needs. |
| 12. Value and Appreciate Their Work: Acknowledge the ghostwriter’s contributions and expertise, showing appreciation for their efforts. |
| 13. Building Long-Term Partnerships: Consider nurturing long-term relationships with skilled ghostwriters for consistent quality work. |
1. The Internet
The internet is a tool, just like a pen or a paintbrush. It’s not an end in itself, but it can be used to create art, inspire creativity and make connections. You don’t need to be an expert on the internet you just need to know how to use it safely and productively.
That means knowing how to protect yourself online (see #2), where the best sources of information are (see #3), and what kind of blogs/websites are most likely to suit your needs (see #4).
Your ghostwriter will probably teach you some of these things during their initial interview with you; here are some additional tips:
Understand how different websites work differently: Some sites may require registration; others may ask for payment before granting access; still, others may allow anonymous viewing without any personal data being stored at all!
If possible, try out several different sites before settling permanently into one place you’ll probably find one that suits both your needs as well as your personal preferences rather easily once those factors have been considered carefully enough!
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2. Good Character
It’s what you are, what you do, what you say and think. It’s also how you feel when no one is watching. Character is everything that makes us who we are. It doesn’t just happen on its own; the character must be nurtured and developed over time to become a vital part of our lives.
Character is made up of many different parts: your physical appearance and mannerisms; your personality traits;
Your values; your goals and ambitions; your attitude toward other people (friends/family/strangers); how honest or deceitful you are about yourself, in general, every day (your integrity).
The good news is that these qualities can be learned! I’ve been doing it for years with my clients so they have better characters than ever before now it’s time for me to pass along some tips for creating an amazing character for any book project which will hopefully be useful in yours too!
3. Respect For Others’ Thoughts And Opinions
It’s important to respect others’ thoughts and opinions, so make sure that your ghostwriter knows how to do the same. Ghostwriters should know how to give credit where credit is due, which means if they use information from other sources, they need to cite those sources.
This will show the client that you have done your homework on the topic at hand and it will also ensure that any legal issues are handled properly.
Other ways of showing respect for others include respecting their time, privacy, and rights by providing them with whatever documents or other materials they may need to complete a project promptly; maintaining appropriate boundaries when engaging with clients;
Being mindful about respecting each individual’s unique cultural background; ensuring all religious views are respected when speaking of deities or spiritual figures; recognizing diverse viewpoints within society at large (especially political ones).
4. The Value Of Free Speech
Freedom of expression is important. As a ghostwriter, it’s your job to help clients find their voice and tell their stories. The best way to do that is by helping them discover what they want to say and then getting out of the way so they can say it with confidence and conviction.
The use of words should be something you value you should teach your client how powerful language can be, and how words can be used for good or evil.
You will also want them to understand the importance of free speech; if everyone had an opportunity to speak freely, then we would all have an opportunity at being heard by others around us and potentially make a difference in the world through our words (or actions) alone!
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5. The Importance Of Honesty And Fairness
Honesty. It’s important, to be honest with yourself and others, but it’s especially important, to be honest with your ghostwriter.
If you know that the project is going badly, it’s only fair to tell them so they can move on to something else and this will also prevent them from wasting time on something that will never get published!
Fairness. This goes hand-in-hand with honesty: being fair means not taking advantage of your ghostwriter by asking them for more work than they’re comfortable doing or expecting them to do work that isn’t within their expertise just because you want it done quickly (or cheaply).
It means paying them a fair rate for their services and letting them know where the line is drawn between acceptable and unacceptable actions in terms of working conditions (e.g., not allowing your ghostwriter access to confidential information about clients’ accounts).
It also means respecting confidentiality agreements between clients/companies/organizations and yourself;
If there are legal matters involved then both parties should sign an agreement beforehand so everyone knows what they’re getting themselves into before beginning any contract negotiations or work arrangements with one another!
6. How To Ask Questions And Express Ideas
Here are some things you can do to help your ghostwriter understand what you’re trying to say:
- Ask questions! Don’t be afraid to ask questions if you don’t understand something; even if the question seems silly or obvious, it’s better than nothing.
- Express ideas. If you want a ghostwriter working with your voice and style, they will need a clear sense of what those are.
- Make sure that they understand the tone and purpose of each piece before they write it; this will make their job easier and more enjoyable for both of you.
If there’s anything we’ll never get tired of hearing from our clients (or anyone who needs help writing), it’s “I’m not good at getting my point across.”
We get asked all the time how people can improve their communication skills and we have some great tips! But first: why is this so important?
7. How To Keep A Diary
You should keep a diary. It can be private or public, but the important thing is that you write down your thoughts and feelings as they come to you.
Your ghostwriter will need this information if they’re going to get into your headspace and write accurately about what goes on in there.
If you don’t have time for that right now, just start by writing one sentence per day (or one thought/feeling if it’s not convenient).
This may seem trivial, but then when the time comes for your ghostwriter to work with this material, it will be easier for them because they’ll have an entire year’s worth of entries from which to draw inspiration!
An example of an entry might look something like this:
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8. Trust In The Ability To Learn From Experience
You can teach your ghostwriter to trust in the ability to learn from experience. Learning from mistakes is important, as is learning from others’ mistakes.
The best way to learn how not to make a mistake is by making it yourself first, but sometimes that isn’t possible or advisable (or at least advisable until you have more time and resources).
Here are some tips for teaching your ghostwriter:
- Always have an open mind when you are learning the best lessons come from both success and failure
- Learn about other people’s challenges before yours arise so that you can be prepared for them when they do arise, for example, ask someone who has gone through something similar about their experiences
- Practice taking notes on what was helpful and what wasn’t helpful in certain situations–this will help you recognize potential issues before they become problems
9. The Value Of Sleep And Rest
As a ghostwriter, you’re going to have lots of ideas, and your clients will be excited to get them. But while they are excited about their content and can’t wait to see it all put together, you need to remind them that writing is a process.
You’ll come up with some great stuff in the first drafts you give him or her, but then all of those ideas need time for revision, editing, and refinement before they make their way into the final manuscript. This process takes time and sleep!
Many writers think that if they don’t get a lot of sleep at night (or any at all), they’ll be able to write better during the day but this isn’t true at all!
Lack of rest has been shown more than once over decades of research studies as being detrimental not only physically but also mentally as well.
Sleep allows us not only physical rest from our everyday lives but mental clarity too; without enough hours spent asleep each night we cannot function fully as human beings let alone as professionals who have committed themselves 100% to their craft like yourself!
You should encourage your clients not just on an emotional level either – because nothing beats seeing positive results when trying something new – but also by showing them what happens when one doesn’t get enough sleep:
Namely headaches, and forgetfulness/memory loss (which could lead easily down slippery slope toward burnout).
Lack of creativity due being slightly less well rested than normal people would otherwise feel after getting enough restful nights’ sleep each weeknight/weekend day combination which may lead directly back to feeling overwhelmed again with each passing day after having gone through two consecutive days without taking care properly yourself physically AND mentally.
This makes it difficult psychologically become creative again until another period between 48-72 hours after having taken care properly both physically AND mentally comes along whereupon one might find themselves creatively inspired again thanks solely dedicated practice despite initial setbacks such
10. How To Handle Money Wisely
When you are the one who has to pay your ghostwriter, you need to know what she is going through.
The fact that she will be working for you and not the other way around means that if she makes any mistakes, it’s going to be up to you to fix them. This can be a very stressful situation for both of you but it doesn’t have to be!
If she knows how much money she can spend when writing and editing each book, then she won’t ever feel like she has less than enough money at her disposal. She needs to understand that saving money should always come first (no matter how tempting something might look).
And budgeting her time wisely will ensure that no matter what happens during writing or editing sessions; there will always be enough left over for saving purposes afterward.
This means making sure all payments made by clients are done electronically so there aren’t any delays in getting paid on time either!
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11. How To Focus On What Is Important
The ability to focus on what is important is a skill that cannot be taught through books or lectures. Your ghostwriter needs to learn this lesson by doing, and she will learn it best if you teach her how to focus on the positive.
Do not try to scare your ghostwriter into submission with stories of editors who have rejected great ideas because they were too simple or too obvious. Instead, spend some time thinking about all the awesome things that have happened when someone said yes instead of no.
Tell her about projects were saying “yes” led to great results:
You accepted an idea for a book from an unknown writer who had never published a book before. The result was a bestseller!
A client asked for changes in an article that would have made it less clear and more difficult for readers but he liked the way you wrote it as-is!
He agreed that your version was better than his request (and told others!). The new style became popular in other publications soon after yours was published…
12. How To Finish Things
It’s important to finish things. The world is full of half-finished projects, things that were started and then abandoned, plans that were never carried out, and so on.
If you’re anything like me, your life is probably littered with unfinished tasks too: projects you started but didn’t finish; books you bought but didn’t read; movies you watched but didn’t watch through to the end (unless they were really bad).
The good news is that this can be changed! You don’t have to be a quitter you just need to learn how not to quit. This skill will help us in our writing career because writers are notoriously slow at finishing their books.
It’ll also help us stay organized as we go about our daily lives; if we know how not to quit when we’re working on something challenging, it stands to reason that we’ll also know how not to quit when doing the rest of our day-to-day stuff (like making dinner).
13. The Art Of Coping With Setbacks And Failures
Ghostwriting is a business, not just a creative endeavor. In any business, there are going to be ups and downs as well as the occasional setback or failure and the important thing to remember is that these experiences don’t have to mean the end of your career or even your book project.
As long as you learn from them, they can often be used as valuable stepping stones toward success in the future!
Take time to absorb disappointment when it happens, so that it doesn’t derail your whole project or keep you from working on other projects in the future
Ask yourself what went wrong and how you could improve next time (e.g., “I should’ve done more research before writing”) but also try not to dwell on past mistakes for too long;
It’s easy for second-guessing ourselves about our choices to become an obsession rather than something constructive, which will ultimately only hinder our progress toward achieving whatever goals we set for ourselves at first
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Conclusion
Now that we’ve covered some of the basics, let’s get into the fun stuff. The following list is an overview of what we think you should be teaching your ghostwriter about your business. Feel free to use as much or as little of it as works for you and your ghostwriter(s).
Your company history and its impact on the present day
What makes your organization unique? Where do you fit in with the competition? What sets you apart? (Don’t worry if this doesn’t come naturally at first you can learn a lot by asking questions!)
How are things going today? Is there anything that might affect how your business performs tomorrow? Do they have plans to increase revenue or expand operations in any way?
If so, make sure they share those plans with their ghostwriter so they can make suggestions on how best to achieve them through content creation.
Also, discuss any concerns about finances or staffing levels so that no stone goes unturned when crafting stories about how things work around here!
How does the organizational structure work? Who reports to whom within each department/area/office location etc.?
These details are important because they help establish credibility when writing about people within an organization who don’t exist yet in real life (e.g.: “Our CEO has always been known as a forward-thinking leader,” rather than “Steve Jobs was CEO before he died.”).
This will also help ensure consistency across all media platforms–from brochures to websites!–so keep this information handy when working with multiple writers who need access!
Do all employees have access to social media tools like Twitter and Facebook so they can post updates from their accounts instead of just replying via email whenever asked?” Everyone must understand their role in helping
Further Reading
Ghostwriting Tips from HubSpot: Discover valuable insights and practical advice on becoming a skilled ghostwriter and mastering the art of writing for others.
7 Skills That Will Help You Succeed as a Ghostwriter: Explore the essential skills every aspiring ghostwriter should cultivate to excel in the competitive world of ghostwriting.
How to Become a Ghostwriter: This comprehensive guide will take you through the step-by-step process of launching your career as a professional ghostwriter.
FAQs
What is ghostwriting?
Ghostwriting is the practice of writing content on behalf of someone else, where the writer remains anonymous, and the credited author takes ownership of the work.
What types of content do ghostwriters typically create?
Ghostwriters can be involved in various types of content creation, such as books, articles, blog posts, speeches, social media posts, and more.
How much does ghostwriting cost?
The cost of ghostwriting services can vary significantly depending on the scope of the project, the experience of the ghostwriter, and the complexity of the content.
Do ghostwriters receive any credit for their work?
In most cases, ghostwriters do not receive public recognition for their work, and the credited author takes full credit for the content.
How can I find ghostwriting opportunities?
Networking within the writing and publishing industry, building a strong portfolio, and marketing yourself as a professional ghostwriter can help you find lucrative ghostwriting opportunities.
Costantine Edward is a digital marketing expert, freelance writer, and entrepreneur who helps people attain financial freedom. I’ve been working in marketing since I was 18 years old and have managed to build a successful career doing what I love.
