On ghosting

“How do I find a ghost-writer?”, plus tips and tricks for successful ghost-writing
 
Aside from these blogs, pretty much all of the writing we do here at Copel Communications technically is “ghost writing.” That is, our by-line is nowhere to be seen. We’re a hired gun, stealthily working in the background, to make our clients look great, in the foreground. 
 
But the term can be parsed a bit more. For the purposes of this article, we won’t include “copywriting,” because that’s bylined by no one. (Have you ever seen an ad that was “Written by” someone?) Rather, we’re talking about by-lined pieces that appear, to the world, to be the sole creation of the credited author… but aren’t. 
 
We love ghost-writing. We’ve worked on everything from speeches to magazine articles to books to, believe it or not, emails and thank-you notes, all “signed” by the presumed “author.” 
 
Why is it so much fun? 
 
The need for ghosts
 
Before we get into the nuts-and-bolts and why-we-enjoy-it aspects, let’s review why ghost-writing even exists in the first place. 
 
Smart people can write. And they have plenty to say. So why don’t they do it themselves? 
 
The simplest answer is “expediency.” Do you think that that CEO has the time to shut off the phone and disable the email, crack out his or her thesaurus, and agonize over document structure, scansion, choice of metaphors, nuances of punctuation, and so on? In a word, Heck no! They’ve got bigger fish to fry. In a world where time is money, they’re happy to trade away the former for the latter. 
 
There’s another aspect to this. Put bluntly, it’s ego. It’s like wearing makeup. Or having your head-shot Photoshopped. With ghost-writing, you can look better than you actually look. So it’s not just a matter of “Here’s the assignment; get the job done.” It’s a matter of “Wow me. Please!” 
 
Now to the fun part: The work itself. 
 
Role playing
 
When you ghost-write, you’re not just writing. You’re acting. You’re doing your best to be the person who’s ostensibly penning the piece. And that can be a daunting challenge: Your client is probably smarter than you are. They certainly know more about their subject matter than you ever will. Plus they have their own attitudes, quirks, and manner of speaking… all of this factors into your assignment. 
 
Remember, your “customer” here is twofold: Certainly, you need to impress the reader who will be consuming the end product. But before it even gets to that stage, you must win the approval, and approbation, of your client. The second-biggest compliment you could hope to get from them would be, “This reads as if I had written it!” The very biggest compliment you could get would be, “This reads as if I had written it—if I were an even better writer!” 
 
So to succeed, you really need to get your proverbial ducks in a row. Most importantly, you need great input. That is, all the facts to get across. The underlying emotion to convey. The firm grasp on the intended audience and their curiosity, concerns, and problems to solve. It’s a lot to ask. And so, more often than not, you need to ask for it. Heck, you may need to pry. Beg! Cajole! But you simply can’t begin the assignment un-armed. 
 
Once you’re set, you’ll need to get yourself into the zone. We have a popular article on that subject: “On self-hypnosis and finding ‘the voice.’” If you haven’t checked it out, do so. You’ll love it. 
 
Big or small
 
As we’d hinted above, our experience in ghosting is pretty diverse. For big-league corporate clients, we’ve written many small-scale, personal deliverables: Wedding speeches. Thank-you notes. We find these especially gratifying to work on, because we love “going for the heart-strings” in a way that time-crunched execs often can’t. These are small jobs, granted, but the payoff in kudos alone is worth it. 
 
“Broad scope” also applies to the amount of work we’ll be tasked with tackling. It could be a case of interview-the-client-on-the-phone-and-then-write-a-draft-from-scratch; or it could be a case of here’s-a-rough-draft-and-notes-now-copy-edit-this-to-make-it-sing.
 
(Couldn’t resist taxing Word on that previous paragraph. It contained a whopping 25 hyphens, FYI!) 
 
A parting “Boo”
 
If you’re in the market for a ghost-writer, you needn’t be shy. It it’s your first time out, know that these assignments are common. The trick is finding a writer who knows what to ask, and can execute as if they were you—or better. 
 
Want to discuss that assignment in confidence? Contact us today. We’d be delighted to chat. 

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