5 Great Skills Prospects Should See

I recently received an inquiry from a prospect on LinkedIn: “What would you say is the one skill an aspiring ghostwriter should focus on developing early?”

I could have responded with a wide variety of skills. Instead, I’m going to turn the question around: If I’m looking for a ghostwriter, what skills should I want the ghostwriter to have?”

That’s far more important. Prospects want to hire somebody who not only knows how to write but knows how to write like a ghostwriter.

Here are five skills prospects need to ensure their ghostwriter has before hiring him or her.

1. Ability to write as someone else.  Many would say this is the first and foremost skill a ghostwriter needs, and what the prospect would actually pay for. It isn’t natural to write using someone else’s words, sentence rhythm, favorite phrases, and even the way the person might talk in sentence fragments or how they jump from one idea or story to another.

This is why a journalist (like me) who spent years carefully quoting people accurately makes for such an ideal ghostwriter. That kind of ghostwriter can better resist the urge to write it as they would, even if their way would sound so much smoother.

Prospects should consider asking the ghostwriter the following questions to determine how well they write like someone else: “How would you go about identifying my voice?” “What are you looking for?” “What do you do when a first draft doesn’t sound like me?”

2. Actively listen. Some would say a ghostwriter can’t write as somebody else without being able to hear and pick up on word choice, sentence rhythm, etc. I’ve had clients say “you understand” instead of “um,” so I know to disregard that particular verbal tic. I have a client now who likes to drop in F-bombs when we talk but has said he wants to limit the number of uses. So, I have to know when it’s effective and when it’s unnecessary.

This kind of listening goes deeper, however. A ghostwriter also has to understand when the client is holding back, avoiding something uncomfortable. For example, I had a client married to a psychopath. I learned that when she paused for a long time before answering a question, I had triggered her. That meant I had to step back, pause the interview and let her either compose herself or end the conversation and reschedule.

Prospects should consider asking a ghostwriter about a time a client said one thing but meant something else and how the ghostwriter dealt with it. Also, ask “How do you handle a client who’s a poor talker or goes off on tangents?”

3. Asking the right questions. The interview is a critical skill every ghostwriter needs. Journalists (like me) learn early on the importance of asking open-ended questions, the ones that start with who/what/where/when/how/why. These are the questions that lead to a ghostwriter getting the raw material needed to write a first draft. These questions also net answers that will send the ghostwriter and client off onto tangents that will be very valuable, or they will lead to a client rambling on, at which point the ghostwriter needs to gently refocus the attention.

Being able to interview without making the person feel like it’s a police interrogation is a great skill.

Prospects should ask the ghostwriter to explain a typical interview session. They also can ask how the ghostwriter prepares for an interview: Does he or she send questions in advance, research beforehand, or go in cold?

4. Researching. This is especially true for nonfiction ghostwriting. Ghostwriters often take on clients with backgrounds and areas of expertise the ghostwriter knows nothing about. I, for example, have never been a gang member, never lived in the Bronx, never married a psychopath, never surfed, never owned my own theatre, acted in a movie, built my own house, or been an attorney.

I needed to dig into various aspects of my clients so I could have some basic understanding of who they are, where they came from, and what they bring to their stories. As examples, I had to watch videos about the Bronx in the 1960s-70s, read about women who don’t recognize the psychopath in front of them, pore over courtroom transcripts, look up surfing lingo, and watch depositions.

Researching also means fact checking. A client should understand that a ghostwriter will not take their word for it and will verify. For me, this is particularly gratifying because I feel great joy in seeing a client’s story come to life with documentation.

For example, a client told me about attending one of Ken Kesey’s acid trips in the 1960s. I was able to find the date and location of the exact one he attended—then discover that the band that played that night was the Grateful Dead, something he did not remember. But there it was on my screen, and my client was thrilled.

Prospects should consider asking a ghostwriter how he or she keeps up to speed with an industry they’re not part of, the process when a client uses terms the ghostwriter doesn’t understand, how much time they typically spend researching, and what examples can the ghostwriter give that shows how they learned an unfamiliar field quickly.

5. Managing clients. Prospects who hire ghostwriters typically have an inner drive and desire to tell their story. That means they have a particular idea and vision and want the ghostwriter to share in that vision.

Sometimes, however, parts of that vision don’t fit, and it’s up to the ghostwriter to deftly and diplomatically tell the client that this anecdote doesn’t fit, this claim is legally risky, this chapter needs restructuring, or whatever else without making the client feel like the ghostwriter is destroying the vision. Neutral, non-judgmental communication is critical. 

My Bronx client is a great example. He wanted to include stories from his youth, like the time his parents lied that their pet chicken has flown away on the night chicken was served for dinner, but it didn’t fit the overall narrative of two brothers living with the choices they made about joining or not joining a gang.

Prospects should ask how the ghostwriter has told past clients that something wasn’t working, what the ghostwriter does when the client insists on keeping something the ghostwrite thinks weakens the piece, and if there was a time the client thanked the ghostwriter for pushing back.

There are other skills one could argue fit here, but these five are basic to ghostwriting. Prospects would be wise to ensure their ghostwriter possesses all of these before embarking on a project.

If you’re thinking about a book and want to talk through whether we’d be a good fit, take a look at some of my other posts on ghostwriting at https://leebarnathan.com/blog/ or reach out directly to set up a conversation.