When it comes to contracts, I believe both sides should have protections. The prospect needs to feel like the story is his/her/their property, that they have the rights to it and own it at all times. That also means the prospect has final say over the title, that he/she/they can terminate the project early under…
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From my earliest days in journalism, I was taught to ask questions that begin with who, what, where, when, how, and why because they were open-ended and would lead to long answers (and better quotes). When I transitioned into ghostwriting, I found these questions still worked, but I recently learned that there is a better…
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I once wrote about why journalists make good ghostwriters. (See it here.) Little did I know that I wasn’t setting a ghostwriting trend but rather following one. And yet I should have seen it coming. Consider: According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 77% of all journalism staff positions have been lost in the last…
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Last week at a networking meeting, it was time for introductions. The leader decided to put a twist on things and announced, “When you introduce yourself, make sure you list your power partners.” My eyes turned upward. I remembered how my career coach blew me away a couple of months earlier when he declared that…
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How would you like it if you arrived at a date’s house and were asked to sign an NDA to commence the date? Would you sign it or walk away dateless? It is a similar question ghostwriters have to consider when entering into an agreement with a potential client: Are you okay with keeping things…
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Focus up, people! I recently had a prospect call me up and say, “My friends and family have insisted I write my story.” But when I asked him the obvious question, “What is the story?” he couldn’t give me a quick and succinct answer. Instead, he talked about a lot of things: being of service…
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Years before the COVID pandemic, I worked at the Los Angeles Daily News, and the paper underwent tremendous upheaval when it was sold and became part of a chain. Employees fretted that they were going to lose their jobs; some didn’t wait for that to happen, and when they left, their positions were absorbed. I…
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Why would artificial intelligence create fake sources? That’s a question I posed to two free programs, ChatGPT and Deep AI. The answers saddened but didn’t surprise me. First, an explanation of why. I knew about a New York lawyer last year foolishly cited cases he found via ChatGPT and didn’t verify them. They were fake,…
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I never realized ghostwriting was a niche. I never thought that way. After a years-long effort of trying to make it as a freelance copywriter, my career coach asked me a question. “If you could do anything, what would you do?” After dismissing my first love of sportswriting because the newspaper business is all but…
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Seventh in an occasional series about compelling stories and ideas worth telling. Compelling stories have many qualities to them: They’re powerful, have an irresistible, sometimes emotional effect on the reader. They earn the person attention, either positive or negative. They’re unique, original, different. They relate to the reader, and they put the reader there. A…
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