Last week, I wrote this: “People think ghostwriters just write.” This makes sense if you think about it. You watch a movie or a TV show that features a writer, and he or she is seen as a solitary figure sitting at a desk writing or pounding away on a keyboard. What it doesn’t show…
When I worked as a copywriter, before my ghostwriting career took off, I attended various networking meetings and sold myself as one who could fashion a winning, compelling 30-second elevator pitch. I hardly got any interest, and I soon saw why: Everybody seemed to think that if they could come up with a rhyming tagline,…
I recently had a first conversation with a ghostwriting prospect. Toward the end, she asked a very standard question: “What makes you the right person for me?” My answer: “I can’t say I am right. That has to come from you.” This might seem like I was passing the buck. What I really did was…
Dear Future Client: We haven’t met yet because you’re still looking for a ghostwriter. That’s okay. When you hire me as your professional ghostwriter, you’re not hiring me just to write your book, speech, website, blog, or anything else. You’re hiring someone to protect your project, even when life gets in the way. “Life gets…
I asked a lot of questions when I took a class on artificial intelligence and ghostwriting. One of the important lessons I learned is that AI is here to stay, that ghostwriters can use it to help their processes (without outsourcing the writing to it), and that there’s a need to disclose to clients how…
Anyone who’s been in therapy knows that the professional sitting in front of them speaks in neutral and objective tones to provide a safe, non-judgmental environment where the person can explore the deepest thoughts, feelings, and issues without fear of bias or criticism. A good ghostwriter does the same thing for you. If you’re considering…
When I meet a prospect for the first time, I always ask four questions. The second one is, “Who is your target audience?” In many cases, the prospect will say, “everybody,” to which I respond, “Well, no book is for everyone. The widest read book is the Bible, and not everybody reads it.” Usually, the…
I saw a report from Verified Market Research that valued the ghostwriting market at about $3.3 billion in 2024 and that it was expected to reach $6.2 billion by 2032. A different report, from HTF Marketing Intelligence in 2023, forecast the market’s value to reach $8 billion in 2030. I would say both reports didn’t…
As a member of the human ghostwriters club, I have had numerous clients who insisted on particular stories in their manuscript. In one case, it was memory after memory about his mother. In another, it was a fishing trip gone to hell. In a third, it was numerous sailboat trips around the Mediterranean and across…
Today, I’m writing about AI slop. Similar to spam, it’s low-quality, high-volume copy (and images, though that’s not relevant here) AI creates to fill space, trick algorithms, clog the internet and monetize clicks rather than provide anything valuable. Ghostwriters need to pay attention to this trend…because it can make them rich. They are now being…
