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…
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…
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…
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…
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,…
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…
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…
The professor and motivational speaker Leo Buscaglia once said, “Never idealize others. They will never live up to your expectations.” Ghostwriters—and their clients—would be wise to remember this so expectations can be properly managed and everyone remains united in making the project the very best ghostwritten work possible. But that means recognizing that some expectations…
Let’s talk about expectations. Because ghostwriting is so collaborative, the ghostwriter has the responsibility of managing a prospect or client’s expectations. If not, things can go wrong quickly. Example: A prospect wanted me to write five high quality articles related to his business, that he could post and then share on different social media sites.…
I recently wrote about the importance of having a contract. That’s all well and good, but if you don’t know what to put in a contract, the importance won’t make sense. Since a contract’s purpose is to record rights, duties, obligations, responsibilities, collaborations, agreements, and payment schedules, among many others; and since a contract should…
