Business owners, speakers, and personalities - it seems like nowadays everyone wants to write their book and become an author. What's the difference between an author and you? 

Authors are published.

Are you thinking about writing a book? Have a story you want to tell? Maybe you've grown up in an abusive household, have journeyed across the globe or started out as a child in a poor family and have become wealthy and successful; whatever the story in which you hold inside of you cannot be shared or validated until you place your thoughts, feelings, and storyline from your head onto a piece of paper.

I hear many excuses for why people don't write their book. Here are just a few:

Excuse #1 I don't have the time

I listen to this excuse a lot! My question to you is, how many hours of television or social media do you engage in per week? Do you game? How much of your time does gaming take up in a week?

Time is similar to money in that when you analyze what you do with either time or money; you can realize what items or categories you can cut out or reduce to make your time or money more effective. Look at what you are doing during the week - write down what you are doing with your time each day for a week and see how many hours you can change.

If you’re looking to publish a book, but you don’t have the time or simply don’t enjoy writing, hiring a ghostwriter can be a great solution to achieve your goal of becoming an author!

Want to know more about ghostwriters, how you can hire a ghostwriter, and when you should hire a ghostwriter? View my previous blog posts for more information about ghostwriting.

When you’ve decided you want to hire a ghostwriter, and you’ve found a ghostwriter which you believe will be an excellent fit for you, your subject and your personality, the next step is signing their contract.

But not so fast!

Do you know what you are signing for? Are all the ghostwriter’s jobs for your novel spelled out for you? Is the contract transparent, or are there terms that you don’t understand woven into the agreement?

Recently, you may have been thinking of your New Year’s Resolutions, looking at your bucket list, or rewriting your goal list for 2020. One of your goals may be to write a book and become an author because of the many benefits of becoming an author can bring to the table.

If you work a full-time job, don’t like to write, or would like to write but have writer’s block consistently, you may want to consider hiring a ghostwriter. See my previous post about what a good ghostwriter can do for you and your new book.

Before you tie the knot about hiring a ghostwriter, you’ll want to know how much they are going to charge. There are several different options to pay a ghostwriter - and each ghostwriter will have their preferred payment available to you in a proposal after you speak with them about what jobs you would like them to perform to get your book finished.

By the Project
Ghostwriters can give you a project cost for the entire book. They should have a detailed list of what will be involved in writing your book, how much each part

You may have heard about ghostwriters, but aren’t sure what they do for their clients. The easiest way to explain what a ghostwriter does is to give you an example.

A small business owner, Jill, wants to write a book about her work as a human resources expert. Why does she want to write a book? Being a published author gives you credibility and notoriety for your work. You are seen as a legitimate professional in your field when you’ve written a book. Additionally, becoming an author also opens you up to many more speaking engagements.

Do you have to write a book to be an expert? No. Will you have less recognition? Yes. The fact is, being an author gives you a considerable advantage over others in the same field and

Hiring a ghostwriter can be a tricky process if you don't know what you want or what to look for in your ghostwriter. Follow these steps to guide you through the process of finding a ghostwriter for hire.

Start by writing down a list of services you are looking for, then look around for ghostwriters to work with on your project. I would suggest starting with LinkedIn and look under the hashtag ghostwriter. You will find a myriad of ghostwriters available to interview on LinkedIn.

Next, jot down a group of values or preferences which are non-negotiables for your ghostwriter. You may prefer working with a female, a journalist, or a writer who has a background in a specialty such as health and wellness. Put down your list on paper. I would even suggest getting a notebook to write in and keep track of your thoughts. In addition to keeping track of your thoughts, writing is a process for your brain to move forward. Scrawling your words on paper makes for a great landing pad for ideas as well as documenting information. A simple notebook works perfectly fine, or, if you like, purchase a leather-bound journal from a local store or artist. These are a beautiful start to your new project!

You have a book, social media campaign, a list of ideas for your company’s blog, and you’re wondering if you can hire a ghostwriter to accomplish your writing goals?

Yes, you can hire a ghostwriter for an infinite number of writing services! Ghostwriters write content in which you are the author, making your name the authority on a specific genre, circle, or niche. Ghostwriters will take your ideas, outlines, and information and create content which you specify based on the type of platform you want your material to be published.

For example, you may have a podcast and would like to hire a ghostwriter to create your show notes for each episode of your show. A ghostwriter can create show notes in a specified way for each episode of your podcast. Or, you may have a business and would like a ghostwriter to write your content for your social media. You may have images you would like posted, and your ghostwriter creates the contents (and possibly hashtags) to go along with the pictures you provide your writer. Your ghostwriter can schedule your social media ahead of time on a scheduler for you to make small changes or approve the content before the social media post is published. 

So how do you know what you can hire a ghostwriter for?

You’ve got an idea, content or information you’d like to convey, but you simply don’t have the time to write, or you don’t want to write - that’s perfectly fine, I won’t be offended!

There are many different ghostwriters in the world today. You can find ghostwriters locally, online, and on LinkedIn, but how can you find a ghostwriter who will work within your budget, click with your personality and have the professional skills to accomplish the work at hand?

First, know what services you are looking for in a ghostwriter. Be specific in the job you want your future ghostwriter to perform. Do you want a ghostwriter to edit your work? Maybe you are looking for someone to follow you through from start to finish. Are you writing your content, and you need a ghostwriter who can write along with you to finish your book and hold you accountable on a time frame goal?

Many people start off wanting to write a book. Next, you have to find out what type of book to write, then conjure up chapters of content for your book, how long your book will take to be published and how to publish your book. You may not be sure when to hire a ghostwriter or at what point in the writing process to have ghostwriter step-in to assist you in the publishing process (if you’re writing a book) or the marketing realm (book writing, social media or creating blog posts).

You may have started writing your book, and you’re stuck at a point in your book, which you can’t seem to get past. You may have lots of ideas for your new book or blog posts - too many ideas - and you’re not sure where to start or how to organize your work or content. Maybe you have an idea and a title of a book you want to write, but you’re not sure how to put your ideas into words. There are a variety of reasons you may want to hire a ghostwriter:

• You don’t like to write
• You simply don’t have the time to write
• You are interested in landing speaking gigs, but you’re not sure how to write a book for credibility in your circle
• You want to work at your company, and you don’t want to spend your time writing a book
• You are looking for credibility factor in your genre or circle and would like to expand your biography to include “author”

I often have clients ask me when they should hire a ghostwriter. The fact is, no matter where you are in the process, you can hire a ghostwriter. Ghostwriters offer different services, depending on their level of expertise and their skill set. Find out what skills a ghostwriter offers and start interviewing ghostwriters. My suggestion is a 30-minute video chat to find out how you ‘click’ with the person on the other side of the camera. Spending 30 minutes on a video chat is an investment well worth your time, as you will be working extensively with your ghostwriter. Hire someone you get along with well, you don’t want to hire a ghostwriter only to cause you more friction because your personalities clash.

Look for my upcoming blog on how you can hire a ghostwriter!

You may have heard about ghostwriters, but aren’t sure what they do for their clients. The easiest way to explain what a ghostwriter does is to give you an example.

A small business owner, Jill, wants to write a book about her work as a human resources expert. Why does she want to write a book? Being a published author gives you credibility and notoriety for your work. You are seen as a legitimate professional in your field when you’ve written a book. Additionally, becoming an author also opens you up to many more speaking engagements.

Do you have to write a book to be an expert? No. Will you have less recognition? Yes. The fact is, being an author gives you a considerable advantage over others in the same field and a higher trust level with your current and potential clients. People who are authors gain

 with You may have seen an article or a friend talk about a writer who is ghostwriting for their book, blog, or social media. What is ghostwriting?

Ghostwriting is a writer for hire who writes for your business, personality, or profile, usually without a byline or credit for their writing. A ghostwriter takes your ideas and content and turns them into written form for your particular platform. This may be social media, a new book, video scripting or a newsletter. The ghostwriter can have credit (as in a byline for the article) a co-author position or remain completely anonymous. Here’s an example of a ghostwritten blog.

Sally, a boutique owner, would like to increase her SEO for her website by writing content about her store, the brands she carries, and her new line of seasonal clothing. Sally doesn’t have the time to write as she is wearing many hats when running her store. She hires a ghostwriter to write consistent weekly content for her website blog; however, Sally’s name is attributed to the blog posts, making her creator of the material.

Ghostwriters can write a myriad of different content, depending on their specialty. Examples of content which a ghostwriter can write for you are:

• blog posts
• social media
• book, guide or mini-book
• lead magnet and other marketing material
• emails and email newsletters
  

While some ghostwriters have a writing background, others have marketing experience in addition to writing and can assist you with a marketing campaign, social media schedule or a click funnel to move clients into your paid realm.

Hiring a ghostwriter is a great way to create SEO for your business while working ON your business to move your company forward. Reach out to me if you're ready to work with a ghost writer to see if we are a good fit!