Mayors, presidents, CEOs, commissioners, chairpersons… leaders come in many different flavours. Whether they are wise and with our best interests at heart, or profit-driven slave drivers at the top of the food chain, it’s common to find crowds gathered and gawking whenever leaders gives a speech.
You’ll find that the most successful leaders are also charismatic and able to sway crowds with words that strike and resonate. Although leaders are usually trained in the art of public speaking, not many have the time (or know-how) to write their own speeches and press material – hence, the need for ghostwriters. Ghostwriters’ works often go uncredited, but talented writers are widely sought after and treasured by their clients. If you’re curious about what it takes to be a ghostwriter, read on to find out more!
Experience is the key
As a career, writing has relatively low entry requirements – you don’t need to attend a fancy school nor acquire any special degrees. To author a novel or blog, you simply need an interesting topic and a passion to share the story. To be an advertising copywriter, you can join a marketing firm as a trainee/intern, then absorb and adapt your experience along the way. However, becoming a ghostwriter is not so simple.
To ghostwrite is to write on behalf of someone else. Being able to impersonate someone convincingly requires a perfect understanding of your client’s speech patterns, tone and way of thinking. Since these are very specific skills that require years of experience to accumulate, ghostwriting is a branch of writing that is often inaccessible to new writers.
It makes sense – if you wanted to write an autobiography or make a public statement, you’d probably look for someone with experience instead of entrusting it to a newbie. As a result, it’s highly recommended that you don’t focus on becoming a ghostwriter from the get-go – instead, acquire the necessary skills by being a diverse writer. “Journal, blog guest post, write for publications, send letters to the editor, make insightful comments on websites…,” suggests professional ghostwriter Blake Atwood. “In whatever ways you can, write, write, and write some more.”
In addition to writing across various media, it’s also a good idea to read. A lot. You can’t expect to talk the talk if you don’t know anything about what you are trying to say! Be it the news, fiction, encyclopaedia entries, market reports or anything in between, read everything you can get your hands on. The more you read, the more you will learn how people in different industries and positions write and talk.
Then comes opportunity
Once you develop enough relevant experience, it’s all about being patient. “Patience doesn’t mean biding your time until the right person contacts you,” explains Atwood. “Patience means constant practice until you’re ready for the right person to contact you.”
From Atwood’s experience and several other ghostwriters he had contacted, all had been working on other copywriting projects before a client requested/made a referral for ghostwriting services. This shows that becoming a ghostwriter doesn’t happen overnight, and it requires both expertise and a bit of luck to happen.
If you’re not sure how to attract potential clients as a ghostwriter, consider putting up a section on your website or LinkedIn page to let potential clients know you provide such services. Alternatively, consider joining an advertising or publishing agency – their connections can be very useful if you’ve shown yourself to be a capable writer.
Remember, clients often talk to one another (especially those in public or government-related sectors). If you are able to make a good impression, there’s a high chance they’ll refer you to other departments!
The finer details of ghostwriting
Like any copywriting assignment, ghostwriting requires a clear understanding of your task and proper background research. Since you are writing on behalf of someone else, it’s always a good idea to sit down and have a conversation with the client if possible. Consider how they speak – do they speak colloquially or formally? Do they speak in short sentences or are they more long-winded? Do they like to use repetition to emphasise a point?
Furthermore, if your client likes to use particular phrases (e.g. “needless to say”), then integrate them into your piece. On the other hand, if the client usually starts their conversations with an anecdote, see if he/she has a relevant story you can use as an opener. If it’s not possible to sit down with your client, the next best solution would be to refer to previous publications or public appearances.
Now let’s talk industry specifics and goals. Each industry has its own terminology, jargon, hot topics and issues – learn to use these fluently. Even when writing about a non-industry specific subject (like the impact of COVID for example), remember who and what you are writing for. If you are writing the chairman’s message for an IT company’s annual report, you’d obviously need to mesh the impact of COVID with the IT industry and company.
What if you need to write the IT chairman’s message for a fundraising ball for COVID patients? Obviously, raising capital is the primary goal – but is that all there is to it? Since the chairman represents a company, you also want to use that platform to reinforce the company’s brand, or present the firm in a good light. Consider mentioning some recent company developments, then link those achievements with the topic at hand.
This leads us to our final point: know your audience. As a skilled communicator, your client should speak differently when addressing a group of industry veterans, as opposed to a more general business audience. When writing for general audiences, stay away from heavy jargon and technical details to avoid alienating readers/listeners. On the other hand, talking too simply to an audience of industry experts would make your client come across as too simplistic (or worse, uninformed!).
Ghostwriting, at its core, is still copywriting. Our job as writers is to bridge the gap between your clients and their audiences. Just remember, you are the client when you write – you want to hear your client say “this is exactly what I would’ve written”. And it’s one of the few times when it’s perfectly acceptable to put words into someone else’s mouth!