Get Paid to Write Online » ghostwriting

Getting into Character for Ghostblogging

Dana Prince — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 17:40:48 +0000

Ghostbloggers need to have more than writing abilities. They’ll also need some acting abilities if they’re going to be successful at taking on the (writing) voice of someone else. There are some great ghostwriting opportunities out there and if you’re good at it, it can be very lucrative.

Some ghostwriters are very good at this, as is evidenced by the James Chartrand’s underpants discussions happening throughout the blogosphere. Sharon Hurley Hall’s response post about identity gave me goosebumps. You should read it (What Defines You? More Thoughts on the James Chartrand Story).

James is a female with a male online personality and like James, I have to pose as a man at times for my ghostblogging clients. Yes folks…I, too, am a Canadian online cross-dresser. Just a few minutes ago I donned some britches, as a matter of fact. I’m a white Canadian woman who, just ten minutes ago, was writing as a black British bloke. Yesterday I was a male internet marketer with an Aussie accent. Then I was an Australian female relationship therapist. Later today, I’ll be a white guy in a suit who lives in Florida and that has a very specific specialty (a specialty I don’t, in reality, actually possess.)

Some people are down on James for pretending to be someone else. I find it funny that a lot of those people are ghostwriters. They pretend to be someone else to earn a living, too.

When I was a little girl I wanted to be a lot of different things. Mostly I wanted to be a writer so my reality has worked out well because I sort of get to be other things, too. I get quite a variety of subjects and writing styles in a day at times. My 13-year old son makes me laugh. The other day, after I described my writing topics for the day, he said, “Smack the piñata!” It feels like that some days. A whole whack of various things fall onto my calendar at times and sometimes there are pretty big extremes in a single day.

So, how do I jump from voice to voice?

-I work to understand my client’s desires. What outcome do they have in mind for the piece of writing? I need to write as them and know what message they want to convey.

-I research their niche so I can write with authority. I don’t just need to sound like their character, I need to also sound like I know what I’m talking about.

-I read their existing work so I can use some of their phrasing and try to “sound” like them.

-If I’m writing for someone in a different country, I try to familiarize myself with some local slang and catch phrases so that I can sound local when I write.

-I get feedback from clients so that I can continue to work at capturing their voice and helping them to meet their objectives.

It’s not always easy to jump from voice to voice and I don’t have to do it every single day. Some days I’m writing for several clients. Sometimes I don’t have to attach a voice as I’m writing a dry piece or an article that doesn’t need a personality attached to it. It can be difficult at times but it’s typically fun and with regular clients, I find I can slip in and out of their character easily out of habit.

Oh, and another thing that I suggest, if you’re a ghostwriter: I also make sure that I continue to write as me for my own projects. By writing with my own voice regularly, I won’t lose my Dana-ness.

Getting into Character for Ghostblogging was originally published on Get Paid to Write Online, copyright 2005-2010, owned by Sharon Hurley Hall. If you are not reading this in an RSS reader, please contact Sharon.

The Inside Scoop On Ghostwriting

Sharon Hurley Hall — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 15:09:02 +0000

It’s not often you get to find out all about ghostwriting from an industry veteran, but that’s just what The Secret World of Ghostwriters: And How to Work With One offers. The book aims to demystify the profession for writing clients, by telling them exactly what ghostwriters can do for them. It offers 120 pages of inside information on the world of ghostwriting.

If you are thinking of hiring a ghostwriter, but don’t know where to begin, this book is a great starting point. You can find out about what ghostwriters do, what skills they should have, how much you should pay them and much more. The book also explains what types of content ghostwriters might write for clients in order to benefit their business. Each chapter starts with a beautiful illustration by Nancy Houser.

Although it’s aimed at clients, the book also has a lot to offer budding ghostwriters. It will help you ask the right questions so that you get a good brief from clients. It outlines the parameters of different types of ghostwriting jobs and gives guidance on appropriate rates. The Secret World of Ghostwriters: And How to Work With One is written in a simple and easy to read style and is chock full of information. Whether you’re planning to work with ghostwriters or as a ghostwriter, it’s worth a read.

The Inside Scoop On Ghostwriting was originally published on Get Paid to Write Online, copyright 2005-2010, owned by Sharon Hurley Hall. If you are not reading this in an RSS reader, please contact Sharon.

Men With Pens Review

Sharon Hurley Hall — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 13:09:09 +0000

Men with Pens is one of my favorite new blogs. It’s the successor to the Web Content Copywriting blog which I mentioned last year. Run by James Chartrand and Harry McCLeod, this is a writing blog with a difference. These guys really know how to write unique blog posts. It’s refreshing to read new perspectives on the issues we all face as freelancers and that’s why it’s one of the first blogs I read every day. Since moving to its new home, Men with Pens has kept up the quality that attracted me to the old blog, but the blog design is way, way better. It looks great, you can find lots of great posts from the home page, and the navigation is clear. The blog offers ‘web business tips for writers, freelancers and online entrepreneurs’ including:

Will Content Kill the Web?

‘PLR content drives down the market value of web content. Why buy pricier work when nearly-free (and sometimes free) is right there for the taking?’

Handling Your Perfectionism

‘One of the biggest problems perfectionists have is setting realistic goals. I never realized I set the bar too high for myself. Halfway through whatever I was working on achieving, when nothing went according to my vision, I would give up in frustration.’

What a Camera Can Teach You About Customer Service

Sorry, you’ll just have to read this one. No excerpt would do it justice.

There is so much good stuff in there it’s hard to give you a flavour of it. The blog focuses on blogging, business, design and writing, and currently has a great series on fiction writing. Just to round out the list, here are some posts with great titles that made me stop and look:

Over the past year, posts from this blog, and its predecessor, have turned up regularly in my links roundups, which shows how consistently readable it is. If you haven’t done so, check it out.

Technorati Tags: writing,blogging,reviews

Writing Talk February 2008

Sharon Hurley Hall — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 10:11:02 +0000

The people who visit and comment on this site (5,000+ of you), come from places all over the world. Most of you are from the US, UK and Canada, but there are also quite a few from the other side of the globe, as the map shows: I appreciate your visits and your comments. Here’s a list of those who joined the conversation in February:

Thanks, everyone.

I, Ghost Blogger

Sharon Hurley Hall — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 10:00:06 +0000

Someone asked me the other day about ghost blogging. She wanted to know about what it was and how to get started in it. Here are my answers. Ghost blogging is like ghostwriting. While ghostwriting is writing where you get no credit or byline, ghost blogging is blogging where you get no credit or byline. It’s work for hire, just as any other ghostwriting job.

Where do you find ghost blogging jobs?

I find these in the same places that I find other ghostwriting jobs. I go to the Freelance Writing Gigs site as my first port of call. I also get updates from the Writer’s Bridge and from a number of other sites that offer blogging jobs, one of the best being Problogger’s job board (most of these are bylined jobs, but a few may not be). There’s also Craigslist, where you need to weed out the ones that are worth bothering with. Finally, I set up a Google Alert for ‘blogger wanted’ and see what it brings. This gives me a long list of jobs to choose from. Of course, because I am a ghostwriter, clients often ask me about writing blog posts for them, so I get a lot of work through referrals.

How do you prepare for ghost blogging?

The best preparation is to have a blog – or several blogs – of your own. This proves that you know how to blog. If you know the ins and outs of WordPress and other blogging systems, then that helps too. And you need to have some expertise in the topic that the client wants or be willing to learn.

I also find that guest blogging is good preparation, because it forces you to think about writing for other audiences, which you have to do when you ghost blog. I’ve blogged on a number of sites and these have helped me to further develop my blogging skills and to meet new readers. I also use these for my portfolio so that I have a range of published posts to show to potential clients.

How much does ghost blogging pay?

That’s a how long is a piece of string question. Pay rates range from a couple of cents a word to a respectable rate. Variables that affect the rate include:

whether it is bundled with other writing services
the client’s budget
the ghost blogger’s experience

Some people only want short posts that take 10-15 minutes to write, so if they offer me $10, I might accept it. On the other hand, I would want more for a researched and well thought out post. My policy is to ask for what I want but to know what I’m prepared to accept. What I’m prepared to accept might depend on how busy I am and how the rate compares with the rates for other work.

Can you use your ghost blogging posts on your resume?

No, it’s work for hire. I tend to describe the gigs in general terms, like: ‘Here’s a list of topics I’ve blogged about.’ However, ghost blogging is confidential so I can’t put links to the posts in my resume.

Is it weird to blog for someone else?

I approach it like any other writing job, but it’s fun, because I don’t have to think too much about keywords and I do have to make it an enjoyable read. I love blogging, and ghost blogging gives me the chance to blog about topics that I might not blog about on my own blogs. As a born again blogger, this really appeals to me, and making money from it is the icing on the cake. If you want to make money from blogging, then this is certainly an option to consider.

Technorati Tags: blogging,ghostwriting,get paid to blog

How To Create A Writing Portfolio

Sharon Hurley Hall — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 10:05:17 +0000

As a freelance writer, one of the best ways to attract new writing work is to show off examples of work you’ve already done. When I started out in journalism, that meant rigorously collecting copies of every newspaper, newsletter, journal or magazine in which I had a bylined piece (and even, in the early days, some pieces that weren’t bylined). I cut them out, put them in a scrapbook and lugged that around with me every time I went for an interview. Things are easier now.

Since most of my work is now done online, I now collect links to my work. I usually have the original articles stored on my hard drive and backed up to an external source. Even with offline publishing, it’s a simple matter to scan the article in and create a PDF. But how do I make this collection of writing and blogging credits make sense to anyone?

I faced this issue recently, as I was moving my main business site from doublehdesign.com to sharonhurleyhall.com. I looked at a lot of writers’ sites to see what they did. Here’s what I found:

Some writers chose one example of each kind of writing they did and included it as an article on their site or blog.
Some writers made PDF or Word samples available for download or viewing.
Some writers said they would provide samples on request.
Some writers listed all their stuff so potential customers could find what they needed.

That last approach was the one that made most sense to me, but when I listed all my stuff, the list was long, so I decided to make it more reader friendly. The result of that was my new resume page, which lists my skills, the topics on which I’m an expert (with links to examples), as well as other topics and examples of writing. At the end I give a short summary of my education and career.

I chose to do it that way because I figure that if people are looking for a writer, then the first thing they want to know is what you can write. Of course, as a ghostwriter, I can’t show examples of everything I’ve written, but I have an answer for that, too.

If you are a skilled writer, then why not do another version of an article or an ebook chapter that you’re particularly proud of? You won’t be flouting your ghostwriting contract, but you will be showing what you can do.

My writing portfolio is a work in progress, as I am adding to it all the time. It’s not really practical to have a blog page that goes on forever, so eventually I might have to create a page for each category and link to it on the main page. How have you handled your writing portfolio? I’d love to hear your tips and the reasons why your writing portfolio looks the way it does.

How To Create A Writing Portfolio was originally published on Get Paid to Write Online, copyright 2005-2010, owned by Sharon Hurley Hall. If you are not reading this in an RSS reader, please contact Sharon.

Guide To Copyright For Writers

Sharon Hurley Hall — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 13:05:28 +0000

We’ve all seen the ads where writers get offered peanuts for doing lots of work. In exchange for a paltry sum, they’re expected to sign away all rights to their work. If writers are working on a work for hire business, this is normal.

But what about the other times, where you publish a bylined article, and the publisher wants to own all rights. Is that right – or even legal? In my latest article on Garden and Hearth, I give a brief rundown of some of the basics of copyright, so you will know where you stand. Read Who Owns My Writing? A Writer’s Guide To Copyright and come back and ask questions if there’s anything else you want to know.

Guide To Copyright For Writers was originally published on Get Paid to Write Online, copyright 2005-2010, owned by Sharon Hurley Hall. If you are not reading this in an RSS reader, please contact Sharon.

How To Work With A Ghostwriter

Sharon Hurley Hall — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 13:36:00 +0000

How To Effectively Work With A Ghostwriter is the latest post by Hope Wilbanks. It’s a clear, concise checklist for clients wishing to hire ghostwriters. Hope’s five point summary tells clients what they need to do and provide to get the most from their relationship with a ghostwriter. I’ve sent clients emails that look very much like this list, and I think Hope has it exactly right.

How To Work With A Ghostwriter was originally published on Get Paid to Write Online, copyright 2005-2010, owned by Sharon Hurley Hall. If you are not reading this in an RSS reader, please contact Sharon.

19 Posts Writers Shouldn’t Ignore

Sharon Hurley Hall — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 11:00:19 +0000

I’ve been trying to get better about linking to posts I’ve enjoyed. Here are some of the posts I found noteworthy in October:

19 Posts Writers Shouldn’t Ignore was originally published on Get Paid to Write Online, copyright 2005-2010, owned by Sharon Hurley Hall. If you are not reading this in an RSS reader, please contact Sharon.

Five Ways To Make Down Time Work For You

Sharon Hurley Hall — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 13:03:50 +0000

Freelance writing work can be seasonal, which means that there are times when you just don’t have enough work. However, instead of worrying about this, you can use that time productively to help your writing career. Here are a few suggestions for what to do with down time.

Tidy Up Your Resume

When you’re busy every day, it can be hard to remember to add all the great stuff that you’ve done to your resume. But adding it will make you even more marketable, so it’s an investment in your career to do it. When writing work goes quiet, take a critical look at your resume and see if you can improve on it. Add some recent links to your work so that potential clients can see more of a range.

Improve Your Website Or Blog

At the same time, improve your site or blog by updating your online resume and adding some testimonials from satisfied clients. I always ask for testimonials when clients are happy and have added a few new ones to my site recently. Another’s on the way. Again, this is a good way to position yourself to take advantage of new opportunities. You can also spend some time adding your best posts or pages to the social sites. It’s an easy way to promote yourself.

Meet Other Writers

Now’s the time to join some writing forums, subscribe to some blogs and start talking to other writers. You can find out a lot about good and bad clients, ways of managing your writing career, and job opportunities just by doing this. You will also build a support network. Just because you work at home, you don’t have to be alone.

Write For Yourself

I don’t know about you, but one of the reasons I started writing for others was because I loved writing. For me, the best way to tap into that love is to write for myself sometimes. That means there’s no brief to follow, no keywords to include, no research to do (unless I want to). I can let my mind flow and write something creative. It’s a great way to recharge and the resulting creative juice will also improve the work you do for clients.

Enjoy Life

Finally, if you don’t need to sit at your desk all day, don’t. Enjoy the temporary freedom from writing and hang out with family and friends, treat yourself to some pampering, curl up with a good book or do whatever will restore your bliss. You work hard the rest of the time, so you deserve it.

Follow these strategies and you will be recharged, renewed and revitalised when clients come calling – and you’ll be ready to do some great writing.

Five Ways To Make Down Time Work For You was originally published on Get Paid to Write Online, copyright 2005-2010, owned by Sharon Hurley Hall. If you are not reading this in an RSS reader, please contact Sharon.