Type of Business: Service / Home or Potentially Brick & Mortar
What is a Ghostwriter? A ghostwriter is simply a writer that writes written works, such as articles, books, speeches, etc. for another who person who assumes authorship for the work. In other words, if you're a ghostwriter, you can get paid to creating various pieces of writing. The person who pays you takes sole rights to the work and can use it in whichever manner he wishes. As the writer, you have no right to the work, nor do you get any public credit for the work.
If you are a skilled writer that just wants to work at writing and don't want to have to worry about pitching your book to publishers, your articles to magazines, etc. then ghostwriting might be a great business for you to get into.
What Skills Do You Need
Ghostwriters are professional writers who often face strict deadlines. Here are some skills you'll need to get started:
- Research Skills
- Writing Skills
- Good Client Communication
- Excellent Grammar Skills
- Ability to Proofread Your Own Work
- Ability to Meet Deadlines
What Equipment You Need
As most professionally written documents are digital, you will
need a computer with a word processor. You will need an Internet
connection to communicate with clients and a fax machine might
also come in handy.
How Do You Become a Ghostwriter?
If you're a ghostwriter just starting out, one of the best ways
to present your professional presence out there is to create
your own website. You can easily
use a site builder
or hire someone to build it for you. Your website needs to
clearly define your services available, your rates, etc.
But just because you build it, doesn't mean they will come.
The next step is to find some clients.
Take a little time to research your competition and find ways to
stand out above them. Be careful of trying to get more clients
by offering low rates. As a service provider, you have to
remember that you only get paid for the time you're working and
that doesn't include marketing and building your business. You
want to ensure you get paid well for your time as ghostwriting
is a valuable service. Don't expect to have a website up and
running one day and the next to be swamped with work, that's not
reality, although there is a big demand for skilled ghost
writers, particularly in the arena of online business.
There are freelance sites like Elance.com that allow clients to
post projects for you to bid on. To get some experience, you
might also find a few business clients that need ghostwriting
work and offer them some work for free in return for a reference
that you can use to gain more clients. One great thing about a
service business is if you provide examplary service, people
will talk about you and refer clients to you.
As your business grows, you might hire sub-contractors or employees to work with you. That means you'll be able to serve more clients with less work and increase your profits. As with any service business, your most limited resource is time, so use it wisely.
More Resources:
- Learn how to start your own successful at-home ghostwriting business by signing up for the Ghostwriting Success self-study ecourse.
- For a quick guide to paid writing check out Mom's Talk Biz's Guide to Writing for Pay..
