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SILENT PARTNER: The Secret Life of Ghostwriters
By Christina Hamlett
Can invisibility translate to a lucrative publishing career?
For over 70 years, the Stratemeyer Syndicate proved that to
be true with “Carolyn Keene” – an invention as fictional as
her popular heroine, Nancy Drew, and one wherein multiple
authors were paid to be anonymous. Today’s demand for
ghostwriters is high, especially in the celebrity/political
circuit and the development of screenplays, fiction, memoirs
and plays. If you have excellent communication skills, the
business savvy to recognize marketable projects, and a mindset
that can embrace anonymity, you can earn a good living being
the “voice” of clients who lack the time and/or talent to
bring their publication dreams to life.
A GHOSTWRITER’S JOB
Ghostwriters are chameleons. Whether it’s salvaging gems
from a client’s own attempts at authorship or building an
idea from scratch, your objective is to stay true to the
client’s vision by emulating their style as well as polishing
it. That they’re going to claim full ownership of this tome
makes it incumbent upon you to listen to their ideas, respect
their passion, and stay open to compromise rather than force
your own views. It doesn’t, however, require you to accept
every project that comes along. Ghostwriting clients are
rarely knowledgeable about how the publishing industry
actually works and often harbor a belief that you’re only
applying fresh coats of paint versus dismantling/reassembling
a faulty infrastructure and giving it “curb appeal”. Likewise,
many assume you’ll act as their agent to get the work produced.
Although you can certainly create cover letters and synopses
and recommend prospective markets, it’s a conflict of interest
and breach of confidentiality to sell anything for them.
SHOW ME THE MONEY
Whether you acquire clients through professional referrals
or personal pitching, never be lulled into vague promises
of splitting future book sales and film riches. As a
freelancer, you already have enough stress about getting paid
on time (or paid at all!) to enter into spec arrangements or
verbal understandings. Ghostwriting fees (based on your
expertise and credentials) are determined by an hourly rate
or lump sum that factors in expenses such as supplies, phone
calls, research and travel. Payment schedules, delivery dates,
rewrites, and cancellation clauses must all be specified in
writing before the work commences. For major projects such
as novels, half the fee is due upon signing of the agreement,
a quarter upon reaching the halfway point and the final
quarter when the novel is completed. Although you’re not
entitled to any share of advances, royalties or recognition,
you also don’t have to return any of the money if a project
fails to sell.
FINDING CLIENTS
As a ghostwriter, you’ll either work independently or
subcontract with an agency. While the latter takes a
percentage of the total fee, the advantage of this
intermediary relationship is that clients can be pre-screened,
disputes can be resolved by a third-party, and it’s the
agency’s legal counsel that can intervene if payments need to
be chased down. Finding clients on your own requires substantive
legwork; specifically, a professional website, aggressive
networking, establishing yourself as an expert through articles
and blogs, paid advertising, and trolling the media for
potential subjects. Thanks to technology, it’s also possible
to have clients all over the globe and never actually meet in
person. Ghostwriting, however, does call for you to trust your
intuition in the preliminary phone consultation and to politely
decline any client whose focus is too scattered, whose
expectations of instant fame are unrealistic, or whose only
agenda is to exact revenge on the children, parents, lovers
or bosses that have ever wronged them.
Ghostwriting agencies:
The Penn Group
www.pegr.com
The Writers for Hire
http://www.thewritersforhire.com/ghostwriting/
Ghostwriters Ink
http://www.ghostwriters-ink.com/
Ghostwriter Central
http://www.ghostwords.com/
BIO
Former actress/director Christina Hamlett is an award-winning
author, ghostwriter and professional script consultant whose
credits include 26 books, 136 plays, 5 optioned feature films
and hundreds of articles and interviews. For additional
information, visit her website at
www.authorhamlett.com
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