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Cruz Santana
All this was standard and typical activity for any politician at any level of government. Without a ghostwriter, no correspondence or speech would ever get written.
David Leonhardt
One day, ten years from now, you’ll look up after having kept your head down to find the world will have become a very different place from the one you remember. This industry is anything but static. It’s changed so much since I started out; I don’t think 80 percent of what was valued back then is still valued now.
Even the tech has changed. Seriously. My Facebook page is so old that I needed both an email address ending in .edu and an invite from a member to get it. Google was once Yahoo!’s baby brother always following him around, waiting for the privilege to sit in the then-giant’s mighty shadow. Ten years later, Google’s the multi-billion-dollar conglomerate providing the shade in Silicon Valley.
At some point in my first few months, I discovered through word of mouth the name of a now-defunct, weekly magazine directory of ads posted from all over the country from editors, publishers, agents, brokers, and other writers looking to split a larger project.
After selecting suitable candidates, I’d prepare my query and introduction letters, print off copies of my résumé and copy samples all at once, rinse and repeat if needed. Back then, fewer folks ventured into the dark arts of ghostwriting. Fewer applicants meant better overall odds for each applicant. You’d even receive an automated call from the prospect letting you know your query had been reviewed. Email updates would soon follow.
The world is now a very different place. As professional ghostwriters, we have to be willing to change habits and techniques as our peers do. And while we’re at it, accept whatever inconveniences plague us as a result of those advances. In this chapter, I share what’s working today so that you can save hours of wasted energy and start sourcing your first ghostwriting projects.
HERE’S AN OLDIE BUT a goodie! And it doesn’t take up too much of your time or require a lot of effort. It’s a timeless strategy writers use to open up possibilities where none were before.
I’ll get into the mechanics of pitching ghostwriting gigs in our next chapter. For now, all you have to know is that by mining the close network of folks you work with daily, you’ll have a potential revenue stream trickling in possible leads without any work on your part. Trust me, prospects hate constantly having to scout out new writing talent. Like you, they’d rather hit up the tree they’ve always gone to, the one they helped tend.
Take advantage of that by approaching your current clients with upsell opportunities, and do it often. You’ll get no’s—mostly all no’s—but it won’t matter. Keep at it.
REACH OUT TO YOUR CURRENT clients by sending an email announcing your newest service offering and launch date. Offer them your services (something small like writing a newsletter) in exchange for a testimonial and invite them to click reply to keep the conversation going. This is a huge step in building up your business, so make sure you’re lively and upbeat in your email. It’s easier to go back to the same tree for more fruit than to plant a whole new seed.
You can check out example pitches and emails in the bonus area here.
YOU FIGURED THIS ONE was next, right? Good. It’s important. So much so, in fact, that I’ve condensed this once six-deep list down to three. Why not talk about all six social platforms? Because I respect your time and the last thing you need from me is a long list of busy work that won’t necessarily yield fruitful results.
I chose these three from my own professional experiences. If I ever needed to go hunting for a juicy lead I could turn around quickly, these are the sources I’d go to:
> Facebook has consistently been one of the fastest growing social networking sites in the world. Astronauts orbiting Earth even use it. Facebook groups are perfect places to go raiding the cabinets for possible leads. Facebook pages work a lot like groups in that there’s a community following behind them. But unlike groups, privacy is almost nonexistent. Anyone can see your posts on a page. Here’s one Facebook group and one page for you to check out:
Calls for Submissions (Poetry, Fiction, Art) is where my first ever online writing gig came from. This group isn’t socially energetic, but people post actual contact information for writing gigs, and about one-third of them are for ghostwriting.
Ghostwriting Plus is a page on which leads to ghostwriting gigs are placed. Now, there might not be that many leads posted on any given day. But there aren’t that many people willing to pitch, either. If you plan on pitching these, make sure you do your homework and research as much as you can. The page is run by a fellow ghost, Graciela Sholander.
> LinkedIn was never, ever my favorite platform to spend any significant amount of time on. That is until I took it upon myself to start filling in all the info I’d left blank when I set it up originally. A few short days later, I received an inquiry from a recruiter asking if I’d be willing to meet with his “high-profile” client. I’d never heard of the guy (before or after the meeting), but I took the job, wrote the book, and it was one of the easiest experiences of my professional career.
That’s what I did just before meeting you through these pages. And because of that, I keep my LinkedIn up to date and try to interact with that crowd once every few days.
With LinkedIn, prospects pitch you their ideas. You just answer their questions using the messenger applet and decide whether or not the gig is for you. It’s a pretty cool advantage. But not all the pitches you’ll get from prospects are worth pursuing. If you’re not sure, just go with your gut. Another way to respond is to post a Q&A to your website and send the prospect there.
> Twitter is as alien to you as string theory, isn’t it? No, of course it’s not. You’re totally familiar with tweeting your buddies all the livelong day. But how do you use it to score ghostwriting leads?
First of all, drop what you’re doing right now. No, put the phone down. No, not now. Wait until I close out this third suggestion. But start by updating your description information and add the following to it: “#ghostwriter.”
Next, go up to the search bar and type in “#ghostwriter” or “#ghostwriting.” Reach out to some of the people who come up if they share common interests. Introduce yourself and share their content. Keep doing this and in time your Twitter activity will lead to a new prospect and eventually a new client.
I RECEIVE THE MOST inquiries from interested, motivated prospects through LinkedIn, at least 10 per day. Like I’ve already said, most aren’t that good. But every now and again, you’ll get a project worthy of your time, offering pleasing compensation.
My website gets the second most inquiries. Most come through the contact form.
AN OLD COLLEAGUE WE’LL call “Terry” landed his first gig with a fantasy novelist. It paid $10,000. So how did Terry go from unemployed to making fantastic money? To hear him tell it, he says it was luck. But I don’t buy that.
Honestly, it was work. He’d go to off-the-wall comic book conventions in small towns and interact with everyone who came through there, friending them on Facebook, connecting on Twitter—you name it! He featured his colleagues’ works on his website and blogged reviews about them. Then, he’d share those using his platforms and tagged the appropriate people. Today, Terry is doing great.
MINE YOUR SOCIAL NETWORK for possible gigs. Start by looking through the two I shared above and other Facebook groups for possibilities. From there, try Twitter and LinkedIn. Remember not to send out pitches just yet. We’re going to dive into how to do that in the next chapter. For now, I want you to get used to reading what ghostwriting ads sound like.
OH, MY! I LUMPED THESE guys together like three of my worst bright ideas ever, right?
Actually, they’re sharing a line for a pretty darn good reason: They’re related in such a way that one could walk into the front door of any one of these and come out needing to visit another. More than just similar functions, they share an entire type of writing—manuscripts.
Oddly enough, here’s an area I’m far too familiar with.
Publishers:
Publishers are responsible for creating massive quantities of a printed item and then distributing them around the world using one of their pre-established distribution channels. They often hire ghostwriters outright to work with writers in the pre-editing stages of a manuscript, article, or news piece.
You’ll earn more money ghostwriting for a publisher over the course of a decade than you will working for just about anyone. I got lucky when I started, and the work was steady. At one point, there were a few years in which I didn’t have to pitch anyone. (Insert long-winded sigh here.)
But publishers are notoriously fickle. You could easily crank out a manuscript, sans errors and in perfect balance. But if the work doesn’t match the author’s voice, specifications, or if there were severe punctuation errors by anyone on the team, the project may get scrapped.
Literary Agents:
If ghostwriters are the Marine Corps of freelance writing, agents are the drill sergeants. Most think it’s the editors. Truly, it’s not. It’s the agents. Having an agent on your team means you won’t have to work as hard to find good gigs. Agents make money only when their author has booked an assignment.
Personally, I think working with a literary agent is a no-brainer if you’re into writing manuscripts. That said, I’ve never had one. I’ve had lots of luck on my own and enjoy not having to pay a percentage (usually 15 percent) of my earnings to someone else. And that’s fine if you feel that way, too. As a more seasoned writer I don’t think that way anymore, so I might start searching soon.
Working hard to keep booked enough so that you have a good income (but not so booked that you don’t have time to search for more work) is exhausting! It’s nice to have someone specifically handling the latter for you so that your duties take you as far as updating your availability with your agent and getting to work. But where does one find a literary agent? And do all agents work with ghostwriters?
A simple Google search, “Literary Agent for Ghostwriter,” pulls up quite a wealth of leads. But if you’d like a more centralized database of names, specialties, and bio info, check out Literary Agent Undercover. It’s an online directory listing agents specializing in various types and niches. Writers’ Net is another directory similar to that of literary-agents.com.
Getting them to notice you takes a lot of time, patience, and stamina. All of that, in addition to talent. I’ve known ridiculously gifted writers in my day and have seen lives fall apart over a single rejection from an agent.
It happens.
Most will say no. Most will tell you to get some more experience in self-publishing or blogging or Yelp!-review-writing before ever pitching them again. When it does occur, thank the agent. Then, move on to the next one and try again.
Following up is crucial for freelance writers and ghosts, alike. Don’t get lazy. File the rejection email away in a folder on your inbox. Call it “Friday Follow-up” and click on it every Friday morning (or whenever best works with your schedule) and circle back to the prior week’s leads. Keep up with it regularly.
Writing Agencies:
Just like there are writing agencies such as Contently for freelance writing (and you can get ghostwriting gigs on there, too), there are some that specialize in helping ghostwriters like us work on projects that excite us.
What’s cool about working with a writing agency (as opposed to a literary agent) is that your money stays in your pocket. The agency’s client will pay a fee on top of your writer’s fee to compensate the agency.
You get paid as soon as you submit your final draft (if a shorter, one-off type project), or on a percent-complete basis if it’s a longer project. Some agencies will even negotiate the best deal for you, which can have anything from per-diem money to royalties on the back end.
Agencies have a range of opportunities from which to choose. And they handle the gamut of types and niches—way more than just manuscripts. They score gigs all day, every day. They usually tend to have a surplus of opportunities and a shortage of ghosts to take it all.
Curious about writing agencies? Good! Here are a few you can give a try. I’ve worked with both of these agencies and absolutely loved my experiences.
> Gotham Ghostwriters is (you guessed it!) an agency in New York City. They work with clients who need anything and everything under the sun. Anything from a press release, to speeches, to memoir—anything! It’s a great place to try if you’re thinking of changing your niche.
Their application process is fairly painless. Simply send in a contact form from their website. I got a reply a few hours later with the next steps to take.
> 2M Communications is another agency with an easy process to get started. I know a few ghosts who work with 2M and are very happy.
IF YOU’VE BEEN WRITING professionally for a while, you’re already far too familiar with the concept of paid and unpaid job boards. But when it comes to how you see your “banks” of leads to pitch or attract, I’d like you to recall that I’ve sorted this list from most ideal sources to least ideal sources.
Since this is the second to the last section in this chapter, you might be thinking job boards suck. And seriously, sometimes they do. But job boards offer ghostwriters something that none of the other sources I’ve talked about so far do—a customized results listing based on your goals and specialty. Here are two job boards that are worth checking out:
> Contena is invaluable and if it were tangible, it’d be worth its weight in platinum, diamonds, and gold. It’s a singular resource that you can try whenever it’s convenient for you. Results are displayed in an easy-to-read manner with the prospective client’s budget clearly visible.
At $99 per month, it’s pricey! But mine has more than paid for itself—several times over by now. If you’re in the market for a centralized hub of information, filtered and sorted to your specific niche and type of writing you prefer, Contena will do that and more.
> Craigslist is the original online job board. I’ve used it so many times over the years to source gigs in ghosting, writing, editing, and one memoir. If you’re willing to do some homework, start with Craigslist.
Stick to major metropolitan areas where there are good-sized communities of freelancers. If you start chatting with a prospect, ask for that business’s website. Then, Google who owns the URL. Never take a gig for less than 50 percent up front, especially on your first transaction.
I found more success with Craigslist than with any other resource. But, it can also be the biggest source of scams. If something feels off to you at any point, or if you find yourself raising an involuntary eyebrow at an exchange between you and your prospect, trust your gut. It’s probably off.
THIS IS THE LEAST USEFUL source of all. You already know what they are, right? You know they’re like that ex-boyfriend you had in college with the earrings. They’re no good.
Actually, they can help you get started in ghostwriting by giving you direct access to motivated prospects who’d love nothing more than to pay you that $20 from their back pocket for tomorrow morning’s homework assignment on Manifest Destiny, 10 pages, double-spaced, with footnotes and in-text citations.
To get started, give Up Work a try. They’re not terrible. Technically, Up Work is a bidding site and not a content mill. But there’s not that much difference between the two. On a bidding site, you bid for projects to get the chance to complete them. They are like content mills in that they offer lots of work, but it’s typically low paid.
> Start by creating a profile, and write up a bio that focuses on your prospective client and what they might expect from you.
> Set your hourly rate, and remember, Up Work takes 20 percent of your money.
> Browse open gigs and bid on anything that looks good.
Hubstaff Talent is a content mill with good leads. It’s like Up Work, nearly identical in every way, but it’s free and puts ghostwriters in direct contact with a prospect right away. You don’t need to bid on jobs. You and your client are free to negotiate all terms of your contract. They basically stay out of your client relations.
YOU DO NOT HAVE TO try out each and every single one of these five sources. I gave you a few options simply because it makes more sense to familiarize yourself with the business end of freelance writing as a ghostwriter. My advice? Pick one, maybe two that work well for you and that you’re comfortable with using regularly. Stick with those, but if you do not see results you’re proud of, switch it up and try something else until you are.
I know you’re itching to get the pitching started, but please hang on a bit. The next chapter’s full of important info you need to know about ghost pitching.