Most people do not understand the multifaceted differences between writing and ghostwriting. Great writers often believe that because they know how to write bestsellers, they can just as easily pull on the mantle of ghostwriter.
While it’s true that ghostwriting can be profoundly rewarding for those who understand its complexities, it can also be frustrating or even disheartening for those who do not. Every experienced or trained professional ghostwriter I know has in common what one (CSULB) Certified Ghostwriter called “The Ultimate Editorial Toolbox,” which includes:
- Specific skills
- Creative analysis
- Industry knowledge
- Positioning mindset
- Ghostwriting psychology
- Business perspective
If you are an aspiring ghostwriter, you must enjoy thought puzzles. You must have the space in your life to take on new perspectives, to release business and writing preconceptions, and to recognize your clients’ truths may well differ from what you deeply believe—which is tough. Uniting integrity with professional impartiality can be extremely daunting.
It can also be extremely rewarding.
Ghostwriting has been the most lucrative avenue for skilled independent writers since late 2009. The call today for professionals with the knowledge base to command $35,000 or more per book is higher than at any other time in history—and still rising.
Take this test to find out if you have what it takes to transition from writer, journalist, editor, or author to professional ghostwriter.
Professional Ghostwriter Self-Assessment
- Please select one.
a) In 300 words or less, write a persuasive argument for why the candidate of your choice should have won the 2020 presidential election.
b) In 300 words or less, write a persuasive argument for why the opposing candidate should have won the 2020 presidential election.
Note: Use verifiable facts and sound reasoning only. Do not use rhetoric, opinion, or emotional lures.
- Fact: I am writing this on a Saturday.
- Rhetoric: Clearly, Saturdays were never meant to be workdays.
- Opinion: Saturday is the best day to catch up on errands and chores.
- Emotional lure: People who work on Saturdays are dopes.
- Please select one.
a) Look at your candidate’s campaign platform. What was its single strongest point? What missing points would have made it more compelling? What points were confusing? What points would have been best left out?
b) Look at the opposing candidate’s campaign platform. What was its single strongest point? What missing points would have made it more compelling? What points were confusing? What points would have been best left out?
c) How do you think the election would have differed if the candidates had followed the concepts you enumerated above?
- In 300 words or less, explain why an author’s platform both is and is not important.
- In 300 words or less, what is your professional reaction to a presenting manuscript that is overwritten, boring, grammatically unsound, and derivative?
- In 300 words or less, explain why you would or would not work with an author whose political, religious, social, economic, racial, or spiritual views are diametrically opposed to your own.
Your Results
If you could not wrap your head around any of the questions, you do not have the space in your life to pursue ghostwriting right now. Keep following your current path. Hopefully, it will lead you to your personal comfort zone.
If you could not see the point or value in getting into an opposing mindset, you will likely be uncomfortable trying to take up a professional ghostwriting career.
If you found the exercise interesting but overwhelming, you may have the stuff to explore professional ghostwriting. The deciding factor is whether you can stomach being a beginner again at this point in your career.
If you felt intriguingly challenged, you probably have what it takes to become a professional ghostwriter, whether by trial-and-error, through personal mentorship, or via Ghostwriting Professional Designation Program.
Claudia Suzanne is a consummate ghostwriter/teacher, understanding what authors need in order to successfully complete their book dream, and she has a finely honed talent for communicating what she knows to her students and clients. Popularly dubbed “The Einstein of Ghostwriting,” Claudia has entertained and informed tens of thousands of writers, editors, journalists, and aspiring authors at countless writer and professional meetings, conferences, radio and BlogTalk radio broadcasts, webinars, and podcasts. Claudia was an invited expert on Penguin’s Author Solutions Expert Video series and a featured entrepreneur in Orange County Business Journal and Norwegian Business Daily. Her signature title, This Business of Books: A Complete Overview of the Industry from Concept through Sales, earned her a 2018 Author of Influence Award from Connected Women of Influence. Her Ghostwriting Professional Designation Program won 2018 Outstanding Non-Credit Program Award University Professional Continuing Education Association (UPCEA) West Region.
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