Develop it from scratch

I think the best way to approach ghostwriting is by working with an author to develop a topic of importance and not taking off on my own with my ideas. Collaborative writing might be a better term to describe this type of book writing.

The first step is determining if there are enough people who would regard the topic as important. For some authors that could be half a dozen people. For others maybe thousands of individuals would benefit from the book. The book’s content and style is directed to the target group of readers identified in this step.

The second step is rounding up the information to support the theme and purpose of the book. The author of record is primarily responsible for this step, although the writer may contribute information as well. As a rule of thumb, the writer needs at least three times as much information as will be selected and written into the book.

After the information is in hand and the theme is clearly stated, it’s time to oganize the content into chapters, making sure each chapter contributes in a significant way to advancing the purpose of the book.

Then the writer takes over. Some writers start with Chapter 1. Others start with the closing chapter. As chapters are completed, they are sent to the author for review. The author has the final say in what goes into the book, but the writer  defends the structure and style of the book and points out potential problems if the text is changed or expresses gratitude if the changes will strengthen the book.

This process continues until the book is complete. It’s as easy, and as difficult, as that.

Brought to you by Griffith Ghostwriting

Life as a ghost

I came across an interesting piece by US News & World Report on ghostwriting as desirable work. I was delighted to see that the writer of his piece has exactly the same perspective on ghostwriting as we do at Griffith Publishing. My favorite sentence: “You’re writing your clients’ ideas, not your own, and in their voice, not yours.” First rule of ghostwriting: be SURE you agree with your author on all points covered in the book. You don’t want to get into debates or arguments while you’re writing the book.

Amusing, the suggestion in this piece that the best way to start ghostwriting may be to call a famous person you respect and offer to ghostwrite that person’s autobiography. Let’s see. I have 20 such names on my “to call” list. I’ll call Barack Obama tonight, and tomorrow I’ll see if T. Boone Pickens could spare me an hour or so. I’m sure Bill Gates has time on his hands these days. I’ll call him Friday morning. 

Life as a ghostwriter can be hectic since you can’t take on more than a couple projects at a time, and they don’t line up nicely just as you have time and need more money. So the graph of your income zooms up to the top and then to rock bottom.

Also, it’s not true that people who ask you to ghostwrite a book for them have all the information you need. Even if they have it in their heads, you have to draw it out and ask pointed questions to get the facts needed to complete the story.

Still, I love ghostwriting. I think I’ll be ready for another project by February or March of next year.

My biggest hurdle is being careful not to take on a project unless I have a strong hunch that I’ll like the person and will enjoy working with him or her. Disregard the chemistry, and trouble will tumble after you.

Brought to you by Griffith Ghostwriting.

When a bargain is too expensive

Rarely does anyone master writing in a second language, especially English

Here’s an interesting news note from the world of ghostwriting…

The self-proclaimed “premier ghostwriter service organization,” writer4me.com, announces that it will now be providing resume services as well. The “spokesman” for the company, Peter Power, says, “we are sure; it’s going to be the best of resume services ever offered by anyone.”

Now read the following paragraph carefully:

“So long people from all around the world used to contact us to hire a ghostwriter. Now, they can knock to hire a resume writer as well. Writer4me is proud to possess a highly efficient team of resume writers who are well equipped in all respect to offer our customers to utilize this valuable service in the best possible way.”

Seriously, my friends. Would you entrust the writing of your book or resume or anything else to a business that uses this brand of the English language?

But don’t be too hard on them. They’re from India.

I’ll talk more about English in India in other blogs on other days, but for now, dear reader, please be careful about being drawn overseas for your ghostwriting services by low prices and high accolades. If you speak American English, use an editor or writer who is a native speaker of American English.  And not any native speaker. Find one who has mastered the knack of getting a message across in the vernacular in a natural, “native” way.

Of course there are those who have conquered the vagaries of English as a second language well enough that they can fill pages with readable prose, but they are as rare as diamonds on the seashore.

Be careful!

Brought to you by Griffith Publishing

Medical ghostwriting

“The higher the profile, the greater the credibility.”

Which is explains why my opinions on what is healthful are about 1 percent as believable as the opinions of a medical doctor. Even an M.D. who specializes in orthopedic (bone) surgery talking about the common cold has more credibility than a pharmacist talking on the same topic.

Most medical ghostwriting takes place in pharmaceutical journals and descriptive information published by drug manufacturers and presented to prescribing physicians. Smart people with vast experience in biochemistry and biomedical research write the stories and are paid by the drug companies to do so.

Critics of medical ghostwriting probably wouldn’t care quite that much if the negative as well as the positive results of taking the drug were presented or if the level and type of research involved were carefully described. We get upset—and we should be—when we are persuaded to believe something that isn’t true, or, worse, when we are talked into buying something that isn’t good for us.

Here are some discussions dealing in greater depth with the problems of medical ghostwriting:

1. Seemingly objective peer-reviewed articles written by a ghost
2. The growing role of ghost management in medical circles
3. Tighter policies announced for medical writers worldwide
4. Abstract of a case study by JAMA of ghostwriting on behalf of the drug Refecoxib
5. Report by NY Times of ghostwriting support of Vioxx, a drug introduced by Merck
6. Medical Law Report discusses the difference between editorial assistance and ghostwriting

Brought to you by Griffith Publishing

Tips for choosing a ghostwriter

Thousands of writers are contending for your attention so that they can be your ghostwriter. How do you know which one is best for you?

First of all, some “Don’t” tips:

1. Don’t ask for samples. The ghostwriter’s identity is usually hidden from public view. Don’t ask the person you’re considering to reveal this confidential information to you.
2. Don’t pay top rates. Unless you have an unlimited budget, it’s usually better to scale down your expectations and choose a ghostwriter with rates you can afford.
3. Don’t compromise. Never assume that the less you pay, the better the bargain. Ghostwriting has “low entry barriers,” which means that anybody can set up business as a ghostwriter without paying any fees or investing in equipment other than a computer.

Three positive tips:

1. Choose a friendly ghost. Call the ghostwriter and see how you get along by phone. If the person starts unloading legal or financial requirements up front or seems stiff and formal, keep looking. If you can’t talk to the prospective ghostwriter, at least the staff members who talk to you should be friendly and informed.
2. Ask for ideas. Tell your story briefly and see what the prospective ghostwriter says to you about how it could be presented. You may not get a complete answer about the approach the ghost would take, but at least you should get important feedback about how the ghost works with the author.
3. Ask for a trial. If you like everything about the ghostwriter and feel confident you’ve made the right choice, try to negotiate a contract that gives you the opportunity to cancel the agreement if you are not satisfied with progress or the quality of work.

Lots of luck! Ghostwriting is a long and personal process. You should be able to see how the work is going and should be willing to answer your ghost’s questions and give sufficient material for a book.

Bill Cosby’s ghost: underhanded or not?

Bill Cosby

If you are the head of a company called ProEthics, you will view the writing of Bill Cosby’s book, Fatherhood, by the ghostwriter Ralph Schoenstein in a rather severe light. Read about it on this company’s web site, along with an interesting discussion of what ghostwriting is—and isn’t. Another ghostwriter cited by ProEthics on this page is Barbara Feinman, who wrote Hilary Clinton’s book, It Takes a Village.

The point is made by some ethicists that if the public knew that Bill Cosby and Hillary Clinton didn’t write the books they are credited with writing, they wouldn’t have bought the books in numbers that made them best-sellers. Keeping the identity of the ghostwriters secret helped the celebrities sell a lot more books—and make a lot more money. Therefore, the conclusion is that the truth was hidden in exchange for a profit. The authors who wrote the book made a fraction of what the authors on the cover of the books made. Sounds unfair.

My rejoinder is this: What is the alternative? Without professional help, neither Clinton nor Cosby would have had the time and other resources to put the books together. Assuming the ghostwriters were paid a healthy sum for their writing, were they mistreated? Could they have made more money writing the books on their own?

My conclusion is this: If everybody wins and there is no alternative besides ghostwriting that would achieve the salubrious objective of the book, what is wrong?

Voice your opinion. We’d love to hear from you. We’re editors and writers and ghostly types at Griffith Publishing.

Visit the ghost at work

Come on in. The ghost is ready.

For the next hour and ten minutes I’m going to be ghostwriting the way I usually do ghostwriting. Take a look at what happens.

The telephone rings.

“Stan?” The ghost says into the receiver.

“Yes.” Stan and the ghost are working on a great adventure story based on his escape from Poland in 1981.

We exchange small talk. Stan says, “Let’s see how far we can go.” The book has about 25,000 words, and we want to build it to at least 100,000.

First item…The ghost walks the AOR (author of record) through the setup with GoToMyPC, the best friend a ghostwriter or an editor ever had. Yes, it’s dangerous to share your computer with someone else, but once the ghost and the AOR have a good working relationship, a layer of trust settles in.

The ghost opens the book on the computer, and the AOR begins making comments.

“No, no,” he says. “The train was going south, away from Poland.”

“Okay.” I put the change in place.

“This conversation is important,” Stan says a little later. “I don’t like Communism. I fled Poland to escape it. But I need help from this Communist official from Poland. I have to be very careful what I say to him, but he has to know how much I want to get away from Communist Poland.”

I suggest some varied words and sentence structures, spending only a couple of minutes there. I’ll come back later and try to show more fully the drama of implying without saying what you need even if you need it more than anything else, even than life itself. Then we move on.

Sometimes the AOR (author of record) suggests a change for accuracy’s sake. Sometimes he says, “I could say so much more about that,” and we agree we’ll come back and fill in. Sometimes the ghost may say, “I’m going to work more on this paragraph. Make it stronger, more direct. We want your next decision to flow out of your thought process here…”

And so the hour flies by.

The AOR speaks five languages and has a great imagination, but he appreciates my help in choosing words that put the pictures and feelings into perspective.

Now if you’ve ever had thought of ghostwriting as a criminal offense, consider what you’ve just read. Was it dishonest? Was it unfair? Did anyone gain something that wasn’t his (or hers)?

That my friend, is ethical ghostwriting.

For more information, go to my website on ghostwriting.

The ethical ghost

Getting an A for a brilliant paper you didn’t write puts you at the bottom of the list of students. You don’t deserve a grade in the class. You lied, you stole, you plagiarized, you covered up. You deserve to be sent back to fifth grade where you can start over.

People who write papers for students so they can get a good grade are the worst kind of ghosts, in my opinion. They should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. They’re just as guilty as the person who pretended that the ghost’s writing was his or hers.

I maintain that there are situations where ghostwriting is justified. Just find an ethical ghost.

Four characteristics of the ethical ghost–

1. Works with you and for you but doesn’t run away with the text
2. Never denies that he wrote text for the author of record
3. Depends on the author of record for insights, facts, key points
4. Represents the author of record’s thoughts, ideas, and positions

An ethical ghost doesn’t clamor for a place in the sun. He knows his role and is content to be the person who chooses the best words, the best sentence structure, the best paragraph design to fit the author of record’s purpose.

All the ethical ghost is doing is helping someone get the book written.

Then what’s so awful about a student getting help with his term paper? Nothing, really, until the “helper” crosses the line and begins pouring text into the paper that reflects the helper’s knowledge and perspectives rather than the student’s. Spelling, grammar, even word choice and paragraph structure are great topics for the student and the helper to work on together to produce a good paper. But it has to be the student’s thoughts and information.

The same principle applies to political speeches. Sometimes the speechwriter gets carried away, but usually it’s the campaigner or the speaker who makes sure his key points and ideas are nailed in the speech.

The ethical ghost knows this and clings as close as possible to the intent and knowledge of the author of record. That’s why he can be called the “ethical ghost.”

The dark side of ghostwriting–1

Shakespeare used a ghost. At least many scholars believe so. It seems the person we know as William Shakespeare didn’t have enough education to sign his name, much less write scores of full-length plays and works of literature. The real author of Shakespeare’s works is assumed by some to be Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford, who feared for his life if the barbs tossed at the royal court in Shakespeare’s plays became known to the governing powers at that time. Others suggest that the “real” Shakespeare was Francis Bacon or Christopher Marlowe.

There may have been ghostwriting before Shakespeare. At least we know that for the past several hundred years people have been hired to write under the name of another person. That is the definition of ghostwriting.

To see what your sensitivity is towards ghostwriting, answer the following. Do you believe it is wrong for…

1. A senator hiring a speech writer in India to help him with an important speaking engagement?
2. A physician to accept payment for allowing his name to be used as the author of a medical article that endorses certain medication but was actually written by a technician at the company that manufactured the drug?
3. A hospital to publish a newsletter full of helpful tips for better health and giving doctors credit for writing the pieces even though they were written by a professional writer?
4. An attorney who is a brilliant writer to compose briefs and arguments for a client, also an attorney, who in turn presents the documents in court as his own?
5. A student to hire another student to write his dissertation or other paper required for classwork?
6. A youngster to write an excuse for missing school on a piece of paper and sign his father’s name to the note?

All of these activities take place in the US today, some more frequently than others. The student (question 5) who doesn’t write the paper he or she turns in for class credit will be expelled from most of our country’s colleges and universities or at least will have the paper confiscated and no credit given for it.

At the other end of the spectrum, however, nobody expects any member of Congress or any person holding public office to write out all of the words for a critical speech. The use of speechwriters is never questioned, any more than are the writers who compose text for personalities like Jay Leno or David Letterman.

In between are messy examples of how things can get uncomfortable when a person hires someone to craft the words that will be published or presented as if the person paying for the service had written every word.

Come back in a day or two…

These blogs are brought to you as a public service of Griffith Publishing.

A first look at ghostwriting

Ghostwriting shouldn’t send chills up and down your spine.
Ghostwriting can save you hundreds of hours laboring over your book.
Ghostwriting can help you say what you need to say in a clear, interesting way.
Ghostwriting can be carried out in a highly ethical manner.

Our goal with this set of blogs is to give you a broad picture of what ghostwriting is, what it involves, and some of the pitfalls awaiting you when you choose ghostwriting services. We believe that the more you know about ghostwriting, the better your choice of a ghostwriting service will be and the more satisfaction you will experience.

Next…Let’s look at the dark side of ghostwriting.

Brought to you in the public interest by Griffith Publishing.