Basically for me, being a ghost writer means I get to make a good income doing something I love. That’s probably enough of a reason to love doing it, but today, I thought I would share five of the other things I love about being a ghost writer.
Before I dive in, just in case you’re not familiar with what a ghost writer does, I write books for other people (either authors or publishers). I then sell the rights of the book to that person and they can then publish the book as though it’s their own work. Probably one of the most famous examples of a ghost written work is the Nancy Drew series, which was completed by multiple ghost writers and all published under the author name Carolyn Keene.
I Get to Constantly Create New Character’s and Worlds
For me, one of the most fun things about writing fiction is creating characters and world and bringing them to life. As a ghost writer, this is a big part of my job, and I’m constantly coming up with new characters and thinking up scenarios to throw them into.
It Brings Me Out of My Comfort Zone
When I write my own novels, they are primarily horror novels, and while I will always love writing horror the most, it’s fun sometimes to get out of my comfort zone and write in new genres.
As a ghost writer, I get to write fantasy series’, romance novels, crime novels, YA novels, erotica novels and mystery novels. I love the challenge of writing in a new genre and learning the tropes and the ins and outs of the genre and then writing novels I probably never would have attempted if it wasn’t for the job.
I Get to Bring Other People’s Ideas to Life
I love it when someone comes to me with a bare bones novel idea and I get to flesh it out and really bring it to life. I love adding in some twists and turns and showing the client just how much fun we can have with their idea, and it’s so nice when it’s all finished and the client is over the moon with the novel I’ve produced from their idea.
I Get To Do the Fun Part and None of the Rest
I think it’s true for most writers that they love writing. And I think it’s also true for the majority of them that they hate the marketing side. And that’s the beauty of ghost writing. You are paid to write the book – the rest of it isn’t your problem. You don’t have to try and market the book, you don’t have to worry about publishing the book, or designing the cover or any of that. It’s basically a deal where you get to do the fun part and none of the other parts.
You Can Flit About Through Any Writer’s Block
You know that moment when hit a road block with your wip and you just can’t see any way out of it? It plays on your mind and becomes this huge stumbling block. When you have multiple books on the go for clients, when you hit that point in one of them, you can work on a different one and it gives you something new to think about and focus on and when you go back to the original one refreshed, more times than not, the problem has resolved itself.
Are you interested in learning more about ghost writing as a job or even as a side line? You can check out my FREE Introduction to Ghost Writing course for help getting started as a ghost writer.
Have you ever considered ghost writing or are you currently doing it? Let me know in the comments 🙂
You can find me here: My writing blog, TwitterFacebook Bloglovin Pinterest and Instagram Please do stop by and say hi!
Michael Robotham, now a well known crime novelist, started life as a ghost writer for celebrities, writing their autobiographies for them. I heard him speak about it at a Melbourne Writers Festival, not naming his clients, of course. One of his ghost written books actually won an award, which the celebrity collected.
Next time I saw him was as a crime writer and I sat next to his wife, by chance. She said she rather missed his ghost writing days when she got to hear all the gossip about his clients!
The pleasure you get from ghost writing I get from writing non fiction for kids. I write about so many different subjects, and lea n lots of new things.
Oh I can imagine she got lots of gossip in those days haha. Great that you have something you’re so passionate about
I love the idea that you’ve got lots of things on the go at once. Like you say you can’t get bogged down with writers block.
#AnythingGoes
Yeah it definitely stops the writer’s block
I can see how ghost writing would force you out of your comfort zone easily.
Oh it definitely does lol
Fair play to you … sounds good, but I wouldn’t have that energy! #BloggerClubUK
Haha it almost feels lazy compared to other jobs I’ve had!
All valid points X #bloggerclubuk
Thanks 🙂
It sounds like a great idea for you Debbie. Ghostwriting certainly sounds like an interesting way to make money and exercise my creative energy. I am just not in that space. I have doubts about Ghostwriting. For one thing, it takes me too long to write my own work. The thought of having a deadline? That’s too scary for me. I need to work at my own pace. And I would do terrible at writing erotica or love novels. They are too far out of my comfort zone. All the other ones I would welcome the challenge but again, the deadline thing is definitely a problem for me. Maybe I’m not that confident in my writing skills to pull it off. Plus, as Enda points out, I agree that I would need a lot more creative energy for that than I currently have lol. Thanks for hosting #anythinggoes
That’s part of the appeal of ghost writing. You choose which projects to accept (so you wouldn’t have to write erotica if you didn’t want to) and you set the deadlines. It’s not for everyone though.
I love the last bit about writers block. That’s a good way to deal with it!