Ghostwriting: It’s done all the time. But I’m willing to bet you aren’t often aware of it.
This sneaky practice is kept under wraps because the purpose of writing content under another person’s name (one that is often established) is to bolster the awareness and thought expertise of that person.
According to a “Ghostwriting Business” article, “the ghostwriter is an invisible presence in political speech-making, corporate PR, medical research, and the booming field of online content production.” For our purposes, we’ll hone in on the practice of corporate ghostwriting.
The practical side of ghostwriting
Ghostwriting serves a practical purpose. How many C-suite executives have the time or motivation to create their articles and blogs? From my research, there have been no official studies on the practice of ghostwriting in the corporate world. But likely very few executives or office leaders that have time and motivation to create content that establishes their name as an expert in their field.
But ghostwriting in corporate PR is important because once the readership knows that the author is not the true author, their established knowledge leadership might be eroded or even depleted completely.
The barrier to our success
When freelance copywriters start working with any business, they often sign an NDA agreement with their work contract. While these agreements often work to benefit and protect both parties, they can also drastically restrict how writers and editors in how they promote and discuss their work. It also creates an obstacle when writers and editors want to use their previous work as a submission sample when applying for more work or even to boast and amplify it on networking platforms like LinkedIn.
My ghostwriting process
My way of bypassing most obstacles is to write around it. So what is the process of ghostwriting really like?
My good friend and colleague, writer Charles Warnock, recently posted about the process, saying “a ghostwriter should function more like an unbiased investigative journalist than a PR person - asking difficult questions, clarifying positions, and challenging perspectives, when appropriate.”
One way to safely, professionally skirt the obstacles and issues is to share my process for corporate ghostwriting for an executive or thought leader. Here it is:
Meet with the executive to establish the best approach to the blog or article.
Research that person’s name and find any previously published articles about or published ‘by’ them. Review these articles to establish the ‘author’s voice’.
Reach out to the executive to set up an interview, to get their thoughts on the topic/subject. Oftentimes, these interviews will provide much of the content for your blog. During this interview, you can also ask for other knowledge experts for interviews or reliable resources to refer to while writing the blog.
Research the topic online and find reliable sources and/or published studies to be included or linked within the blog.
Interview people, as required by the article topic. (Record every interview. I use Otter. The free version of which provides 600 minutes of free transcription every month, and 45 minutes of recorded transcription at a time.)
Pull any important, researched information from articles and interviews into the blog document. Transfer interview transcription text and copy/paste research links and materials into a Google Doc, so all of the content/information is in one spot.
Add a side ‘comment’ on the Google Doc, near the top, that gives you keywords on the ‘author’s voice’ and tone, along with a note about the article approach/perspective.
Create a quick outline of all of the sections and points needed for the blog.
Write the blog based on the content pulled and researched and adhering to the included outline.
Send the blog to the executive you’re ghostwriting for, so they can read the content and make changes according to how they prefer to speak/write. This is a great time for them to point out and fill any knowledge gaps.
Review the blog a few more times to ensure content is streamlined, that it matches the right tone of voice, and that it adheres to corporate brand guidelines.
Send the finalized blog draft through to be edited and published.
After this ghostwriting process is complete, the blog is ready for publication and promotion. Ideally, you’ll want to send the published link to the ‘blog author’ so they can promote themselves on social media.
In all honesty, it is the opposite of light work. It takes special attention to detail, lots of research, and even a little creativity. Most of all, it takes confidence. You’ve got to let go of your own ego before you send your creation on to be judged/approved/changed by a number of others, the least of which is an actual knowledge expert on the topic you’re writing about and for.
So despite the fact that many ghostwriters are unable to take credit for their hard work, taking deep satisfaction in creating the work itself more than makes up for it.
Have a blog or article that needs to be ghostwritten? Write Through Rachel can serve your needs.