6 Tips to Help You Become a Better Ghostwriter

Like many professional communicators, Scott and I started our careers in journalism.

And, like most journalists, we took pride in seeing our bylines appear atop our work.

Today, though, we spend a lot of time writing on behalf of others. As consultants, we often ghostwrite for foundation CEOs, nonprofit leaders, and corporate executives.

Our prose appears in The Washington Post, USA Today, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, and scores of local newspapers and business journals across the country. But the name at the top often belongs to someone else.

Believe it or not, we like it that way.

When that happens, it means we’ve not only done our job and earned our client an important placement. It also means we’ve been able to successfully channel the ideas and voice of someone else.

If you work as a communicator, chances are you also do your share of ghostwriting.

You might spend time crafting speeches for your CEO, penning op-eds for thought leaders in your organization, or even managing someone else’s social media account.

Ghostwriting, of course, isn’t easy.

You not only have to adopt the voice of someone else, but you often have to adopt the voice of the person who signs your paycheck (or at least has a say in your annual performance review).

How do you do it well?

Here are six tricks we’ve learned to help you ghostwrite well:

Understand their goals

If you’ve ever taken a class in creative writing or screenwriting, you know that one of the cardinal rules of creating a character is to understand his or her motivation.

In this case, your character isn’t fictional. It’s a real-life person. But to properly assume his or her voice for any assignment, it still helps to know what this person wants to achieve with this piece.

Are they looking to rally the troops? Making a challenging announcement? Change minds around an important issue?

If you can determine what the ultimate goal is for each piece you create – and draft the piece in support of that goal – you’re off to a great start.

Listen and read

When you’re writing for someone else, it’s important to pay extra attention to the way they speak – both verbally and through their writing. 

When I work with a client, I pay special attention to the words they use, their favorite phrases, and the way in which they crack a joke or pass along a compliment. I also try to consume other pieces they’ve written to get a sense of how they structure their sentences and arguments.

Interview

For each ghostwriting assignment, I try to get at least 15-30 minutes on the phone or in person to interview them about the topic. In these cases, I aim to learn what they want to emphasize, what they want to avoid talking about, and how they respond when asked to probe deeper.

Many executives will be quite prescriptive – offering some clear talking points they’d like to emphasize. If they are not, make sure you have targeted questions that will elicit the information you need.

When possible, try to get them to provide an anecdote or story that you can use to add color and personality to the piece.

Collect stories

When I work with an ongoing client, I try to pay attention to and catalog personal stories or anecdotes from the client. If she has a favorite story about a lesson learned or shares a tale from high school, I try to file it away in case it fits with the theme of a future piece.

The more personality you can capture, the better.

Strip away the jargon

If your subject likes to communicate in business-speak or in tech clichés, don’t feel beholden to including them in the materials you prepare for them. Instead, attempt to translate their jargon into accessible language that will connect well with the audiences you’re trying to reach.

This is part of why they’ve hired you to write for them – so make sure you take the time to help the audience understand what they’re talking about.

Review and edit

When possible, build extra time into the process to give your subject the opportunity to review and edit what you’ve written. Sometimes, they’ll be able to add some important color and add their own personal touches that will make the piece theirs.

Ghostwriting can be a challenge—but it doesn’t have to be scary.

If you take the time to balance the needs and goals of your subject with the audience he or she is trying to reach, you can do it with success!