A ghostwriter is someone who writes content for others without taking credit. It’s a legitimate, lucrative, and quite versatile profession, especially for freelancers.
The range of written content the digital world needs today means that ghostwriters will never be out of business. And knowing how to make the most of your skills helps. Besides honing your content writing or grammar, get to know what digital jobs you can do as a ghostwriter.
1. Fiction and Non-Fiction Books
A ghostwriter can produce a whole novel for a client. The latter provides the ideas, materials, and so on, while the former puts it all into a coherent sequence.
It’s a highly creative partnership that takes time, good communication, and creative writing know-how to complete. For a successful ghostwriting career involving books, gather experience in fiction, non-fiction, and publishing in general.
Besides writing and reading genres that interest you and even listening to audiobooks, familiarize yourself with the book market. Then, you can advise clients on the best course of action and create an ebook or entire series that sells well. Your name may not be on the cover, but it’s satisfying work.
2. Articles and Blog Posts
If you’ve ever written a piece for a blog or online publication that was released under someone else’s name, you’re already a ghostwriter.
This career path isn’t much different from becoming a content writer. You produce copy that hooks and informs online readers. You also collaborate with clients, following their briefs to the letter.
The ghostwriting part comes in the form of not seeing your name attached to your articles and posts. This doesn’t mean, however, that your work should be below par. Your job as a freelance ghostwriter specializing in digital content is to follow instructions and write to the best of your capabilities, ideally on topics you know or can easily learn about.
3. Messages, Emails, and Newsletters
Any text can become part of a ghostwriter’s business, and written communications are no exception. A client might want an email template that they can adjust and send to their contacts as necessary. They could do the same with newsletters, text messages, and even social media posts.
You can help with that by writing the templates to match their voice and intent for different situations. You can, say, pitch a project to a partner for them or keep their followers up to date.
4. Speeches and Press Releases
If you can write emails for someone, formal addresses are the next best thing and are sorely needed in corporate circles where public speaking and professional communication are key.
Executives and politicians often use ghostwriters for speeches and press releases. While they polish the text and make sure it fits the occasion and audience, their clients are free to deal with other matters.
This path is truly diverse. Press releases can be about anything, from a new product to a company update. Speeches can also be live or recorded videos, each with a different goal, whether it’s to inform or even apologize to their audience.
Any kind of business would need a press release or speech at some point. As a ghostwriter, you might work with influencers and artists as much as businessmen.
5. Interviews
Like speeches, interviews aren’t always done in person. They can be a list of questions that the interviewee answers in writing at their leisure. Ghostwriting can involve responding to these questions in the client’s voice and covering the points they specify. Discuss the interview in detail and ensure you know exactly what to write.
You might also be asked to take a recorded interview and write down the whole exchange. This could be for simple record keeping or to post the text online and boost a website's accessibility.
Whatever digital content you work on as a ghostwriter, it’s a career path that depends on skill, organization, and communication. If you’re freelancing, make the most of web tools for better ghostwriting.
6. Transcripts
Turning video and audio files into written copy is a task you’ll come across often in the ghostwriting business. Besides interviews, you can transcribe podcasts, vlog posts, songs, and more. It’s one more part of your job that can link you to a range of industries.
7. Scripts for Videos and Podcasts
Instead of putting existing audiovisual content into writing, you can create scripts for projects in development.
This is where a rich writing and reading background comes in handy. Scripts are quite different from prose or poetry, so relevant experience is important.
8. Song Lyrics
Even the music industry benefits from ghostwriters. They can help musicians put their vision into words that rhyme, move, and sell albums. Sometimes the best tools for writing song lyrics aren’t enough. An extra pair of eyes and ears can be just what an artist needs to reach their potential.
So, if your ghostwriting skillset includes music and song, you can put it all to good use by offering your musical knowledge as well as your pen.
9. Website Content
All sites combine text with audiovisual elements, and you can be a part of it. We’re not just talking about blog posts, but also about a website’s essential features that require a personal touch.
For example, an online portfolio needs an about page that exudes personality, professionalism, and awareness of the target audience. A ghostwriter can handle that. Then there are service or product descriptions. Even these work best with meticulous detail and a degree of character that the site’s owner might not know how to deliver.
They might even want to post disclaimers and press releases with their signatures but not write them themselves. Get to know all you can about web design, from digital content structure to SEO, and how you can help brands with their domains.
Understand the Dos and Don’ts of Freelance Ghostwriting
There’s plenty of work available for experienced ghostwriters. Depending on your overall skillset, branch into types of content that interest you and that you can produce at the highest quality.
Knowing your stuff lets you carry yourself with confidence when working with clients or approaching new ones. But you should also learn what not to do when ghostwriting for other people.
Just because your name isn’t mentioned in the published content, doesn’t mean you can be careless with your business. There are limits to anonymity, especially for professional content creators.