Is It Ethical To Work With A Ghostwriter?
Ghostwriters are professionals who get paid to create content that are officially credited to another person.
The content can be in the form of books (printed and e-books), blog posts, speeches, video scripts, email newsletters, and white pages.
As long as you’re not in the field of academia trying to pass off work that isn’t yours as your own (a.k.a plagiarise), ghostwriting is an acceptable practice.
In the world of business, collaborating with a ghostwriter can help you effectively communicate your expertise and help you stay on top of your digital presence.
Learn how to work with a ghostwriter so you’re not compromising on your brand or business’ integrity with these simple tips. .
Is Hiring A Ghostwriter Cheating?
People have built their careers as “thought-leaders” in the digital world, sharing their expertise with long-form content.
How would you feel about discovering that the industry guru you follow didn’t write a single line of their advice in their blog? Or that they didn’t have a hand in the process at all?
Yeah, that feels problematic to me too.
To get around this, I think it’s important that you think of working with a ghostwriter as a collaboration.
There’s nothing unethical about hiring a professional to help you get your message across, as long as the words and sentiments come from your original ideas, and you’re not piggybacking solely on the writer’s expertise on the subject.
For example, we all know that political speeches are written by professional speech writers, but we expect the overall sentiment to be that of the speakers.
It’s important you hire a ghostwriter for the right reason — to help you convey your expertise to your audience.
It’s unethical to hire a writer to produce content that you don’t have any knowledge or experience in and try to pass off as your own.
Why Is Content Important For You Business?
I can promise you that the world of blogging is very much alive and well in 2020.
Think about it — what’s the first thing you do when you run into a problem?
Chances are you’re Googling an answer.
And you’re not alone. In fact, there’s an estimated 3.8 million Google searches happening per minute globally!
Clearly, there’s a high demand for problem-solving information, and you may have the answer to some of those searches with your product or service.
Regularly sharing your knowledge with your audience helps keep your business front of mind and establishes credibility. If you continue to serve your audience with high-quality content, you’ll likely be the brand they turn to when they’re ready to make a purchase.
But even if you love to write, running a business full-time and producing consistent, top-notch content can be almost impossible to maintain on your own.
This is where hiring a trusty ghostwriter comes in help, so you can focus on running your business.
Where Can You Find A Ghostwriter?
You can find ghostwriters on platforms such as:
• Fiverr
• Upwork
• Indeed
When you’re hiring off of freelance sites, you’ll need to create a detailed job description to help you narrow in on qualified candidates for what you’re looking for.
Alternatively, you can hire a content marketing agency to connect you with a ghostwriter, so you don’t have to worry about the recruitment process.
Hiring a marketing agency can also help you with your overall content strategy on a much larger scale — of course, hiring an agency comes with higher agency prices.
Here’s What To Look For In A Great Ghostwriter
It can be difficult to get the whole portfolio of a ghostwriter’s work because of non-disclosure agreements that protect their clients’ business, but they should still have samples of their writing they can share published under their own name.
Aside from assessing their previous work, here are some characteristics of a great ghostwriter:
• They are inquisitive — they ask a lot of questions about you and your business, so they can capture your voice and build upon your message.
• They’re self-starters — you don’t have to hand-hold your writer when they’re ambitious and serious about their work.
• They’re excellent communicators — this should be a given, but when you first start working with a writer, you should expect them to deliver quality drafts that require very minimal editing.
• They’re research-driven — they aren’t afraid to dive deep into researching the topics you cover, so they can come up with interesting talking points for your article based on reliable resources.
• They understand digital marketing — hire a writer who understands SEO and how to effectively communicate with a digital audience.
Now that we’ve gotten past the key benefits and the ethics of working with a ghostwriter, I’ll guide you through what a collaboration process can look like.
How To Collaborate With A Ghostwriter
Draft Your Blueprints
Your ghostwriter is a contractor who specializes in communication. You wouldn’t hire a contractor to build you a house without blueprints, would you?
Before you go searching for a ghostwriter, get clear on what you’re trying to accomplish with your content, so you can hire the appropriate writer to work with.
For example, if you need a script for YouTube content, you’ll need to find a writer with skills to create a written script that captivates the audience when spoken.
If you’re hiring a writer to create informative health-related blog posts, you’ll want someone knowledgeable in the same area, so that they can effectively communicate complex information and make it accessible to most readers.
Set Clear Expectations
To make the most of our your working relationship with your writer, it’s important you establish an understanding of what each party is expected to deliver and timelines for each assignment. This may look like:
• Resources required for the article
• Word count
• Turn around time
• Number of revisions
• Frequency of the writer’s required services
• Payment dates
Provide Input To The Ideation Process
Hiring a ghostwriter doesn’t mean you can forgo any work.
It’s still important that you’re part of the production to avoid any unethical stickiness. After all, your name is going to be listed as the writer, and you want to make sure the words represent you correctly.
The job of a ghostwriter is to fine tune your overall sentiment.
Be prepared for your ghostwriter to ask a lot of questions.
These questions help to capture your personality in the phrases you’d use and how you problem solve, so that the writing sounds like you.
Not sure if you’re ready to hire a ghostwriter?
It’s Time To Hire A Ghostwriter If…
• Writing is not your forte
• You have a message you want to share with the world but need help finessing the words
• You need to focus on other areas of your business, and you’re too busy to make time to create content consistently
• You’re ready to elevate your brand with highly engaging, well-written content
How Much Do Ghostwriting Services Cost?
That depends on the project.
But to give you an idea, the typical price range per 1000–2000 word blog post is between $0.05–$0.20 per word.
Writers come in all levels of experience, and you’ll find a wide range of prices on the internet.
I’ll just say this now, you get what you pay for with writers.
If you’ve found a Fiverr writer who is willing to write 2,000 words for $10 — you’re likely getting a piece of content that’s gonna need a lot of work to get it to shine. Which in the end, costs you more editing time or having to re-write it yourself.
That defeats the whole point of hiring a writer in the first place.
You want to publish high-quality content that educates or entertains your readers, so that they trust what your brand has to say.
Budget content isn’t going to get you a quality audience.
To Wrap Up: Is It Ethical To Hire A Ghostwriter?
You shouldn’t feel bad about hiring a ghostwriter to help you with your business, as long as your writer authentically reflects what you would have said if you sat down to write.
Working with a ghostwriter should look like a collaborative process, in which you’re hiring a professional writer who compliments your skills to define and polish your story, opinion, or expertise and share them with your audience.
Of course, not all ghostwriting arrangements are ethical, but if you hope to preserve the integrity of your brand, it’s important to understand where ghostwriting can come across as deceptive.