8 Reasons Not To Hire
A Ghostwriter
We’ve managed dozens of ghostwriters for clients over the years. Now that we’re able to work with best-selling authors and writers at the highest level, let us share with you what we have learned and explain why we no longer hire ghostwriters for our clients. Then, stick around and we’ll share with you what we believe to be the better approach for your voice and your message!
Remember the movie where the guy hired a hit man to kill his wife? A ghostwriter is kind of like the hit man: they both walk away when the job is over. And they both want the money up front.
Unfortunately, most of our clients first tried hiring a freelance ghostwriter and wasted time and money before they found us. How many others stopped trying because their first experience was terrible? We don’t want that to be you. Your book can and should redefine your life in awesome ways.
Your voice. How is your voice captured? When you work with a ghostwriter, the two of you naturally lose objectivity about your product, working in a vacuum. Imagine the power of an entire team supporting your deep dive into the essence of your voice to bring that to the surface of the writing.
Are you a good manager? Because that’s part of the role you play when hiring an expert to provide you a service. The nature of the relationship makes you the “boss” and not the “client” to be served. You must deal with deadlines, financial issues, and conflict resolution. Each of those takes you away from the story, which should be your only focus. You want to be a client, not a boss!
Speaking of missed deadlines, financial issues, and conflicts: all of these pop up from time to time in any business relationship. But ghostwriters don’t have an HR department or a team helping them navigate life joyfully so they can continue to bring their best to you every step of the way. Shouldn’t the drama remain in the writing?
When was the last time you saw a ghostwriter trumpeting his new book in a local newspaper or an online article? Never, because he’s a ghostwriter. It’s not his book. He’s simply never going to be as invested as you are because his future has no relation to the outcome of your product. It’s a simple psychological effect of anonymity.
Ghostwriters don’t spend their days growing relationships with publishers and literary agents, and they don’t typically have great expertise in platform and brand building and marketing in the same way that folks who have dedicated their lives to those practices do. Ghostwriters excel at writing, which means that you must have connections and expertise before your book can be released into the world to inspire others.
An individual simply doesn’t have the brain-space to help you change the world with your story. Great writer or not, working with one person means you have to find other people to invest joy and energy into helping you grow a brand around your story in order to get it into the hands of readers. Wouldn’t it be nice to have all of those people working on your behalf from day one?
Bonus Reason!
For information on our process and how we do it differently, click here!
To see what our staff has to say on What’s Possible, see the video below.