One of my favourite subjects! I used to ghost write for local politicians (from speeches to sensitive correspondence) then Executive Directors for a non-profit to real estate agents (blogging). It is extremely fun and research heavy, a couple of my favourite things.
How/When/Why to hire: The writing should be stategic and well planned out. There should be a purpose and a schedule for all writing. It’s a very focused position that requires the writer and the person you are writing for to develop an open rapport to convincingly deliver the copy, whether a speech, article, blog or other. My experience has been that most people can or believe they can write but I’ve had amazing success with showing people that it is actually a specific skill set to connect with the audience.
How to get employed: I have a PR background so it was an easy transition for me within my daily duties. To go out and get a client, I would suggest starting with a specific target audience. let’s say real estate(an easy one as information changes rapidly). Start researching and writing about it, make connections and offer editing/strategy services to begin with and make your way into a regular ghost writer. Write articles wherever you can, local paper, industry papers, etc. Another option is to offer “canned” solutions or articles you can purchase specific to an industry, community event, world event etc. that ties in with what they are specifically doing.
One word of caution, no one I’ve worked with would accept writing for two or more people in the same field. That may just be my experience but I don’t really think so.  
GL @deairby, keep us updated!

When I was in pr, I used to ghost write for the president of our company. Since going out on my own, I’ve done a number of ghost writing gigs. I even ghost wrote a blog (for a bank) for a while from the perspective of a 30-40 something mom with teenage kids.

I agree completely with Dawn about strategy and planning. Set clear objectives and work with the person to establish the voice. Of the two company presidents I worked for when in p.r., I could never capture the one’s voice and the articles never seemed to work. I think a big part of that was because she wouldn’t take the time to discuss her objectives or what she wanted to accomplish with the piece. With the other president, we always met for a few min (often phone or even email) to clarify the exact message and key points he wanted to cover. The more we did it, the easier it became.

I really like Dawn’s idea of producing canned content–especially for a group like Real Estate agents. Real Estate agents need content but most aren’t writers and most can’t afford/don’t want to spend the money needed to hire a good writer. Selling good content that can be used by the group can be a good way to go.

@amyhallbiz @jim-lodico @deairby… You should not only be thinking about writing for the web only as a ghostwriter, you need to think on a pr level where there are speeches, press releases, correspondence, networking … anything that is written to connect to an audience. My experience has been, other than blogging (as an extension of a conversation, or pseudo conversation) more people have been interested in ghost writing for traditional pr writing.

Canned content can be an idea that is modified for individual audiences. If you take the one stategic idea or local event then you can create multiple uses with the same content, different angle.  Real Estate is an ideal situation for this as the same basic information will be relevant at the same time. 

Editing is it’s own specialised field. I believe the start expectations and needs to be completely different.  

@deairby If you are going to use a ghostwriter, ask to see a code of ethics statement. Unfortunately, there are a number of people who plagiarize or take someone else’s well-written content and pass it off as original by substituting a bunch of synonyms. Others might sell/share the content you paid for to multiple individuals to increase profit. You also need to be able to specify whether or not your ghostwriter publicizes your working relationship (there are pros and cons both ways). Above all, you want someone whose writing style will reflect your voice and the degree of professionalism (good spelling and grammar, too) you want to project.

awesome discussion here, thanks to all for you input @cherelleleong @debbielynnava @jim-lodico @roguecitrus @amyhallbiz

I’m happy to provide rates to those interested on a private forum but not a public one. There are just too many variables that come into consideration. 

@amyhallbiz Good advice about getting the 100-500 word rough draft from the buyer you’ll be ghostwriting for. For me, though, I’d rather get that in voicemail. That way I just transcribe the call and go to work. The buyer usually says more in a voice message, it’s easier for them so they’ll do it more and consistently so, and I don’t end up getting in a time-wasting conversation that goes back and forth. A written draft from them would be great, but I find it usually just creates a mess because then they’re ticky about this and that and inevitably wastes my time. If I start from scratch with their voice message, I can craft the whole article into something they’ll always love that makes them happy and helps me structure my time better.

Back when people would pay big bucks for good writing, I didn’t care about the time wasters. Now time is all I have and with the low pay people want to give for great writing, I won’t touch a client who doesn’t respect my time. Just me….

Right now I’ve got a real estate broker in another country I’m writing for and he loves everything I send him. Trying to work out a package deal now so we don’t waste time buying/selling/paying/getting paid. I just stumbled across this new model for getting paid online for multiple long-term jobs up front, so don’t know if it will work long-term, but crossing my fingers. Locally, that’s the only way I’ll work with a client. Don’t have time to waste on only one or two articles for one client. Hundred plus is the minimum because local clients tend to want to be pampered and I have to schedule that in (big time waster). I’ve only done this online as the buyer buying articles, never as the writer. All the same money to me, but I truly like editing better.

Anyone else selling bulk original articles online? Locally? Mind sharing your pricing? Mine depends whether online/offline from $10-25 per 500 word article depending on original, edited or curated with intros or roundups. (And this from a girl who used to charge 10 times that. Now I must sell in bulk and use subcontracted writers to write first drafts for 75% of what I create, editing their work to my standards so it can be published. My have things changed)!

Robin

amen, yeah, and woohoo, @atlantarobin