The Humble Ghost Writer

Do you know what it means to be a ghost writer? There has been some controversy over ghost writing, as some people think that it is wrong for someone to claim another person's work, irreversibly. If you don't know what a ghost writer is, let me explain.

A ghost writer is someone who writes content of any kind on a contract. When the writing is complete and the work is paid for, the writer of the content loses all rights to the content. They can no longer claim it as being theirs and they do not receive any royalties for the work, ever.

Some people think that it is unethical. Others disagree, in the consideration that the writer is well aware of what they are doing when they sign the contract to do the work. There is of course, usually some sort of extra compensation or valuable reason for a ghost writer to do a project like this. Whether the benefits are in monetary payment, or they gain something else of value (such as getting rated well on an online platform for freelancing) there is always a reason.

For me, it was the latter. I just finished my second milestone on the first contract job that I landed on Upwork. The job has been a learning experience, to say the least. It is a challenge to meet a client's needs, as they usually have something envisioned for the project (whether they are sure of what that is or not.) The benefits of doing such a project (a 3,000 word topical research article, in this case) are not derived from the enormous monetary compensation that I will receive. Simply, because that huge reward does not exist. Rather, the value in doing this is that I have no work history and have never been hired directly by a client to fulfill a web content writing job. This was my first one.

At least, I THOUGHT, that was where I would be getting the value. I sent out my proposal, which landed among about 30 other proposals from other people. The job had already been given to someone else, but my cover letter left an impression with the client. They ended up giving the job to me, instead. After drafting the piece, I was pretty proud of my work, but as I said, this was a learning experience.

It was also a test of humility and a challenge to dive into writing something that I did not personally hold a lot of interest in. The piece was on the mechanical side of things and at first it bored me a bit. I was able to learn from that and create new tools to cope with that so that I could do my job effectively. I learned a lot about what it means to help a client to reach the goals that they had in mind (rather than the ones that I may have thought that they had in mind.)

It's simple, no one is going to pay you to do what YOU want to do (unless you are very lucky artist.) In general, that is the reason why we work. We do something that someone else either can not do, does not have the time to do, or just simply doesn't want to. Therefore, if you want to make any money by engaging in some niche of the market, you must offer a service that people need. This means that the CLIENT comes first, NOT YOU (or in this case, me.) This is humbling, but also freeing and enlightening with the right perspective.

Ghost writing takes that humility to an entirely different level. Not only do you need to eliminate your own ego from the project, you have to eliminate your existence from it entirely. If you are a writer, then you know that the only way to write a truly good piece you have to dive into the work. You have to emotionally attach yourself to the subject matter and put yourself in the shoes of the audience.

When ghost writing, you make this attachment with the foreknowledge that when you are done, whether you are proud of it or not, will be separated from you, personally, forever. Not only that, but your client may not like your initial draft and you may have to make changes that you don't personally agree with to the writing. If you start to get emotional, guess what??? IT'S NOT ABOUT YOU!

This forces a writer to detach themselves from their ego in a whole new way. In fact, if you are a writer, I would suggest doing one or two of these types of pieces, and I'll tell you why.

When you aren't taking any credit for what you are writing, your primary focus has to be upon fulfilling the needs of the client. You won't be receiving any glory for the writing, so the only reason that you are engaging in the activity is to fulfill THEIR purpose. This means that you have to test your patience and your integrity. Your name won't be on the finished work, but how you present yourself to your client is important. The pride that you have in your work lands, SOLELY upon your quiet integrity. Only you know if you really did your best, and no one but your client (who may not know you very well) can call you on it if you did a sub-par job.

I know I did my best. I looked at this project as the first step to a career as a freelance writer, I believe. I have learned that my integrity remains, even when no one is looking and learning that was worth more than the job could ever have been. Just wanted to share my journey and ask the community what you think about ghost writing, so...