Ｇｈｏｓｔｗｒｉｔｉｎｇ
By definition, it is to write for someone else. You have no authorship over whatever you have written, nor do you have any claims over it.
As for the written material, it varies and depends on who you write for. It can be something as simple as a letter or a social media post, essays for academic purposes, novels and books, to even somebody else's dissertation. The limits to what can be written by a ghostwriter are limitless. As long as a person has an idea, there could always be a ghostwriter that has the ability to put those ideas into reality. To give them a much deeper and more detailed elaboration than what the supposed author could never think of.
Why did I think about writing this all of a sudden? Well, from February to just recently, I partook in ghostwriting just to feel like I was still working, because honestly. I'm not the type that enjoys not doing anything and just drawing things wasn't cutting it for me. It was helping for a while. My first client asked me to do a biography for him. Despite the struggle to understand his accent, it was a smooth job. Although I honestly couldn't understand why he wanted to have a biography done when he couldn't even remember parts of his life when I asked for more details. The project took me 2 weeks. What followed was a diet book that focused on a keto diet. I managed to finish that in a week because the diet is a basic thing in our biochemistry class. Then I experienced having to write property books. I had to do 2 of those and I swear, I never want to touch any of those again. I don't ever want to see another property book in my life after everything I had to go through with those books! Then I worked on a fantasy fiction, the one that stressed me out the most because I was given basically only 5 days for that. After all that pressure, I resigned but my employer forced me to write one last biography before I left because the client specifically asked for me. I hated that job, yes. They were so late in paying for some of those books but I do think my writing really leveled up after everything I went through.
Ghostwriting isn’t for everyone. And if it is, pray to the heavens that they give you a good handler for the projects because I was assigned to a huge a$$hole. He forced me to keep up with deadlines I was never even informed of. They would spam me with at least 20+ emails when I don’t respond. It was like a harassment threat, I tell you! And to make it worse, I already told them that I would be working on the documents yet they still spam me with emails. How can you expect anyone to type while answering questions? It was precisely why I gave them access to the documents I typed, so that they can check when they want. I understand that they have other documents in their drives but it was just a stupid mindset, I swear.
Another thing that made me question ghostwriting was the fact that I had no claims over anything when the entire book was based on everything I wrote. I would usually just be given a paragraph to get an idea then the rest was up to me to write and arrange. Of course with biographies, I was allowed to interview the clients but for the rest, I was on my own. and after the entire project book is said and done, I always have to sign a non-disclosure agreement, stating that I in no rights have any claims over the finished book and anything relating to it, including profit.
It’s hard to write for someone else because you don't know them and you have no assurance that they’d like your ideas or if you’d even be paid for what you wrote. That happens, actually. The handler still makes you finish a book but the thing is, the client doesn’t like it so you don’t get paid for it. Then the next thing you know, your finished book still makes it to the market. How did that happen? The handlers sold it to someone else who was looking for something written with the same idea. It’s frustrating and the handler I was assigned with made the experience much worse.
I came to a point where I thought of writing a book but where i should start was the question as well. I had no connections in the publishing world. I had no fame and reputation in the writing world aside from read.cash and just searching doesn’t help because they only show the surface level identity of these publishing platforms. So where should an amateur writer even start? That is a question that will continue to plague me for a while, or until I find a distraction from the question.
Perhaps I'll write other things I learned while ghostwriting because I don't think I have the brain to think of a good story these days.
I guess ghost writing is not for me. I'm a greedy kind of person. I want the words I weaved under my name and mine alone.
I actually have a friend who was a ghost writer. He showed me some of his writings, it was good. But then he told me that he cannot claim ownership to it. From then on I said that it's not for me eventhough he told me to try it one time.