I Am A Ghost Writer And Proud Of It!
Comments (10) I had an online conversation with a fellow blogger recently and we were discussing guest posts and whether or not they were worth doing. I mentioned that I did a lot of ghost writing which half caught his attention.
He had two hurdles he couldn’t get his brain around. The first, why write for someone else and not at least have a by-line. The second related to the dollars – funny how things all come down to the holly dollar!
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Ghost writing for fame
To cover the first aspect. I have spent half my life writing for others with no by-line. I have written in house training materials, letter templates and, more recently, worked with the unemployed to write resume’s and job applications. I have never thought to have my name added to any of these documents – it was just work and I am sure there are millions of others out there who have done the same. 
photo credit: peasap
I have to admit there are times when I write what I feel is great post and would love to have my name attached to it – but as a ghost writer you can’t – that’s life. 
I know in the past I have written training materials that are still in use today – it would have been nice to have my name attached.
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Ghost writing for dollars
As to the dollars – ghost writing doesn’t pay a fortune but that is in your own hands. I can type at around 40-50 words per minute. A 300 word post takes 6-10 minutes. If I can knock out around 4 posts an hour and make around $20 per hour (Australian $) then I am happy. That equates to an annual salary of $40k roughly and I am working from home, at my leisure, with no overheads. photo credit: hartboy
What about research? I subscribe to a lot of blogs and my subscriptions are always email based. If you don’t have an email subscription service then I don’t subscribe. I also prefer full post feeds. Each day I go through all those emails scan reading and absorbing what is important to me.
I like bloggers like Andy Beal and his Marketing Pilgrim blog. He may publish several posts in one day but only sends out the one email. I can scan read and if I find anything of interest – it gets stored away in the brain and comes to the surface when I need it. Subscribing to these emails is also a good way to find what is important – what other bloggers are talking about – it’s all research. As I surf the net, even in leisure, the back of my mind is always on the lookout for useful bits and pieces.
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Ghost writing because I can
What is important for me is that I am doing something that I am reasonably good at – and that I enjoy. Allen Taylor on his post - Why You Need A Ghost Writer – makes a really good point – I am not a motor mechanic! In fact, with 
the fancy engines in use today, I open the hood and I am lucky to find where the water and oil goes. I leave the motor repairs to the experts.
The same can be said for the online world. Business people are busy running their businesses – they may just be that mechanic. They use a professional ghost writer to keep their blogs up to date the same as I use a professional mechanic to keep my car running.
Yes, I am a ghost writer and I am proud of the work I do. I may not be able to show you what I do – but then, I have my own blogs for you to judge on that. As a footnote – if your looking for a ghost writer, let me know. You would be surprised at the range of niche’s I can cover. photo credit: maistora
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