Interview With a Ghost… Writer

Ghostwriter – such a cool job title.

I’ve always been curious about ghostwriters; what exactly they do and how they do it, so I decided to find a ghostwriter and interview her.  I didn’t have to look far.  I’ve heard many good things about Pat Graham, and she was willing to stop her work long enough to answer my questions:

What exactly is a ghostwriter?  

From my point of view, a ghostwriter is a person who creates ebooks, articles and ecourses for Internet Marketers. These can be either PLR rewrites or original projects from the first word.  

Once I write them, and get paid, I give up all rights to the work forever. The person I wrote it for owns it and can do what they want with it. My name does not appear anyplace on the document. 

What is your background, Pat, and why did you decide to become a ghostwriter?

I have a varied background, including a journalism degree. I like to write and always have. I started out writing and publishing several subscription newsletters and moved on to creating operation manuals for some high tech companies I worked for. 

To be point blank honest, I  ran out of money a while back, and needed to find a way to fix that in a hurry. At the same time a friend of mine from a forum I belong to sent me a lifesaving email, asking if I would be able to rewrite four ebooks for him. I did and the rest is history. He referred me to others and it just kept growing. 

What kind of requests do you get the most of?  Ebooks, email, ecourses, autoresponders, etc?

I get almost daily requests for all of those. Internet Marketers are very busy and the need for fresh material is constant. I am happy to fill that need. 

How long does it generally take you to write a 40 page ebook?
 
That depends on how good the material I get from my client is. If it is a PLR rewrite, I add 20% to 30% new information from my own research. The rewrite usually takes 2 weeks. I do a lot of detail checking on PLR material. 

If I am writing an original ebook, it could take 3 weeks or longer. In this case I get a topic, maybe a few keywords or possible chapter headings from the client and the rest is mine. The research is the longest part of the process. I do send a list of questions to the client so I can get their attitude and thoughts, which lets me write close to how they think. 

Which niches do you get more requests to write about – the Internet Marketing niche or specialty niches?

Internet Marketing subjects are almost all I write about…how to write and market ebooks, articles used to send traffic to a website or sales page, step-by-step instruction guides that get turned into ecourses.  

Once in a while, I get requests for a new subject or a different niche. That’s starting to grow slowly. I like it because it gives me something else to think about other than Internet Marketing, a mini brain vacation, so to speak. 

What was the most interesting niche topic you ever wrote about?  

That would have to be a set of articles on celebrities. This was so far from my normal topics that I loved researching and writing it.  

How do you do your research? 

I’m practically married to Google. When I get a project to write I start looking for all the material I can find that’s even slightly related to the subject. I use all the popular search engines and some that are not well known at all, practically secret.  
 
Next, I check out the online article directories and my own personal, endless stash of PLR articles in what I call “My Library.” I stack all that material in a folder and use it to jump start my mind. I get my ideas on focus, tone and major points I want to cover while I’m reading my research. 

Any words of advice on hiring a ghostwriter?

I believe that a ghostwriter’s job is 100% customer service. I also believe in the Internet Marketing tenet of “Over Deliver.” So, I spoil my clients rotten and the result of that action gets me constant referrals and repeat business. 

If a person needs to hire a ghostwriter, I recommend asking other marketers for recommendations or posting inquiries on forums. Most forum members are willing to help other members and you can usually get several good leads on a ghostwriter who will work well for you. 

Pat Graham   
ghost-writer@charter.net

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