This isn’t really a My Life as a Turtle: How I Made it to Geezer by Lying, Hiding, and Denying post. Writing that series truly did move my needle from Suicidal to Optimistic, something I never expected. I’d been fully committed to ending my life on July 20, 2024.
Now that the blackness has dissipated and I’ve recovered from the physical kickback of my decision, I’m regaining the passions that kept me going all those decades until I came to what I believed was the end of my rope.
My ghostwriting obsession is back.
I started ghostwriting back in 1989, right after the very first book I wrote was a runaway bestseller, the first title ever plugged on then-new MTV. For Musicians Only was a niche volume that has, remarkably, stood the test of time. Landing a major publisher (without a literary agent!), going through the mundanity of the publishing experience, and seeing my name in The Grammy Pulse, though, could not compensate for the book’s lackluster ROI. And since my music career had already ended in equal dreariness, I had to quickly find a new, more lucrative way to support my keyboardist husband and budding genius daughter.
That’s when I fell in love with ghostwriting books for people who have wonderful ideas. What started as a work-for-hire endeavor soon developed into an agent-supported occupation and then into a full-blown profession—until I had those two near-death experiences I already wrote about in TURTLE.
It just occurred to me that surviving that absurdly painful aortic spasm and those few eternal moments of pulmonary non-functionality may be why I could so casually plan to end my life. But I digress.
I leaned into deconstruction, my second life passion, as part of my ghostwriting process. Now I began deconstructing that process so I could pass it on to other writers—specifically, if truth be told, so that a particular client wouldn’t be left high and dry when/if my mortal-coil off-shuffling occurred without warning. When I didn’t die—geez, that certainly does seem to be a recurrent theme in my life! – I dove into reverse engineering all the steps I took to create New York Times bestsellers, peer-accepted university-press volumes, high-ROI business books, and film-optioned memoirs. I was beyond thrilled when a former vocalist, now program director invited me to teach my work-in-progress course in the College of Professional and Continuing Education at California State University, Long Beach back in 2013.
But when the blackness started gathering in my psyche nine years later, that fervor has waned. I was utterly convinced I had nothing left to teach, no juice left to inspire, no spoons left to transform good ideas into great books.
More to the point, I no longer wanted to spend my days writing curricula, explaining theory, demonstrating skill sets, coaxing students to think beyond their comfort zone, or grading assignments. It can hardly be a coincidence that my calmly projected me-end date was within a few days of the last Ghostwriting Professional Designation Program (GPDP) cohort I ever planned to teach.
But now here I am, my kamikaze scenario banished, my likelihood of another thirty years on this physical plane looming ahead.
I believe my ghostwriter-training career is best over. But I still very much want to help as many people get their message and stories out to the public as I possibly can. History need no longer be written only by the victors—even if certain segments of the population want to retain control over who gets to know reality’s what, where, when, why, and how.
And that means we need more ghostwriters in more communities than ever before. Am I thumbing my nose at destiny by putting my personal wants and desires before the needs of humanity? Wasn’t the big take-away from TURTLE that I have every right to non-concede my life to what others expect of me?
Since I admittedly still feel pretty vulnerable, I really can’t afford to capitulate to those kinds of spirit-sucking doubts. Ergo, I’m going to switch tone, intent, and perspective from TURTLE Author to Ghostwriting Expert and provide a Public Service Announcement specifically targeted to the myriad writers who come to me in distress because they cannot figure out how to find ghostwriting clients who will pay them what they’re worth—
… which, if truth be told, is the whole point of GPDP. The course I won’t teach after the current cohort ends in July 2024. You see my dilemma. On the other hand, the course will continue under the tutelage of my principal partner (and acquired son) and one of our GPDP Certified Ghostwriters.
Here comes the switch.
Public Service Announcement
I’m the expert who deconstructed ghostwriting theory, skills, and psychology necessary to command premium fees for the work. Most writers who come to me for help are in the same boat.
They look for clients but aren’t positioned to attract them
They include “ghostwriting” as one of myriad services they provide
Their promotion lists their accomplishments: titles written, degrees earned, awards won
They willingly share writing samples or do free chapters to demonstrate their skill
Most don’t understand the difference between BISAC spread and BISAC clump. Few can explain the disparate development paths (or potential ROI) between public, purpose, and private titles.
In other words, they present themselves to the world as employees but cannot understand why they’re treated as hirelings. They have no ghostwriting knowledge base. No ghostwriting skills. No ghostwriting authority.
So let me share some facts.
The demand for professional book ghostwriters is higher than the supply. According to industry lore approximately eighty-one percent of Americans want to write a book. That’s 283.5 million potential authors, conservatively. But of the 54,000 writers in America, only 200 are professional ghostwriters, according to Madeline Morrell of 2M Communications. (I think she’s wrong; I’ve personally trained at least fifty ghostwriters who turned out to be top pros. That said, 283,500,000 : 250 is still a significant demand/supply ratio.)
Pro ghostwriting has been the most profitable career choice for 21st century writers for nearly fifteen years, according to Marty Nemko (US NEWS & WORLD REPORT, 2009).
Professional ghostwriting authority is based on a toolbox of knowledge, skills, and psychology that myriad freelancers admit: “It never occurred to me to even think about knowing something like that.”
To command premium ghostwriting fees, your toolbox must contain:
Book Industry Knowledge Base
Industry expectations and standards
Industry supply-chain players, discounts, and prospects
Traditional vs. hybrid vs. service vs. self publishing
Registrations, ownerships, and scam pitfalls
Ghostwriting Theory
Scope and limitations
Authority and obligations
Business vs. freelancing
Nonfiction structure, templates, and story
Fiction architecture
Market vs. audience vs. Amazon
Author communication vs. report
Mechanical Skills
Editorial
Chicago Manual of Style
Algorithm-compliance
Nonfiction templates
Draft sequence
Implementation logs
Mechanical/Creative Skills
Market positioning
Nonfiction charting
Fiction mapping
Chart to chapter manipulation
Map to chapter manipulation
Musical Line Editing mechanical elements
Creative Skills
Open interviewing
Creative Analysis, aka Analytical Reasoning
Perspective, Motive, Agenda
Plot-PMA integration
Meet-in-the-Middle plotting
Movel to novel conversion
Non-mechanical musical line editing
Creative/Professional Skills
BISAC Subject Headings
Industry based nonfiction, memoir, and fiction gold and strengths
Industry based non-fiction, memoir, and fiction content disruptions and deal breakers
Professional Skills
Book proposals
Bestseller strategy plans
Synopses
Query letters
Business Skills
Business model
Project proposals, aka bids
Equitable contracts
Business plan
Sales funnel
Business launch tactics
Ghostwriting Psych
Mindset management
Human-nature management
Project management
Yes, it’s a lot to master, and I truly wish I had a simpler answer for “How do I find clients who will pay me what I’m worth?” But I don’t. Writing can be a job, a paid occupation, or a trade, all of which earns however much the market will bear—but professional ghostwriting is a business that provides premium services at premium prices.
And now here comes the upsell, as they say in the marketing biz:
Fortunately, everything in the above list is 100 percent learnable and can be acquired by:
Trial and error, which is the way most pro ghosts learned their profession
Working with a mentor
Taking Ghostwriting Professional Designation Program
Ghostwriting Professional Designation Program https://www.cpace.csulb.edu/courses/ghostwriting/
Unit 1: Introduction to Ghostwriting https://ghostwritertraining.com/
Questions
kata@wambtac.com