Leveraging Ghostwriting to Enhance Brand Reputation

00:21 - Lynn (Host)

Hi everyone, hello friends and future authors. This is Lynn Liquidy-Smargis, back for another episode of Publishing for Professionals. Welcome to the show If you're new. Thank you for joining.

00:32

I hope you are having a great month and in your publishing journey, and today's topic is going to be leveraging ghostwriting to enhance your brand reputation. So today's focus is how the strategically ghostwrite partnerships elevate your professional brand and because your expertise deserves world-class presentation without sacrificing a lot of your time. Obviously, you're going to have to sacrifice some of your time to write your book, but anyway, strategic ghostwriting is a really great way to do that and that helps you with your brand amplification. Excuse me, all right. So ghostwriting is actually a professional tool that you use and we'll talk about that in this episode. So before we jump into the first topic, I wanted to let you know that I love working with my clients to simplify their self-publishing process so they can publish their book and leverage their content to get more clients. So if you're ready to get the support you need to write and publish your book on time, make sure to grab a book blueprint discovery call, and the discovery call link can be found right underneath in the show notes. You can also find it by visiting my website, wwwwriteforyoume. So let's jump into this.

01:48

The first segment, which is reframing ghostwriting as a brand amplification, so to amplify or get your brand out there to places that may not have been there before, right? So the reality is is that most successful leaders do use ghostwriters, right, or they may write their own book and use professional copy editors, but there are a lot of thought leaders that use ghostwriters because they simply just don't have the time to write their book. But they have a lot of thought, expertise, content available, like a few of my clients I've worked with that have podcasts or YouTube channels, right, and they have all this great content. They just don't have the time to sit and write the book, and that's where I come in to work with them on writing and publishing their book. So professional ghostwriting is a collaboration, okay, and they should include your ideas with professional execution, like I say for my clients, right. Like I am here to assist and support you in this effort, but you have the last call on what goes in your book, right, I am not to assist and support you in this effort, but you have the last call on what goes in your book. I am not telling my clients exactly what to put into their book or exactly what to do with their content. So I always give them my professional advice and guidance with that, and that's what your ghostwriter should be. It should be a partnership, not a dictatorship.

03:04

So your brand reputation there are certain benefits you get with brand reputation when you write a book, especially when you're working with a ghostwriter, and the reason that is not just because I'm a ghostwriter, but a ghostwriter is really going to help you develop the best manuscript for your book that's going to have the most impact for the content that you have. Right Like you don't want to write a book with your content and then it's not going to have the maximum impact. Why would you spend all that time and effort to put out a book right that doesn't have maximum impact? You want to get the most impact out of your time and effort and money you put into your book. So remember that consistent, high quality content output is really important and you always need a professional to polish to match your expertise level and time efficiency, especially if you have high value activities or you make more than $75 an hour, which most people who listen to this podcast do you have. Hiring a ghostwriter is really a great investment because you are using your time to do all of those high level activity things that you wouldn't be able to do if you were actually using that time to write your book.

04:10

So that's where a ghostwriter is another benefit, right? You also get the expanded reach and influence of your ghostwriters circle. So I know for my clients who help I help with editing and or ghostwriting, or work together and collaborate with them. I put their book out on my email list so they have extra exposure on my email list, and I also post their book to my personal Facebook, which has over 1,500 people on it, so they get a lot of exposure to other people in my circles to help promote their book. So I do a little bit of book promotion for my clients who use me for book editing or ghostwriting. So that's another advantage you have of using a ghostwriter. Also, a ghostwriter like myself is going to know connections in the industry. So if you're looking for a specialty book like I've gotten a lot of people asking me about coffee table books lately, things like that a ghostwriter is going to be connected to the people who can assist you in doing that. So I have a fabulous people who can help you with book marketing, and so if you're looking for that or you're looking for other people in the industry, you need assistance with that. I don't offer those services. I have connections to almost everything you could possibly think of. So that is another advantage of using a ghostwriter to assist you with your book advantage of using a ghostwriter to assist you with your book.

05:31

So a lot of what I get from people is is are you going to keep my voice? So what I want to tell you is a good ghostwriter amplifies your voice and style. They do not erase it. So if you are working with someone, you can always and you're not sure you can always do like a sample chapter and say, hey, if I do this sample, I can do it like just that. You pay them, obviously for a sample chapter. You're not going to ask for free and so, anyway, have them just pay to do a sample chapter and see how they work in your voice and tone, and if they don't do a great job, you know you can't work with them. Then you just have used one chapter instead of hiring them for a whole book. So that is an option. So make sure that you have a good ghost writer that amplifies your voice content. It sounds like you on a good day. One of the things I love about working with podcast hosts is that I can listen to their podcast. Like a recent person who has hired me for ghost writing, I listened to her podcast and I can really get the feel for her voice and style by listening to her show. So if you have a podcast, that gives you an advantage with a ghostwriter because they can listen to your podcast and then easily figure out your voice and style and that way it sounds like you when they're writing All right.

06:37

So let's jump into the next topic, which is types of ghostwriting services. So one is like full-length books and memoirs. Okay, so these are executive memoirs for legacy building, business books for thought leadership. Typically, my clients take between six and 18 months, typically around 12 months, okay, and so that's one reason why you may want to use a ghostwriter. I've written several memoirs for my clients and they're really fun. I love writing memoirs. They're really interesting. I love getting people's backstories and really helping them enhance that voice and style and their story in their book, thought leadership articles and content. So you can hire a ghostwriter to write articles. It doesn't have to be a whole book. So if you want to write a regular column for your industry publication or you want to write LinkedIn articles, those are all great reasons to hire a ghostwriter, and I also do those for my clients as well.

07:31

Speeches and presentations so if you are looking to write a keynote speech, a conference talk, a panel prep any of those you can hire a ghostwriter, for there's lots of speechwriters out there, ghostwriters that do speech writing as well and executive communication. So this is something that's a little bit smaller, but you can have an executive assistant. That's a ghostwriter who helps you write and craft your content. Right. So you need to choose the right service for your goal. So what are you doing? So that's why I always ask people who are asking me about my ghostwriting services, okay. So I ask them like what is the purpose of your book? What is the point of your book? Who's the? What is the focus of your book? Right? Like, what's the topic? What's your niche topic and who are you speaking to? Who's that avatar that you want your book? You want to read your book. That's super important when you are writing your book to have that focus beforehand and one of the things you can do is I will put the link is in the show notes. I have a great book focus template you can download for free, all right.

08:34

So we're going to take a little break here. When we come back, we're going to talk more about leveraging ghostwriting to enhance your brand reputation and to save you time and money, because you are not writing that that you're taking your time to do what you do best and let the ghostwriter take their time to do what they do best. Hi, we're back, friends and future authors, and we're talking about leveraging ghostwriting to enhance your brand reputation. We're on the second half of today's episode, so the next topic we're going to talk about is finding and collaborating with the right ghostwriter. Okay, and this is really, really important.

09:25

So I just spoke with someone the other day who was looking for an editor and I was talking because I also do developmental and line editing for clients as well and we were talking and she said she hired an editor and the editor told her you can only like email me once a week and I don't talk to you until the job is done. Now, anybody who I, if I had talked to, had said that I would never hire them and I don't know why this person hired them, but she did. But your ghostwriter should be available to chat with you via email or whatever. Right Like I never tell my clients they can't email me. I always tell them if you have any questions, email me. And then we meet halfway in between, like on a Zoom call in when the project's about midway finished, and then we meet to talk about anything that needs to be changed, added, whatever change style, and then, after we meet, my client knows what they want and they tell me what they want, so I am confident moving forward with their work. And then we do the work and then we meet at the end to clean up anything that needs to be cleaned up. And then I clean that up and then I send it to my client. And if they're good and we don't need to meet, we don't. And if we do because they want something in addition, like book formatting or book cover design, we meet and talk about that. But I'm always in contact with my client.

10:44

Now, on the flip side of that, you don't want to be emailing your ghostwriter every day. That's not okay. One of my friends that happened to him when he was editing a book, literally. This person would like literally email him every day, and that's not okay. It's also not okay if your ghostwriter is like texting you back at two o'clock in the morning, unless that's like a one-off, right? Like you don't want someone who's like always on burnout because they're not going to do a good job writing your book. You don't want someone that has no boundaries, but you do want someone who you can actively communicate with and who will get back to you within 24 hours. Right? I always do that for my clients. I've heard a lot of people say, like people don't get back to them for weeks, and that's not acceptable. So if you hire somebody, do a test run, like I said before a chapter, and then if they're not getting back to you and they're not talking to you, that's not a good sign. I and if they're not getting back to you and they're not talking to you, that's not a good sign.

11:35

Ask your ghostwriter, right, how often do you communicate with people? You also want to look for industry knowledge, right? So one of the biggest things I see come across my desk is people are looking for people who have written for the big five. Now you can find people that write for the big five and edit for the big five, but that doesn't mean they're necessarily fantastic. Most of the people who do write for the big five are good, they are qualified, but they're not always great. I have heard people who have gone to publishers traditional publishers and their editors have edited their book, but it doesn't sound like them anymore and they have no recourse on that because they're with a traditional publisher, right? So the same can happen if you hire an independent ghostwriter, independent editor.

12:13

hey, can I pay you to write a: 1500

13:06

I always sign NDAs for my client, that's not a problem. I know some editors and writers have an issue with that. If they have an issue with that and you need an NDA, obviously do not go with that person, because haggling back and forth on an NDA is no bueno. It's not good, because if you're haggling with them for an NDA and they won't sign it, or they're haggling to sign it, that immediately runs a red flag for me, saying you can't trust that person, because if they're not willing to sign an NDA, then why would you work with them? That's like a big red flag right off the bat. So don't work with anybody who won't sign your NDA. If they need to look it over, that's different.

13:44

I always look over a contract before I sign it, but if there's nothing blaring in there or nothing in there, that seems weird. I'm like, yeah, this is fine, and I've never had an NDA where I've said, no, I'm not going to sign it. So most NDAs are very general and easy and it just basically says I'm not going to talk about your book, which is perfectly fine. I can say I'm writing a book for someone who is doing this, but I never mentioned names and I never mentioned what the book is about, because that's really important for me to keep my client's confidentiality high, all right. So also, what is their track record of successful partnerships? Ask for references, ask people for references, and if they can't give you two, that's really not okay. Now, they don't have to be two paid clients, right? They can be two clients they work for for free, especially if it's a new person right? I have lots of people who I can give references for all my work, so that's not an issue, all right.

14:38

So where to find qualified ghostwriters? Well, I am a qualified ghostwriter. You can definitely reach out to me at writeforyoume. You can also look on the Editorial Freelancers Association, which I like a lot. There's also Authors Unite, which is another publishing platform which is great to find qualified people, and also another one is Reasy, which a lot of people know, and they are usually really good qualified people. Now, does that mean that everyone on all these platforms is going to be amazing? No, there are always people right, who work for these agencies, who are not great. And if you find somebody who isn't a good editor, ghostwriter or whatever you're doing, please notify the agency and let them know you have not had a good experience with them and be practical on what you're saying. Don't be super emotional. That way the agency knows that that person might not be a good fit for them, because that's not good reputation for the agency if they have, or the publisher, if they have, people who are not doing a great job, who are contracting with them.

15:41

Okay, so setting up a. I'm sorry, let's go through the selection process, right? So we talked about where to find qualified ghostwriters, right, you can ask them for a portfolio. I always send my portfolio and ask them questions. I have another episode where is? What are the key interview questions you want to ask a ghostwriter? So definitely check that out. You can ask them for sample projects and obviously ask them for their pricing structure.

16:01

Every ghostwriter is different, but typically a good ghostwriter will price per word or per project, right, and I do an hourly, but that involves book coaching, so that's a little bit different. I don't do an hourly for book editing and I don't do an hourly for general ghostwriting as well, and that's all another story. That, if you would like to book a discovery call with me, definitely jump on my website writeforyoume and you can book a discovery call and we can chat about ghostwriting and pricing. All right, so legal contracts again work for higher agreements, copyright and ownership. Make sure if you want to have a copyright and ownership, you can do that I never have an issue with that with my clients and any non-disclosure NDA agreements. And make sure you know the payment terms and milestones and when the rough draft should be finished with your ghost writer. Okay, all right.

16:51

So our next topic we're going to talk about is maximizing your brand impact with ghostwritten content. So you want to have some strategic content planning, not just wake up on Monday and be like what am I going to plan this week? So make sure you have an outline of what you're going to do. Okay, align your ghostwritten content with brand strategy. Now I do an executive service for that it's called For my C-suite executives who want to write a book and also market it at the same time. I have what's called the Executive Authority Program and Accelerator and that program, that accelerator I write my clients' books while doing their book marketing for them. So I'm taking the content of their book and helping them posting it on their socials, helping them with all sorts of things. So if that's something you're interested in, definitely reach out to me. I'd love to help you with that. I love helping clients with that.

17:43

You need to have your topic selection for maximum impact. Make sure you have the correct topics that are popular, right and the timing industry for industry, relevance, timing the content appropriately and then, obviously, cross-promotion with your platforms and cross-promotion with other people as well. So make sure you have good quality control. Make sure that you are able to see your script at any time in your rough draft and understand what is your role in review and approval process, in the ghostwriting agreement and ensuring your accuracy and brand alignment. Make sure that you are building trust and make sure that your ghostwriter is giving you consistent content and if they're not, you need to definitely talk to them about that. You can obviously leverage this content for business development. That's what 99% of my clients do. These are books in sales conversations, in speaking opportunities, in networking. I have a really fabulous episode from September 23rd where I talked to Alex Trumbull specifically about networking with your book and using your book as a networking tool. So definitely go back and listen to that episode. It's really fabulous.

18:52

Media interviews, thought leadership right. A book is a great way to get on a news outlet and to get your voice out there. And consulting opportunities right. So if you have a book and your competition does not, that puts you ahead on getting a consulting opportunity. You can always mail someone or email someone, your book and that shows that you are the thought leader who is an author in your space and that separates you from everyone else who doesn't have a book. All right. So these are all just kind of the general overview, right of leveraging ghostwriting to enhance your brand reputation and what you want to look for in a ghostwriter.

19:29

And if there's any of these things that a ghostwriter won't do, that's a huge red flag. Do not work with that ghostwriter. I would never recommend anybody to work with a ghostwriter who doesn't have any of these going on, right? So just keep that in mind when you are thinking about who you want for your ghostwriting and what you want to do with them as well. So make sure that you are interviewing the person getting the references. If you need them to sign an NDA, make sure you ask them for that.

20:03

So remember that ghostwriting is a strategic brand application. It's not a big secret, so it has to be good. It has to be make sure that you have your ghostwriting brand all ready to go and make sure that you have understood what the ghostwriter is going to do and what your expectations are in that role. Okay, so you have that professional collaboration that should assist you and make your job easier along the way. Okay, just like my client said the other day, we're uploading his book to Amazon and he said, lynn, there's no way I would understand what to do if you were not literally walking me through this, and I help all of my ghostwriting clients with that. I literally walk them through uploading their book on Amazon because it's really confusing and it can be really complicated to have all that information and to know where to put it and when, and I've done it like three dozen times. So it's a walk in the park for me, but for my clients it's really hard and they're really grateful that I'm here to assist them with that and I love helping my clients be confident in their publishing process.

21:03

Okay, so make sure that you are getting all of these things in line. If you would like a discovery call, definitely go to my website, writeforyoume, and do that While others struggle with writing. You're going to be building your brand with a ghostwriter, so make sure that you are hiring a good ghostwriter, and I would love to work with you on that. I love ghostwriting with my clients. That is absolutely my favorite service that I offer. Anyway, friends, I hope this has been helpful and really good for you to help you really hone in on how to find a great ghostwriter and remember to keep writing, keep dreaming and keep creating. Your book is waiting to be born. This is Lynn Aliquity signing off for this week and I'm looking forward to seeing you next week for another episode of Publishing for Professionals.