Beyond Boooooks

5 other types of ghostwriting you can offer

So here we are staring at Halloween in 2020, a year that in many ways has been truly scary. Fortunately there have been some positives. Closer family relationships. Inspired do-it-yourself jobs. And exploring new career options.

The latter can be a lot of fun. Sure, it takes learning but consider it from the positive perspective. If you don’t keep learning, you start dying — and you don’t need a pandemic to create that scenario.

Check out these five

So, ready to learn still more? Of course you are or you wouldn’t be reading this.

Before you offer ghosting anything for others, though, build credentials with your own byline. After all, every potential client seeks your expertise. Whether you’re just starting nonfiction altogether, or you’re looking to offer a new area of expertise, these are among the top most likely requests.

1. Medium (and more)

Of course, we need to start with understanding this kind of storytelling tool. Medium’s start costs a minimal fee but offers endless options. You can pick any topic (unless you get too radical), make it long or short, and reuse it. So you’re not just getting one outlet.

And you can start here without fear of failure. After all, if you lose folks reading here it hurts, and yes, there might be some potential clients turned away. But you’re not totally shot down. Just make sure you see it as a good learning tool, and don’t disappear ’cause of initial heartbreak.

2. Magazine and newsletter stories

Do you want to be totally a B2B expert? How ‘bout B2C? If you don’t know these acronyms, you better start learning about them. The first is a market in a specific industry(ies) while the second is reaching out to consumers.

I started in the first area, mostly healthcare. Fortunately, it easily led me to my dream of consumer pubs, especially women’s mags. My dear departed Aunt Tillie didn’t believe I was running a business when I told her about my Nurseweek stories, but when I mentioned Good Housekeeping was a client — well, boy, then she knew I was “really working.”

Anyway, magazines — where the work was mostly 1000–3000 word features — led me to newsletters. Much of that was not only primary, but secondary stories. The first were more in-depth, but at most 1,500 words; the second were between 600–750 words.

You can do the opposite transition. Start with shorter pieces and work your way up. (And yes, both are still out there in print formats.)

3. Blogs

Written any of the above? The odds are many — if not all — of your stories can be just recycled. Initially it might be totally to your own website, but you can rework your stories (of course I mean the ones you own) for all sorts of outlets, include the stuff up above and the ones you’re about to read.)

Ummm — are you a writer who HAS a website? I can’t believe how many writers and editors still don’t. Or maybe yours looks 100 years old. Neither is going to encourage others that you’re a savvy 21st-century communicator.

4. Social media

Words of warning here. Social media has been a GREAT marketing tool for the 21st-century. But if you think being a Twitter or Facebook guru is the end-all and be-all, well think again.

First, are you truly an expert? I do have colleagues who’ve specialized in one social media outlet. But if you truly want to eventually excite others ‘bout your ghosting capabilities, you’ve really got to be much more of a storyteller. Sure, know how to summarize in limited characters, but make sure folks are directed to at least some of the above.

5. Video scripts

This is probably the one where you need a bit more than general storytelling skills. In fact, in some ways (IMHO), I think culling out great script copy is almost like figuring what points to capture in Twitter.

Of course, now you need to figure out many other details. E.g., Live or prerecorded? We’ll see you or the only visuals are slides with interspersed graphics, with you just as the announcer? How long? You putting this all together yourself or just doing the content and finding other ways for the visuals?

Well, you get the idea. Anyone who’s a writer and/or editor probably needs significantly more help here than in the previous options.

All of these need solid exploration. But the great news from today’s tech is so much of this can be learned online. Some of its free, some have fees. Just keep exploring and I know you’ll find what you need. ###

For training and ghostwriting custom content in a variety of the areas above — and more — check out Wendy Meyeroff, especially via LinkedIn, Issuu.com and her website. She wrote and designed the latter on Wix. A colleague used it as a solid example of good websites at a major conference a few years ago, and it led to Wendy’s eBook, “Web 1.0”. See more about 20+ years in B2B & B2C.