Is it Writing, Editing or Ghostwriting

Sallie Goetsch refers to herself as an "author-izer and collabowriter". She makes an interesting use of a blog as a repository for free articles on writing at Author-ized Articles. I was especially interested in There's More Than One Way to Write a Book, detailing the fuzzy lines among writing, editing and ghostwriting. This is the very concept I'm trying to get across in my newly revamped page on Editing Services.

In the years that I've been editing, I've learned that each job is unique, every writer's needs are different and each piece of writing has a different set of problems or missing parts. In notifying me that my services are now in the "Recommended" status on Preditors & Editors, The Editor, Mr. Kuzminski, said that:

... your site is impressive in what it mentions or describes concerning your services. A lot of writers don't understand the full scope of what editing covers or can cover. Admittedly, it's only a brief description, but it's enough to make the author aware of what will be provided. That's good.

What Ghostwriting Is

Happy Leap Day! If it's an extra day, why is it called "Friday" this year?

Like most people, I used to think ghostwriting was limited to anonymous authoring of someone else's book. Not true! Ghostwriting is a special condition of writing involving partial or no author credit for the writer. Any kind of writing. It can take place with the writer as an employee, under a work for hire agreement, as a freelance and with or without a contract.

More is at stake, however than just the credit of authorship. Other considerations, as attorney Ivan Hoffman points out, are rights retained and other payments like residuals (royalties in the case of a traditionally published sold book.) I disagree with Hoffman's assessment that negotiations and contracting may be limited to two or three parties (plus attorneys), because an agent may also fingerprint the procedures.

Just getting to the ghosting may involve many hurdles. A recent potential client insisted that I physically sign an extremely tight nondisclosure agreement simply to provide a free sample of my editing skills. You'll note that I am not identifying the client even by gender. That's how tight!

What else besides a book might be ghosted? Executive profiles, puff pieces placed in trade or association publications, web page content, blog posts, and serial formulaic fiction like mysteries, romances and westerns that come out under a publisher's pseudonym but written by many authors.

For years the acknowledged queen resource has been Eva Shaw's Ghostwriting: For Fun & Profit (Writeriffic Writer's), originally published in 1991 as Ghostwriting: How to get into the Business. Either title can help you deal with a ghostwriter or become one.

Get Editing Help

If you have skipped through the main pages of this website, you may have noticed that they are all now in an expanded format that matches the blog page's layout. In the process, I rewrote the copy for Editing Services and, to a lesser degree, Writing Services. Some may complain that the description of editing help offered is more vague than before, and that the prices have disappeared. That's because each client has individual needs, and a category of help does not fit all cases. For example, editing actually varies on a continuum from tinkering with a few words here and there through rewriting wide swaths or all of a work to full- on researching and writing the whole shebang for someone else to claim as their own (ghostwriting).

Individuals have differing ideas of what "editing" should cover. That's why I no longer offer fixed prices or a set service, but list examples. Some people want more and some want less. I'm currently working with a new author, readying a nonfiction book manuscript to send to the publisher. What I'm doing is more than proofreading, but less than what the client considers editing. An editor at the publisher will handle copy editing anyway.

The best way to get an estimate of the cost for editorial help of any kind is to provide an editor with a portion of your copy or manuscript and an idea of the work you want done. Sometimes the editor spots difficulties with the writing that the writer missed. A good editor will suggest how she can improve the work on the basis of a sample submitted. She won't "steal" your idea or your words (a common worry for beginners). Some jobs are more reasonably paid by the word, and some by the hour. It all depends on the type and amount of work performed.

Writing out a Recession

Gasp! Yes, the financial pundits are promulgating the "R" word, daring to utter that daunting epithet "recession" out loud. If you've lived long enough, you may just sigh and stop thinking about running off to the tropics on a nice vacation, delay plans to purchase a new car this year, or just drop your nose a little closer to the grindstone. Younger people tend to tense up when they hear the mysterious "R" word, mainly because they don't know exactly how it might affect them.

Let's make it personal. A recession is a slow down in the overall economy. Fewer jobs, more layoffs, smaller pay increases (if any), budget cuts and most of all: a reduction in advertising. You may think you're safe as a freelancer. None of those factors can affect you, can they? When business is bad, companies cut out nonessential expenses, and the first to go is usually advertising. Seems counter intuitive, but that's a fact of life. Less advertising means less revenue for publishers, which leads to fewer pages for writers to fill.

I've never forgotten a page I saw in 1973 taped to a newsroom wall of the Dayton Daily News:

The country was in a recession at the time. I'd been laid off from The Miami Herald and wanted to move back home to Ohio. No go. No jobs for journalists.

When the usual writing jobs dry up, competition increases and editors are less likely to take chances on newcomers. Time to think sideways and find niches you can fill that aren't dependent on advertising income. If you have a good grasp of the mechanics of writing and live near a university, students always need editing help with their papers, theses and dissertations. N.B.: I did not say, "Write their papers." Some other potential money-makers:

1. resume preparation
2. writing for nonprofits (which doesn't mean they can't afford to pay you)
3. ghostwriting memoirs for seniors (market at retirement centers by giving a free class)

Start thinking about it now. What other recession-proof writing jobs can you come up with? Share them with us in a comment.

Writers Contracts Dangers

Even when you're writing for someone else and receiving no byline or credits, many sticky issues can rear up and bite you in the butt. What kind of writing carries no credit lines? Writing for businesses, work-for-hire jobs, and ghostwriting come to mind immediately. Because so many issues can arise around copyrights, use of your name and non-competition agreements, it's better to have these spelled out in the clauses of a contract before you start working. Even then, as the American Society of Journalists and Authors points out in a Contracts Watch article, you might not have a smooth relationship with the employer.

Melanie Votaw learned first hand about feeling (and being) violated when a book she wrote under a work-for-hire agreement was reissued using her name in a rewritten form that she did not authorize. "When I signed the WMFH contract, I gave away copyright of my original manuscript, and I received no royalties. The contract did not give the publisher permission to use my name in any way it saw fit, however. I potentially have a case for "misappropriation of name," but the attorneys for the Authors Guild have advised me that after having kissed my copyright goodbye, I would probably lose such a lawsuit."

Even more bizarre is the saga of the Penn Group suing ghostwriter Lauren Slater for breach of contract. Alex Beam of The Boston Globe presents a complex tale about Slater, this publishing company and it's proposed suit against a west coast ghost who didn't even work for it! A good admonition to find out all you can about any company before you work for them.

Ghostwriting

When is ghostwriting? Sounds crazy, doesn't it? The compound question reflects the confusion in many people's minds, especially those of beginning writers, about several aspects of ghostwriting. Traditionally a ghostwriter wrote a book on which someone else's name appeared as author. Ghostwriting has expanded to articles and other forms of writing, especially in the business world. A well-known business writer confided to me that his P.R. job consists of writing pieces for CEOs and other business officials to claim as their own.

Copywriting can take on an aspect of ghostwriting when the copy appears as someone else's words. Of course, speech writers have long been ghosts, whether they thought of themselves as that or not. I found as I moved into heavily editing a client's book, that I was essentially rewriting it. Eventually the client began referring to this as "ghostwriting", and I had another feather in my writer's cap.

I found some good ghostwriting tips in an article by Angela Booth, How To Get Started As A Ghostwriter (scroll way down the newsletter to find the piece). Then from a free document by Marg McAlister, Should I Become a Ghostwriter, I learned I might be charging too little for ghosting.

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