5 Questions to Ask When Hiring a Ghostwriter
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Hiring a ghostwriter for your business is an easy way to gain more time in your busy schedule so you can focus on your clients. However, finding the right ghostwriter for your needs can be a time-consuming journey and one that requires you to ask a lot of questions and be clear about the tasks you need completed. Here are five key questions you should ask when hiring a ghostwriter:
What experience do you have? – Anyone can publish a website and claim to be a ghostwriter, so you need to play detective and decipher if this candidate truly has the experience or if they’re a scam artist. Any professional writer should be willing to supply references and samples of their work. At the very least, check out the ghostwriter’s blog and read a few posts. Are the thoughts clear? Are the grammar and syntax correct? You could even copy and paste part of the blog post into Google or Copyscape to check for plagiarism.
Do you have a specialty genre? – Writers can write on a variety of topics, but ultimately you want a ghostwriter who truly knows your industry and can convey your professional voice through every word of copy. Do you really want to train a travel writer about the ins and outs of a coaching business? Do you want give a fashion writer the assignment of writing follow-up emails to your clients? Chances are these specialty writers wouldn’t apply for this type of project anyway, but it never hurts to ask. Otherwise, you may get charged for many hours of research when a writer who has the right experience could write off the tops of his or her head.
Is English your native language? – This question is not meant to discriminate in the least; it’s simply meant to qualify candidates. If you choose a writer who is fluent in another language, you run the risk of doing a lot of editing so the copy sounds like you instead of someone who is still trying to master the nuances of the English language. There are certainly bilingual and multilingual writers who can write well in English, but the question is worth asking so there are no surprises. Ask and then test them out.
What is your fee? – The fees to write individual blog posts will differ considerably compared with ghostwriting an ebook. Do your own research ahead of time and determine a budget for each of the tasks so you can approach this question from an educated perspective. Then find someone who is willing to work for your desired fee. A word of warning, however: you get what you pay for. Don’t simply go for the cheapest ghostwriter you can find. You’ll likely get lots of mistakes or need to hold the ghostwriter’s hand while he or she runs everything by you for approval.
What is your turnaround time? – Remember that ghostwriters have multiple clients, much like you have multiple clients, so it’s unfair and unreasonable to expect assignments to be completed in 24 hours or less. Another question to ask here is if the ghostwriter has a rush fee if you do need something turned around quickly. Having a calendar of tasks will benefit you because you can discuss your first deadline with the candidates and ask who is able to complete it by then.
If you think a personal ghostwriter is out of your budget right now or it’s just too much hassle, contact me. From blog posts to ebooks, I’ve got you covered!
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