Leaders, why do you need a ghostwriter?
As the number of people writing for others grows, stereotypes and prejudices around this activity are also falling, considered more and more as a creative alliance than a mere exchange of words for money.
In the same way that the world accepts and understands the role of speechwriters, we have to remove the veil of secrecy with which some still view ghostwriting.
Well understood - and properly done - ghostwriting is not simply emptying a specified number of characters into a document that is later published under someone else's signature. No.
It is a creative process of constant feedback, in which each participant contributes their strengths, enriched by the exchange of ideas, knowledge, and techniques.
For example, one of my clients explained to me that there are great global luminaries with very significant contributions to his area of knowledge in his field. Still, very few know how to communicate their ideas efficiently.
She also told me that I had the knowledge to ask the right questions and use the proper terms when writing on that subject. That's why they hired me.
I think that is the essence of what a ghostwriter should be: someone with an exceptional command of the language, grammar, and narrative resources, who also masters the field they write about.
That is the first condition. The second is that it has to be a symbiotic process, in which each party contributes the best of their knowledge to put together the final product. The leader contributes his technical expertise, and the ghostwriter the best way to communicate it.
And the most necessary, yet more challenging condition: the ghostwriter has to identify in such a way with the 'author' that he must convey the information in the same style and tone in which that person would do.
To achieve this, it is essential to have a lot of communication, work closely, understand the text's purpose, and know what is being communicated on each occasion.
This service is based on these three pillars: knowledge, technique, and permanent communication. Nevertheless, it is still "frowned upon," despite being widely used and increasingly necessary.
By the way, a ghostwriter is not just someone who writes a book, an opinion piece, or a personal thank-you letter in the corporate magazine. Ghostwriting is also used today in the area of social media, especially Twitter and Facebook.
In a world imposing an increasingly horizontal and open communication of political, business, and institutional leaders, the ghostwriter is the link between the highest levels of power and the citizenry.
That link has to be a professional with experience in the subject, an ability to learn and adapt, and with knowledge of the world of communications, journalism, and social networks.
But, I insist, it must be a well understood ghostwriting: a process of constant communication and exchange between technical knowledge and the ability to transmit it, which is reflected in an excellent final product.
I compare it to the collaboration between an architect and an engineer. One contributes the vision, the ideal, the philosophy around a building, and the other takes care of doing the calculations, selecting the materials, and planning for construction to be completed on time.
This is why you need a ghostwriter. To be the engineer of your vision, the philosophy, the ideals that, as your company, organization, or sector's leader, you want to communicate to your employees, your shareholders, or the world.
And I, of course, I am at your command. Feel free to contact me.