Why Every Writer Should Also Ghostwrite

Every writer should also be a ghostwriter.

None of my creative writing teachers told me this in college.

In fact, the few times ghostwriting ever came up in class, it was quickly equated to “selling your soul.” Some even went so far as to say that ghostwriting was “unethical.”

It wasn’t until I fell into the world of ghostwriting that I realized how wholeheartedly I disagreed with that perspective. The first guy I ever ghostwrote for reached out after reading a handful of my answers on Quora. He enjoyed my conversational writing style and wanted to see if I’d be interested in helping him share some of his stories and insights on the internet too.

“I think I have some valuable lessons to share. I’m just not a writer, and I don’t have the time to write,” he said.

He’d just sold his company for a billion dollars.

He was my first client. Then he introduced me to one of his friends, another entrepreneur.

Two clients turned to four. Four turned to eight. And a year later, I’d built a ghostwriting agency with a dozen full-time writers and editors, and 50+ clients around the world. Over the years, I’ve ghostwritten thousands of articles online for hundreds of CEOs, startup founders, Silicon Valley venture capitalists, NYT best-selling authors, Grammy-winning musicians, Olympic athletes, and more.

When you are a ghostwriter, you give voice to those who can’t, or are too busy to write themselves.

You aren’t giving away “your voice.” You’re in the service business.

As a result, you are allowed to sit in rooms you would otherwise never be allowed in. You’re paid to ask these incredibly smart people any question you can think of. Your job is to learn, and to help others communicate, while being paid 2x-10x more than any content writer.

While you nurture your own writing, who wouldn’t want that job?

This is an Atomic Essay from the Ship 30 for 30 daily writing challenge.