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Many occupations have trade organizations to connect members of a particular field and to advocate for their interests.
That’s exactly why I established the Association of Ghostwriters (AOG) in 2010, as well as to make it easier for fellow ghostwriters to determine best practices and refer work to each other. We needed an umbrella organization to bring us together.
At the time, ghostwriting — and book ghostwriting in particular — was having a renaissance. Ghostwriting as a profession has been around since the dawn of civilization when royalty relied on literate experts to record and convey messages to the masses. But with the debut of social media platforms that have a voracious and ongoing need for content, ghostwriters have become key players.
Leaders, managers, experts, and speakers had a need for writing support. They wanted to spread their message and articulate their perspectives, but they didn’t have hours every day to put pen to paper. That’s when ghostwriters became popular.
A gap in the market
Back in 2008, at a writers conference in New York City, I was fairly unaware of this expanding market. Sure, I’d been receiving requests for ghostwriting proposals from my agent and editors at major publishers, but I was relatively new to the field at that point and assumed that’s how things had always been.
However, seated in the audience during a session about “Six-Figure Freelancing,” my writer friends and I were whispering about the lucrative work we had all stumbled on called ghostwriting. During the Q&A at the end of the panel, one of my friends stood up and asked if there was an association for ghostwriters, since there seemed to be growing numbers of writers in that niche.
Everyone shook their heads “no.”
And that’s when I knew I needed to start one. We had the numbers, since dozens of writers there had indicated that they were doing some form of ghostwriting, and chatter in the conference hallways was about the mechanics of such work. Writers wanted to know what to charge, how to set up project management tracking for book projects, which publishers were looking for client pitches and more. There was a need for us to be able to share our experiences with each other on a regular basis.
I spent the next 18 months studying other professional organizations and talking with colleagues to determine what type of support would be most useful.
In June 2010, the AOG was launched.
Through the years we’ve won several honors and awards, the latest of which is being named #1 on a list of the Top 25 Ghostwriter Blogs.
Serving ghostwriters
Our primary goal has been to connect ghostwriters with each other for information-sharing.
Ghostwriting is such a solitary activity that it’s easy to feel lonely and disconnected from other writers. The AOG continues to introduce ghostwriters to colleagues who are doing the same type of work.
In addition to bringing experienced and aspiring ghostwriters together under one roof, the AOG hosts monthly gatherings online where members can commiserate and ask for guidance from peers. These have been among the most popular benefits of membership.
Members can also ask questions in the private community Facebook group, stay up to date on organization happenings through our monthly newsletter, submit guest blog posts to the popular AOG blog, and attend occasional guest expert discussions. Ghostwriters who have demonstrated experience in ghostwriting client books can also be listed in the searchable online directory of members, be featured as the member of the month on the AOG home page, and receive project leads from potential clients.
Over time, as a community, we have influenced standard ghostwriting practices and helped shine a line on the publishing scammers who try to take advantage of authors.
Educating aspiring authors
Another AOG purpose has been educating and informing aspiring authors about the ghostwriting and publishing process. The better informed authors are, the better their finished book will be.
As an organization, we also try to shine a spotlight on scammers and on important trends and predictions, to help members and clients stay ahead of the curve when it comes to shifts in the market.
Although awareness of ghostwriting and ghostwriters has certainly increased in the last few years, thanks in part to authors like Prince Harry and Tim Ferriss being willing to credit their ghostwriters, there are still many misconceptions.
Among those misconceptions is what is a fair rate for ghostwriting services. Some authors mistakenly assume a ghostwriter will only cost a few thousand dollars, for a 250-page book that will take months to research, write, and edit. The truth is, anyone who quotes you a few thousand dollars to craft an entire book for you either doesn’t have the skills or is not planning to devote the time and energy it will require to do a great job.
There is a connection between skill and experience and the fee you’re quoted, with bestselling ghostwriters often charging close to $100,000 and up.
With such a hefty price tag, more authors are looking for ways to save money on ghostwriting. One of the latest technology innovations infiltrating the industry is artificial intelligence (AI). Some authors think they can rely on AI almost exclusively to draft their book.
Although I try to explain the dangers of using AI, which include the likelihood of plagiarism or incorrect information and the inability to receive copyright protection, some authors don’t believe me, or maybe don’t care. I’m not sure which.
But if you do rely heavily on AI to organize your material, add in stories, or supplement your research, it’s highly likely that your manuscript will include false information and passages from other books and you may not realize it until it’s too late. Be careful.
As a ghostwriter, I spend a fair amount of time trying to help aspiring authors find skilled collaborators and writing partners when I’m not a good fit for them (since I only write business-related books). I have that in common with the AOG, which also aims to connect its talented members with aspiring authors in need of their skills.