Go where you want to write.

The most critical piece of advice that I give to anyone who wants to write – whether I’m officially coaching them or not – is that they have to find their voice. And to do this, I highly recommend that they write like they’re talking to their best friend, mate, cohort – the person who makes them feel like their greatest self, the person who doesn’t judge, who wants the world for them, who loves and encourages their bright light to shine, shine, shine.

By the way, it’s not your mother or anyone that holds an emotionally charged lightening rod to you.

When you write like you’re writing to or talking to this person, your readers get a pure hit of the connection that sizzles between you. They feel like the circuit includes them as well, they find themselves on the inside. Because it oozes out of every word. And they are included because we’re really writing to all of our readers, yes? If you want to read more about my philosophy on this and fancy a shot of Clooney, go here.

But, today, I’m adding something to this manifesto. Location. I’ve come to realize that it’s not optimal to write when you don’t feel good about where you are. Unless you subscribe to the ‘tortured artist’ train of thought, of course. And I don’t. I think that the more magnificently your light shines, the better your writing results will be. And I mean ‘high beams’. No candles, no 40 watt bulbs.

Your writing will radiate brilliance. And your readers will want more, like crack. Or at least like a really good blog (or book or column) that they love reading and can’t get enough of.

In my mind, location is about place and so it includes physical location, but also:

• who’s in your space,
• what it smells like (I’m very big on the power of smells and ask you to kindly keep your garlic and patchouli far, far away from me),
• what you can see when your eyes look up from your computer or notebook,
• the charge that buzzes around in the air.

If you’ve been in a bad place, Starbucks in a new city may seem like heaven. If you feel drowned in the city, it may be that the woods do it for you. If you’ve been in prison, then I suppose the sky’s the limit.

And if it feels good – the place where you plant your chair – I just don’t think you can get this one wrong.

Image Credit: antecanis

Check out the latest interview on The Daily Norm: John Grogan, best-selling author of Marley & Me.

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Holy bonus, Batman.

Something strange has happened. I’m about to call the EPA and have them check my water. I can’t think of any other explanation.

Here’s the thing: I’m ahead.

I’m not just caught up with my work, I have things done before they’re due – as in, in advance of their deadline. It’s not that I’m a slacker usually, it’s just that I love the thrill of the deadline, so I usually push each one to the limit. But this week, I’ve been like a machine. Can I tell you how many times I checked my calendar this week to verify that it was actually only Monday, then only Tuesday, then only Wednesday? A lot.

The Blank Page Route

I have a good friend that is going through a major life change. She’s at a crossroads with her relationship, business and geographic location. When we talked about what was going on with her, there was an invitation to discuss the horridness of the situation, to moan and groan and bellyache about it. But we didn’t. Instead we took the blank page route. Instead of desolation, there was nothing but open road and opportunity:

• If she could live anywhere, where would it be?
• If she could be with or without a relationship, which would she prefer?
• If she could be with anyone, what would s/he be like?
• If she could change anything about her business, what would it be?

What a glorious time we had creating and sucking.

The Bonus List

Today, Silas decided to leave our house and take some free time for himself. He was gone for four hours. I have no idea how he amused himself except that he rolled in something dead. The evidence is all over him. That doesn’t sound like fun to me, go figure, but it was his bliss.

When I realized how far ahead I was in my work today, there was an urge to pile more work on or, in a moment of pure insanity, search for the things that I’d forgotten to do and thus, send a wave of disappointment and reality upon myself as I realized that I wasn’t even close to being ahead.

But, I didn’t do that. Do you know what I did?

I made a list, I followed my blissful urges – the ones that felt good to just me. I played my own version of the Blank Page. Though I wasn’t at a crossroads, I was standing in front of an opportunity. What do I want to do with this unexpected open time? I asked myself.

• Write (whatever I want to write)
• Work on my new site The Daily Norm (which is soon to feature a fat interview with John Grogan (of Marley and Me fame any second now, so you might want to sign up for email alerts)
• Take an afternoon off and hang with my family
• Stand outside with my arms open waiting for the following things to drop into my arms: a book deal, a fat ghostwriting book project, a syndication opportunity for this blog, a lifetime supply of either guacamole or George Clooney
• Make a list of my ideal blog writing clients and go after them
• Write some more (of whatever I want to write)

I’m working through this list…with glee. And I’m curious to know what’s on yours.

Image credit: Fonzie’s Cousin

Check out the latest interview on The Daily Norm with The Bloggess, Blogger, Mother, Humorist.

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Using mirrors the right way.

The wrong way…

Simply put, the wrong way is to look at it alone. Just you and the mirror. I’m sure there is that lone star out there, like my father, who loves to look at themselves in the mirror – oohing and ahhing at the prettiness.

(I’m not kidding about my dad. Without fail, the man looks in the mirror every morning and then remarks out loud about how handsome he is.)

But, the rest of us, well…we typically look and dissect and pick ourselves apart. Flaw after flaw pops out before our eyes. Our reflection becomes a punching bag.

The right way…

Yesterday, I spoke to one of my very best friends from high school. We’d lost touch in our 20′s when we were both busy, well, being 20 something. You know – that busy, wild, independent, selfish, scary and exciting time of real jobs, real romances, real apartments – actually living like an adult with the 20 something excuse that allows you to still fuck up at will.

Anywho, we’ve finally gotten back in touch – and we talked for a long time last night, taking turns telling the story of our last 15 years. As each of us finished, the other, of course, reflected back our thoughts and feelings about what our friend had gone through and where she was today.

It’s my M.O. to deflect compliments, but as I finished telling her about my life right now – and she reflected it back to me, thriling about bits and pieces including the fact that I was still writing (she was a big fan of my teenage writing, back in the day) – I couldn’t help but smile.

My reflection and the image that appeared in this mirror looked pretty good. So it got me thinking that maybe, just maybe there’s something to picking the right mirror. Maybe that’s the trick. Snow White’s Wicked Queen figured that out a long time ago, right?

Mirrors, it turns out, are subjective. And, we get to look in whichever direction we choose.

Image credit: The Alieness

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Making Big Manageable

“You’re ghostwriting a book? But a book is like, a book – it’s so long!”

I’m noticing that other writers and non-writers are book-shy – they keep saying things like that ditty above. A book sounds long, it feels long, it takes a long time to read. I get that, but there is a solution.

I decided to write this post and talk about my management process of ghostwriting a book (or writing your own, for that matter) hoping that it would open some space and opportunity in your head, network, workflow.

A book does sound big to me too, fyi. Here’s how I make big manageable:

• First, stop thinking about it as a book (except when you’re bragging that you’re writing a book to other people). It’s really not, you know, it’s just like a zillion blog posts, a million articles.
• To find these many zillions and millions of pieces, you need a good outline. Solid, organized, accepted by the author with knowledge from both of you that it can and will probably change.
• This outline isn’t organized by chapters, you have to go smaller than that – break down the chapters into sections. Break it down as far as it will go.
• Create a schedule where you write sections every day, not chapters, just sections.
• Don’t look at the whole enchilada, keep your eyes focused – section by section, chapter by chapter.

In this case, it’s one section at a time. But they’re done in succession. The voice, the syntax, the flow – all constants. Look at the picture of the flower up above. Each little petal is different, unique – and by itself, just a petal. But they’re connected, by the base of the flower, their colors and their textures…and together they make a truly glorious masterpiece.

Image credit: spakattack

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How to get the job and keep the client

I just finished reading an article by Sean Platt that left me going, ‘huh?’ The article was about the importance of freelance copywriters standing out from the crowd – a huge crowd of talented writers, cheap writers, so-so writers, bad writers, good showman and on.

Platt’s answer to the dilemma was to tie a magical red bow around all of the copy you write. How did he define the red bow? Michael Stelzner (the white paper guy) left a comment that summed it up…”…it seems like you’re being a bit vague about what this ribbon is exactly here.”

Um, yeah.

So, how do you stand out, get the client and keep them? Good writing is critical - don’t fool yourself (…though we’ve all seen bad writing and someone wrote it and got paid for it, sooo…) I could write a post about tips for writing good copy – but often I think the secret to a successful copywriting business stands outside the bounds of what you can do with your keyboard. It’s not all about the writing…

• Be professional. Don’t whine, don’t make excuses – just do what you said you were going to do. If you make things harder for the client, you will be gone. Make working with you a delight.
• Deliver on time or early. If you’ve done any professional copywriting, then you know that clients are rarely on time. I’ve done rush website writing jobs in the last year that have yet to go live on the digital screen. Make sure that you aren’t the hold up, the client can feel free to take as long as they want. If it’s the designer that’s stalling things, don’t worry and realize that you now look even better.
• Create and/or adhere to fair contracts. Depending on the client, you’ll have the opportunity to be the producer of the project’s contract. Make sure that you promise things you can deliver – and then do it. Protect yourself with things like Project Creep clauses. If you feel good about the contract terms, you’ll feel better as you write the project and the deal will run smoothly. If you aren’t the contracts creator, request adjustments to make the contract fair – that’s your right.
• Over-deliver by giving referrals, sharing info, etc. If I see an article or opportunity that would benefit my client, I send it right over. If I hear that they need a designer, I offer mine. Mind you, this is part of my personality so I kind of can’t help it…and it’s a great way to offer value.
• Find the right mix of human. Do not, I repeat, Do NOT, under any circumstances respond to, ‘How are you?’ at the beginning of a business call with, “Well, my cat died so I’m pretty bummed out because I’ve had her since I was 14 and I can’t decide if I should get a new one or wait because we’re thinking about moving and I heard it’s hard to rent with a cat and we can’t afford to buy right now because my boyfriend lost his job and….” Keep it positive and don’t be a robot. Something like, “I’m great – the sun is finally shining after a week of rain! How are you?” Always ask back – be polite.
• Want and invite feedback. When I send a draft to a client, I include a message to the tune of, “I look forward to your feedback as always and look forward to making this website everything you hoped for…” And I totally mean it, every time. This is about the client – you are their tool, to be honest – your feelings and ego need to move aside. It’s not personal, it’s business. Act like it.

What did I forget brilliant readers ‘o mine? Weigh in, by all means…

Image credit: San Diego Shooter

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To throw or not to throw yourself under the bus, that is the question.

Yesterday, I went for an epic rollerblade. Eight miles, bright blue skies, forest all around me. And, ‘they’ (don’t know who they are, just know that I love them) had just come through to clear the path of debris – something they do on a monthly basis. So, I was cruisin’…to the point that I kind of stopped paying attention.

Around mile 4 I glided up a small hill and passed a guy walking – who just so happened to be beautiful – and I was busy being grateful for his smile and friendly ‘good morning’ when suddenly I realized that I had reached the top of the hill…and that it was the hill. The one with a treacherous and steep downhill on the other side.

I know this terrain well. My usual M.O. on this slope is to approach it at a snail’s pace, criss-cross in a horizontal fashion and get to its pine needle and dirt ‘gutter’ as soon as possible, where I then proceed to walk down the hill like the chicken that I am gracefully. But, alas, I wasn’t paying attention and I was going really fast. Really, really fast.

I had two choices:

1. Go for it. Engage my core, tuck down, watch the pavement for rocks and sticks…and fly down the hill.
2. Throw myself on the ground to immediately stop the madness.

I chose #2. In my defense, I did panic a little first. And then, I basically did my most unglamorous rendition of sliding into second base. I got a nasty raspberry with a side of road rash on my leg and a bruise on my tuchus, I gave myself tennis elbow somehow and this morning I woke up and felt like all of my bones were off-kilter – like someone hung my skeleton the wrong way on the hanger.

Anyway, I peeled myself off the pavement and started back to my car – lest you forget, I still had about 4 miles to go. This, not surprisingly, gave me plenty of time to over-analyze the hell out of my decision.

• Is this how I live my life?
• Am I so cynical that I assumed I was going down no matter what?
• Would I rather cause my own pain than let the world do it to me?
• Do I throw myself under the bus?
• Am I cutting myself off from opportunity?
• Do other people do this too?

And, of course, like the answer to all of my questions, there isn’t one. I’ve charged down ‘the hill’ at top speed more times than I can count – hair flying behind me and screaming, ‘WOOHOO!’ all the way down. But, like we’ve just seen, I’ve also hopped off the trail or taken my own dive, consequently not putting myself at risk – not only of failure, but also of wild success.

Sometimes flying down the hill gleans brilliant results, sometimes huge mistakes. Sometimes I can’t believe I dropped out and missed an opportunity, sometimes I praise my intuition and near escape.

There’s ‘self-preservation’ and there’s ‘self-sabotage’ – and there’s a marked difference and a place and time for each.  One of the secrets of life is being able to tell the difference. Can you?

Image credit: The Rocketeer

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What comes first, the blog or the book? An interview with Alisa Bowman.

I need to start by telling you that this post is seething with information. Really. Truly. I wouldn’t lie. It’s a bit long…but so worth it.

Do you know Alisa Bowman? (pronounced aleesa) If you do, you’re lucky. If you don’t, you’re about to get lucky – pun fairly intended.

Alisa is a writer extraordinaire. Her story and topic are bold (marriage and sex) – but her honesty and undeniable sweetness and realness make it all work. When I read her words, I feel like it’s just her and me doing some serious girl talk, pool side, with good drinks in hand. Besides the fact that she’s ghostwritten 6 bestsellers, Alisa is hardcore working her own gig right now – Project Happily Ever After - the blog and the book that several publishers are vying for at this very moment – she’s got it going on. But don’t listen to me…let’s listen to her.

Julie Roads: What came first, the idea for the book or the blog?

Alisa Bowman: They sort of evolved at the same time. As I was working on my marriage, I was sending very long and somewhat humorous emails to a friend, the very friend who convinced me to work on my marriage. One of these emails, for instance, was about my first bikini wax ever. The wax was called The Martini, and I got it because I am a Type A perfectionist who was about to have sex with her husband again after a 6 month long dry spell. I planned our second first time down to the very last detail–including the shape and size of my pubic region.

I sent her emails about all sorts of things: how we’d tried this thing called the “relaxed hug” and how it hadn’t exactly worked for us. I gave her all of the details about the Second First Time, even down to the fact that I finally figured out how to give my husband a good blow job. Seriously. I left nothing out. It was the first time in my life that I’d ever been so candid with anyone, but I felt so open with her. She was one of the only people who knew about my marital problems, and she was right there with me through every step of our marital improvement project. But she lives in Va. and I live in Pa., so we mostly communicated by email.

Anyway, she kept emailing back telling me that she laughed until she cried. She encouraged me to send my emails–as is–to Slate and Salon. I didn’t have the courage to do that just yet, so I started taking classes online. I first took a fiction class and dropped out about half way through when I realized I was basically writing erotica and I didn’t need the teacher’s help (not to mention the fact that she honestly did not know what to do with me). Then I took an essay writing class. The teacher was so encouraging that it gave me the courage to dream big.

So one day I was walking my dog and I started thinking about how I had my husband’s funeral completely planned out. I knew what brand of beer I would serve the mourners. I knew that waiters would be walking around with lamb on a stick. I wondered, “Do other people do this? Am I a freak?” And just like that, this line came to me, “I knew something was wrong with my marriage when I planned my husband’s funeral.” You never saw a woman walk back to her house so fast. I just sat at my computer and started typing. That turned out to be the first line of my book, and before I stood back up, I had an entire first chapter.

Then I entered this manic state where I knew it was good. I don’t know how to explain that. But I knew I had something, something that could help others. I knew I had a strong voice. I knew I had a story to tell. At the same time, as much as I knew it, I completely doubted myself. “You’re just a ghost writer. You can’t write a memoir. Your life is so completely boring. It is no Glass Castle.” Seriously. That was the sort of thing I told myself.

But I was having this rebirth where I was continually inspired to write all sorts of things, some of it related to my marriage and some of it not. I didn’t know what to do with it all. I finally got the courage to send the first chapter to my agent. I also sent him a bunch of other crap that I’d been writing (I kept the erotica to myself, but I did mention that I had it if he knew of a market for it). He read it all while on vacation. I still have the email he sent to me, from his vacation. One line was, “I really, really like P:HEA [Project Happily Ever After].  Great title, great concept.  By far the most commercial of what you sent.” And so, I just kept writing.

Other writers had been telling me to start a blog for a while, but I’d resisted because I didn’t know what I would blog about. Most freelancers write about writing, and I didn’t want to do that. I also didn’t think I could write about ghost writing without ending my career. Then one day I had one of those “Duh you silly person” moments and realized my blog should be about marriage. And then I realized that the blog and the book could work together. And then I realized that I needed a platform, etc etc etc. That’s when things got serious.

Julie: How has the blog impacted the book…and vice versa?

Alisa: I don’t think the actual content of the blog influenced the book all that much. They are really separate entities. The book is the story of my marriage: falling in love, falling out of love, falling back in love. It spans 2004-2008. The blog is based on that backstory, but it’s a lot more advice oriented than the blog and all of the real life stories take place 2008 and beyond. That said, I blog 5 days a week, and blogging has allowed me to strengthen my voice and become a much better writer. I’m much more in touch with my audience now that I blog. So the act of blogging has allowed me to craft a better book. I started writing the book in late 2007 but I didn’t finish it until early 2009. (Well, I’m still tinkering and will probably do so until someone forces me to stop). So blogging allowed me to go back and edit the book and make it  A LOT better. I would have never developed my voice this quickly if it were not for blogging.

As for a timeline, I started writing the book toward the end of my official marriage project, so around Sept 2007. I had a pretty solid first draft by summer 2008. I’ve been editing and tinkering with it ever since. I started the blog Oct 2008.

Julie: My readers and I are brilliant, so we understand the importance of ‘giving it away for free’ as a way to create buzz and gather an audience. What has been your approach in that respect?

Alisa: I agree that you are brilliant! And I’m one of your readers, so that means I must be brilliant, too!!

Anyway…

Before I started blogging, I didn’t understand why any writer would give her words away for free when she could get paid for them. It went against everything I’d ever been taught about valuing ones work, not to mention copyright. But, honestly, there are not many paying markets for what I do. I have a very strong voice, and while my readers love that about me, magazines don’t.

And the blogging makes me happy. I seriously don’t care whether or not I get paid for it at this point. The process is what matters.

From a business sense, though, I’ve completely changed my views about the value of blogging. Free or not, it offers many, many values including and not limited to:

* It’s how I prove myself as a writer. After I started my blog, another website discovered me through my blog and offered me a regular job as a relationships editor for $1000 a month. It only lasted 4 months because the website lost its funding, but it was fun while it lasted. I also was able to place a first person piece in American Baby, mostly because the editor liked what she saw on my blog. Your blog is your virtual resume. Almost no one looks at the paper version anymore.

* I can monetize it eventually. I now have 75,000+ monthly visitors, so I’m definitely looking into ways to monetize. I’m looking into launching a store on the site that sells branded items. We’ll see.

* As I said, it makes me a better writer. I’m also a better marketer, which helps me land more ghosting work because my authors all know that my knowledge of social media and digital marketing is valuable.

* It’s one of the only ways a non-connected not-remotely-rich person can gain a fan base. If you were not born rich or are not an actress or a model, then a blog is your best shot at building a following. A following is what you need to make ANY business successful. Your blog is free advertising. You could pay to put up billboards all over the country or you could blog for free. Blogging is a lot more fun and a lot more effective.

Julie: You’re currently in negotiations to have the book published, I think we can safely assume that the blog has helped make your case with the publishers – can you tell us how exactly?

Alisa: This is one of those things that confuses a lot of people. They think they can just start a blog and get a book deal, but it’s more complex than that. You don’t just need a blog to get a book deal. You need a successful one, one with a big following. Zen Habits had 1 million unique visitors before he got a book deal. Same with dooce.com. I believe Hungry Girl had 250,000.

You can get a deal with fewer visitors (I am about to), but you need to: 1) have an amazing product (book) that showcases a story with a complete arc and strong voice 2) show that you are gaining momentum quickly. Essentially you need to know that you are gaining site visitors, that you are a hot commodity. You need to prove that you are about to hit your virtual tipping point.

And the content on your blog really needs to be different than the content you want to put in your book. Otherwise editors will continually ask you, “Why would someone pay $24.99 for this when they can get it for free on your blog?” That’s a valid question. You need to be able to answer it with, “Well they can’t get it for free on my blog because my book is completely new and different.”

The blog definitely helped me, though, especially because my traffic numbers are moving in the right direction. That helps to prove a number of variables: people like my voice, people like what I have to say, my writing can attract a following, etc. That I can tell 75,000 or more people about the book just by writing a post about it also doesn’t hurt.

But what’s more important are my relationships. I’m a former newspaper reporter and former magazine editor. Between my previous jobs and blogging, I’ve gotten to know many different writers, from reporters at the Pittsburgh Post Gazette to bloggers at MSNBC and tlc.com (not to mention YOU) to one of the anchors at the FOX news network. I’m connected to hundreds of freelancers through Twitter, Facebook and a couple professional organizations.

As a result, I know what stories various freelancers are working on at any given time, and I know when they are desperately trying to find that rare person who is willing to talk about her sex life and allow her complete name to appear in the story. I really am a rare woman in that regard. Most people are not comfortable talking about the things I am willing to tell the world. So between my connections and my openness, I’ve had a fairly easy time lining up media for myself. Just in the past year, I’ve been quoted in Redbook, First, and Pregnancy magazines, as well as iparenting.com and cnn.com. I’ve been a guest on several blog talk radio shows and my essays and articles have appeared in a number of different consumer magazines.

Blogging has also taught me a lot about social media and digital marketing. My following on Twitter and established presence on Facebook certainly helped me gain interest from publishers.

Publishers like authors who can market and sell their own books. Their budgets are shrinking, and their publicity teams are continually forced to work on more books with fewer people. So an author who can serve as her own publicist–by launching a blog tour, doing guest posting, smoozing with freelancers, doing public speaking, etc–is very attractive.

I might not be Suzanne Somers, but I can get my message out. My relationships with other bloggers and journalists really helped to make me attractive to publishers.

Julie: Has the blog hurt the publishing process at all?

Alisa: I don’t think it hurt. Publishers really are not as out of touch as many people think. They are pretty on top of the trends in all things digital. But they are still operating in two formats: paper and digital. That’s pretty tough and it takes a near genius to find ways to straddle both formats well.

I did have one publisher ask about my ebook, which I’m giving away for free, but the content in the ebook is different than the content in the paper book that I’m shopping around. If I was repurposing, then the blog would probably hurt. It would also hurt if I had no site visitors. But that’s not the case.

Julie: You write about your life, your relationship, sex – all very personal. How do you approach the issue of transparency?

Alisa: Many years ago, I used to be a very secretive person. I was also very, very depressed. I’ve since learned that I’m much happier when I keep no secrets. I have nothing to be ashamed of and nothing to be embarrassed about. I’d rather people know the real me. If they know everything about me and still like me? Then I know they are true friends. If I hide parts of myself from people, how will I ever truly know what they think of me?

Blogging has really helped me become more comfortable with sharing the intimate details of my life, though. I continually get comments and emails from people who thank me for helping them. Those comments mean the world to me and they make any moment of bashfulness so worth it.

I used to worry about the effects my blogging and writing in general would have on my daughter. She’s only 4 now, so I’m not sure what the future holds. But I do think I’m a better parent that I can talk and write about these issues openly. I’m sure she’ll hate that I write about my sex life when she’s 13. But if she didn’t have that, she’d find something else to hate about me during that stage of her life.

My general rule about the transparency is that it has to have a point. I don’t write about my sex life just to be graphic. I always make sure I have a point or that I’m trying to be helpful. That’s my rule and that’s what allows me to sleep at night!

Where to find Alisa…

Project Happily Ever After Website

Project Happily Ever After Blog

Free Ebook: Relationship Rules

Twitter

Filed under Blogging, How To, Myth or Reality, News, Writing | Tags: alisa bowman, best seller, blog, Blogging, getting published, ghostwriting, Julie Roads, marriage, marriage advice, project happily ever after, sex, Writing, Writing Roads | Comments (7)

Ghostwriting blogs: at what cost?

I spend a lot of time on this blog talking about how important it is to be authentic in social media (including blogs). I’m even in the midst of writing an ebook on the subject with my good friend, Ron Miller. And, yet, I’m on the deep end of a controversial debate about blogging itself.

The debate looks like this: is it okay to have someone else write your blog? And it sounds just plain UGLY.

I’ve got to say I ride the fence, see both sides, struggle intensely and feel many things when this gets discussed. But, if I had to choose, I’d say it’s okay (and I have some guidelines that I follow).

Side ONE

I absolutely ghostwrite blogs for certain clients, I’m proud of my work and I feel good about the services I offer. My reasons for doing so:

1. I love blogging and think it is an incredible and beneficial practice that everyone should have the option to enjoy.

2. Some people seriously can’t write. Why is it that writing is taken for granted and design isn’t? Is it because we all learned how to read and write in the 1st grade, but only some people learned graphic/web design. There is a difference between being able to literally write letters and being able to write skillful copy or prose. The ‘I can write, so I’m a writer‘ assumption is inherently flawed.

3. I don’t think a writing inability should exclude a person from the power and joy of blogging.

4. Time. Many people want to focus on their business and don’t have the time to write their blog. The number one reason for blog failure is time and commitment.

5. As best as I can, I approach blog ghostwriting like I approach all marketing writing: I listen to my client’s voice, personality, passions, business mission/goals/philosophy. I do market research and immerse myself in their industry. We talk regularly so that the blog really is theirs, I’m just the writing vehicle. (Disclaimer: This last part does not always happen, but it is always my goal to educate the client about its importance and then move in that direction).

6. I love blog writing – it is my all time favorite writing platform, so the work gives me great (and steady) work that I simply adore.

7. I wonder if there are two levels of blogging – or maybe a million, maybe there are as many levels as there are bloggers. The level is determined by the desired result. Are you looking to showcase a portfolio, write, hear your voice, connect with others, sell something, document a process, establish yourself as an expert, be public, be private, build a business, offer services…?

In some of these scenarios, it makes no sense, and in effect, would be detrimental to have someone else blog for you, in others…not so much. Can an architect document their process for a project with pictures, plans, etc. but have me write the accompanying text so that it sounds good? Can they tell me their philosophies and have me create copy that will be readable so that they can widen the net they cast? I’m going to say yes.

Side TWO

1. I understand the other side. The side that says that any blog value will be lost when the owner is not the author. I get it because it is all too true for my own blog. No one else could write this blog for me and get the same results (most definitively, because I’m a writer – so it would just be wrong. But if I was a prize-winning baker that was dyslexic? Different story).

2. This scenario was pitched to me: what if someone came up to one of your clients at a cocktail party or networking event and started talking to them about a blog post and they had no idea what they’d said (really, what I’d written). Of course, I see that this poses a problem. If someone writes your blog for you, you need to read it – and, as I mentioned in #5 above, it’s best if you are involved in the ideas and philosophies that stand behind the blog.

3. But, just two days ago, someone started talking to me about something that I wrote and it took me (someone literally married to and consumed by this url) a bit of discussion before I could locate the exact post they were talking about. It’s not out of the question that a blogger might need some time and help to identify each of their posts.

4. Back to #7 above, I think there are so many different kinds of blogs – some would be decidedly wrecked if they were written by someone else.

5. There’s also an honesty issue at play here…I know and understand that some people, if they found out that a blog they read was written by someone else, would feel lied to – that the blog was misrepresented. One of my clients insisted that we be transparent about the fact that I wrote for her – and the whys and hows – it was quite interesting, not to mention fun, to be a tag team visible to the world.

Wow – I’m rereading this and seeing that I’m heavy handed on the ‘it’s okay to ghostwrite a blog’ side…maybe it’s because I feel good about the how and why I do it. I’m not just filling someone’s blog with salesy, impersonal ‘crap’ (‘scuse my French)…see how there are so many levels to this debate?

I know that a lot of you feel very differently and quite strongly about this topic – so let’s hear it! Because on this blog, there is plenty of room for discussion…we’re looking at the world through multi-lensed (and rose-colored) glasses ’round here.

FYI, for the record, I do not think it’s okay for a ghostwriter to write someone’s social media (Twitter, for example) conversations or to respond to blog comments (though if a client really can NOT write, I will edit the text). I know there has been a lot of conversation about how you can draw a line here, but I think it’s simple – a post is an article, a conversation or content posted on a social media site or as a comment on another blog is different. Regardless, this post is about ghostwriting blogs.

Update: I love what Alisa Bowman added to the conversation below in the comments. She is a ghostwriter and she puts this soooo well:

“I see it as an exchange of skills: One person has the idea (ideal world) and I have the skills (way of putting that idea on paper).”

Filed under Blogging, Critical Copywriting, How To, Marketing, Social Media, The Business | Tags: blog ghostwriter, Blogging, blogs, copywriter, freelance writer, ghost writer, ghostwriting, Julie Roads, marketing writer, social media, Writing Roads | Comments (22)