As a ghostwriter, I’ve discovered that one of the best ways to grow as a creative professional is not always through your own words – it’s through the words you write for someone else. When many people think about ghostwriting, they might focus first (and perhaps exclusively) on the paycheck that comes with it. Let’s make no mistake: ghostwriting can be a lucrative addition to your business model. But the benefits of working as a ghostwriter extend far beyond the financial.

Before we get into how ghostwriting can support your overall strategy for your creative work, let’s establish what ghostwriting is – and what it isn’t. In the first place, ghostwriting isn’t just about helping someone write the Great American Novel. On the creative side, I’ve been hired to ghostwrite screenplays and treatments in addition to novels and novellas. And on the business side, I’ve ghosted everything from cover letters for grant applications to articles and presentations. As a writer, your most valuable and marketable skill is communication: you know how to take information, package it, and present it to an audience. So, wherever someone has a need to communicate more effectively, there’s an opportunity for you to collaborate as a ghostwriter.

You’ll notice that I used the word collaborate. That’s on purpose. In my experience, the very best way to approach a ghostwriting opportunity is to view it as a collaborative enterprise: you and your client both have something valuable to offer to the project. Your client brings the initial idea, the funding, and (depending on the project) the subject matter expertise. You bring the skills to execute on that idea. In order to see the project through to completion, you will need to work with your client to ensure that what you produce is aligned with their vision, their voice, and their brand.

With that foundation in place, let’s talk about the three main benefits that ghostwriting can bring to your creative career: skill development, portfolio expansion, and financial sustainability. As a bonus, we’ll also talk along the way about relationship-building.

Ghostwriting as Cross-Training

Writing is as much a practice as it is an art. The more you write and the more you have the opportunity to receive feedback on your work, the better you get. Ghostwriting gives you the opportunity to hone your skills in both of these respects. Depending on the type of project, you may be developing your skills in areas that you don’t have the chance to practice as often.

Ghostwriting strengthens your grasp of story architecture, especially if you are writing outside your normal genre playground. Every new assignment has its own narrative demands when it comes to pacing, structural conventions, and audience expectations (yes, this also applies to nonfiction projects and presentations). When you routinely work with these elements across multiple types of projects, you’re essentially “cross-training” this muscle. This experience makes you a more confident storyteller when you write in your own voice.

One of the most important benefits of ghostwriting, especially for anyone who wants to write in film and television, is the practice of writing on assignment. Ghostwriting teaches you how to listen to a client’s vision, manage the project on their timeline, navigate their feedback, and deliver a polished project. You get faster and more consistent at writing at a high level, and you get better and faster at rewriting. You learn how to write in different voices and styles – and this only makes your own voice and style sharper. (I could explain why this is so by giving you a primer on the classical and medieval arts of rhetoric…but I will spare you.)

In this process, you also build the all-important skill of client relations. Collaboration literally means working together, and a huge part of the collaborative process is navigating disagreements. Ghostwriting teaches you how to communicate your creative decisions with authority while holding those decisions lightly enough to be flexible and accommodating.

I can’t emphasize enough how valuable this is. Left to our own devices and our own projects, these are skills we are likely not being forced to develop – especially the client relations piece. Your skill in this regard will make you a tremendous asset in any room.

Expanding Your Creative Portfolio

Unless you’ve negotiated a ghostwriting contract with attribution, your name will never appear on anything you produce for a client. But that doesn’t mean you aren’t expanding your portfolio. For example, under my own name, I write primarily science fiction, action/thriller, and horror, but a large percentage of my ghostwriting work has been historical fiction.

“How does this help you if no one sees you doing it?” you might ask.

One of the many reasons that I love historical fiction is that I love research. I’m an academic, so research is basically my professional playground. But research is a skill that you have to hone, or it will bog you down (you can read my previous post on this topic here). Sharpening my research skills on the whetstone of historical fiction novels that don’t have my name on them leads to feedback like “these scenarios are really believable” and “your worlds are so immersive” on the stories that do have my name on them.

It’s the Law of Conservation of Writing Energy: nothing ever goes to waste.

While I may not have those projects visibly attached to my portfolio, they have helped me to establish my reputation as a historical fiction ghostwriter, which in turn has led to more client work in the genre. And that brings us very neatly to a discussion of the business side of things.

Ghostwriting as Part of Your Creative Business

If I were to ask you what your goal is for your creative career, you might say something like, “I want to make a living from writing.” For many of you, this probably means “I want to make a living from writing that has my name on it.” If that’s the subconscious goal, making a living as a ghostwriter might feel like it “doesn’t count.” I’m here to help you challenge your thinking on this, because I had to challenge this belief for myself.

At this point in my career, I have made well into the six figures as a ghostwriter, and this has given me the freedom to work on my own creative projects with less risk. I’m so grateful that I didn’t shut the door on this revenue stream for my business. That said, ghosting is not for everyone, and you need to evaluate whether this is right for your business.

One of the hardest lessons I’ve had to learn from a business perspective is how to value (and charge for) my time. Early on, I underpriced my work, and that was largely because I undervalued the service I was providing. I’ve come to realize that ghostwriting is often the highest-value writing you’ll ever do for a client. You aren’t just delivering words to someone who needs words. You’re helping someone articulate their vision with clarity and authority, and sometimes you’re helping them to discover and develop an entire creative identity. Once you understand this, it helps you to position yourself effectively.

Ghostwriting can fit into your creative business plan in different ways. You can take on project-based work: a script, a rewrite, a novella, a series of blog posts, a presentation. This can be a great way to supplement your income for a season, but it’s less predictable. You can also work on a retainer basis for clients who need ongoing support. Working on retainer is a wonderful way to add a stable stream of income, but it also means that you are “on call” for that client and might not have as much control over your creative calendar. You can also have a mix of both. The key is to be intentional: design the structure that supports both your income goals and your creative bandwidth.

There’s a lot more to say about the business side of ghostwriting than I have space for in this post, so I’ll just say this by way of shorthand: it’s a business, so approach it with the utmost professionalism.

Getting Started as a Ghostwriter

One of the biggest challenges of ghostwriting is also one of its greatest strengths: your work is largely invisible. It can be difficult to know how to get started, and even more difficult to know how to build your client base if you can’t publicly claim the projects you’ve written.

If you’re new to this, the first step is making sure you establish a reputation as a professional writer in your own right. Maintain a visible presence with your personal projects, and look for opportunities to showcase your understanding of the craft through essays, blog posts, or conference presentations. In tandem with this, grow your network. Talk about the work you do, and let people know you can assist with their writing needs.

After you’ve worked with your first client, you can start to talk about your process. Share how you capture someone’s voice or learn their style, or the way you collaborate with clients from raw idea to finished manuscript. Sharing insights about the craft of ghostwriting builds authority. You can also talk about outcomes without breaking confidentiality. You can say things like, “I helped a client hit #1 in their category on Amazon” or “A CEO I worked with was invited to speak at several events after publishing a thought leadership series.” Frame your impact in terms of results: audiences reached, opportunities unlocked, confidence gained.

I mentioned before that ghostwriting helps you develop the skill of client relations. If you bring a heart of service to your work with your clients, you can turn single projects into long-term collaborations. And if you develop a solid base of legacy clients, you can create a sustainable business without needing to invest a lot of time, energy, or money into marketing. Ghostwriting is also one of the most referral-friendly businesses I’ve ever experienced. Don’t be afraid to ask your clients to refer you out. Tell them that you’re looking to expand your ghostwriting practice and would love to work with other clients like them. If you have happy clients, you’ll likely find that they will be delighted to tell others about your work.

Ghostwriting: The Invisible Power Move

Ghostwriting can hone your writing skills and expand your creative portfolio in directions you might never have had the chance to explore on your own, all while providing an income stream that can support your artistic freedom.

But ghostwriting is not just about the work—it’s about the relationship. I’ve seen ghostwriting arrangements fall apart when writers approach clients with arrogance, a lack of empathy, or the belief that their creative vision matters more than the client’s. I’ve also seen them fall apart when the writer perceives the client’s project as a distraction or, worse, an obstacle. The best ghostwriting partnerships are built on humility, a learner’s mind, and a deep respect for the person whose story or message you’re helping to bring into the world.

I’m a firm believer in ghostwriting as a hidden power move. It can make you a sharper writer, open doors to new opportunities, and offer financial stability. But it only works if you approach it with the right spirit: as a collaborator with a heart ready to serve with excellence. Do that, and you’ll discover that the invisible work of ghostwriting can lead to some of the most visible growth in your creative career.

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