Whether you need an expert to write short-form content for your website or to pen the manuscript for your upcoming horror thriller, you might have contemplated hiring a ghostwriter. These skilled writers have experience in various fields for you to choose from.
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However, if you are hiring a ghostwriter for the first time, you might feel uncertain about the process and the outcome.
Beginner’s Guide to Hiring the Perfect Ghostwriter
Below are some of the most important steps you should take to make the right decision.
Create a Job Description
Hiring the best of ghostwriters is not easy. You must be willing to put in the work and hours to find the best match. The first step that requires your effort is creating a detailed job description. After all, you will not have the time to tell every aspiring ghostwriter about your needs one by one.
You can create an effective job description by keeping a few important factors in mind. Start by telling the recipient about your brand or business, your preferred tone, and everything else important to you.
While you must not hold back from expressing yourself, make sure that the job description is not too lengthy to read. According to Indeed, job postings between 700 and 2,000 characters get up to 30% more applications. Hence, it is always a good idea to keep things short and sweet.
Know Your Needs
Even the best of ghostwriters can feel like they are not good enough for the job when you do not know what you are looking for. Before you seek a ghostwriter for hire, you must ask yourself what essential qualities they must have to meet your expectations.
For example, if you are seeking help writing a memoir, it is best to hire a ghostwriter with relevant experience in the genre. You do not have to make any compromises when it comes to experience.
In addition to finding someone with relevant experience in the genre, you must also ensure that the ghostwriters you are considering hiring are adaptable. It is a quality that will make it easier and achievable for them to mimic your voice.
Conduct Interviews
If you are satisfied with a ghostwriter’s adaptability and compatibility after reviewing their work, the next important thing is to consider interviewing them. An interview is crucial for you to determine how they understand your idea and click with your personality. This step is crucial and cannot be missed.
Interviewing finalized candidates takes a lot of time and effort. However, spending time before hiring a ghostwriter to make the right choice is always a better idea than hiring the wrong professional. After all, you will be spending a lot of time with these ghostwriters later on. Things can get complicated without compatibility in such circumstances.
In addition, interviewing potential candidates also allows you to determine a ghostwriter’s communication skills. Communication is an important aspect of a successful relationship, and you should not leave it to luck.
Prepare for Collaboration
If you think hiring a ghostwriter is going to take all of the burden off of your shoulders, you are mistaken. A ghostwriter comes into the picture to help you share your burden, not to undertake it wholly. You must be prepared to collaborate with them on the content creation journey.
Firstly, a ghostwriter will need to have a few meetings with you to understand your vision and tone better. They will also have questions to ask. You must be available to answer their questions and address their queries to ensure that your vision is turned into reality.
Even if you do not want to be actively involved, making some time for periodic check-ups can help you ensure that your work is headed in the right direction. You can catch on and correct any errors that arise to bring out the best in your work with the help of a ghostwriter.
Lastly, you must also be available to review the drafts shared by a ghostwriter. Even if you hire the best industry professional, they likely need your help to ensure that your work is the exact embodiment of what you envisioned.
Create a Brief
Even after meeting your ghostwriter and having lengthy discussions with them, you must provide them with all you can to write effectively for you. This includes a brief of your vision and what is expected from a ghostwriter.
You must ensure that your brief includes all important factors that you expect from your content to have. This includes the length of the content, tile, formatting details, audience, tone, and so much more.
Instead of giving the ghostwriter the benefit of the doubt and trusting them to have read the brief, the best way to be sure about hiring a ghostwriter is to have them write a sample for you. This sample can tell you how well they have understood the brief and incorporated it into the content.
If the ghostwriter fails to follow your guidelines while writing a small sample, they will likely not be able to meet your requirements while completing your actual project.
Introduce a Contract
If you are scared about the confidentiality of your work while working with a ghostwriter, you are not the only one. Several businesses and individuals share the same fears working with ghostwriters. While this fear is valid, it should not hold you back from relying on the best industry writers.
Instead of living in doubt, you must create a contract that reflects confidentiality terms along with the agreed-upon price and payment terms. When creating a freelance contract for your blog ghostwriter, ensure that ownership of the finished content is addressed.
Content creators usually own the copyright to their original works, so the contract should indicate that they are exchanging these rights for payment.
In addition to a contract, another important thing you must do is to ask your ghostwriter to sign a nondisclosure agreement (NDA). An NDA can be very helpful in securing your rights, especially if you need to share confidential information with them.
