March 27, 2014 12:19 pm
Ghostwriting has had a resurgence in the age of social media and blogging. Big company executives, aware of staying authentic to who they are and what their companies do, are short of time and work with people like us to get across what they want to say.
Done properly, we don’t think there is anything wrong with that. But, especially for smaller businesses, we ask a very simple question: Would you be better served by an editor?
It is a question others have asked too because beyond social media, with longer-form content, perhaps the main reason many business leaders don’t join in conversations is that they are nervous about writing or creating audio/video.
For writing, they get particularly daunted by format, grammar, structure – all the hang-ups their high school English classes gave them.
But what are the most important elements they need to bring to the table? Two things:
- An original idea – It doesn’t have to be a huge thesis, just one thing that will be new and insightful to the reader. To repeat – one idea. That’s enough on which to hang a blog post, for example.
- Personality – Screw the grammar and style, the one thing that is almost impossible to create for someone else is that unique tone and way of talking that everyone has. In a time of too much bland content, never lose this. It’s you.
If we’re working with a client, we say first have a go at writing something yourself. Include the two above elements. Why “screw grammar and style”? We can easily fix that. We can work with what you provide, even if it is typed on a smartphone with no punctuation. (That’s happened.)
Give us something with no original insight and not a lick of your personality? Tough gig.
So – and many wouldn’t say this – before you start looking for a ghostwriter, ask a good editor if they can help. It will be more rewarding. It will most likely be cheaper, which is why people like us never share this secret.
photo credit: Laineys Repertoire via photopin cc
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Need a corporate blog but don’t have the time or editorial expertise? Try Speech-to-blog, a corporate blogging service from Collective Content. Or – we’ll say it here – ask us to edit what you have. You might be surprised.