The Spooky Truth About Ghostwriting
Here’s the thing — I write a lot of content without my name on it. I’ve never been asked to “ghostwrite” per se, but content creation is mostly that. I generate writing that someone else takes the credit for, and, honesty, I’m OK with that.
For clients, however, it requires a bit of faith. You need to trust me to be original and honest and efficient. The truth is, ghostwriting is more important now than ever in an era where ChatGPT might be the one generating the text that someone is sending you. It’s a useful tool, but one that lacks, well, the spirit that a real human provides. Let’s dish on why humans are still important.
Cue the list!
1. Humans Have Access to the Now
Remember that ChatGPT works off a limited set of sources that doesn’t encapsulate the most recent happenings. Ghostwriters for your content will make sure that your content is up to date and not full of silly antiquated details that the poor robot couldn’t possibly know are outdated.
2. While We Have Little Skin in the Game, We DO Care
Ghostwriting is fun because it’s sort of like cooking in a crockpot — set it and forget it. We don’t go back afterwards and get fussy about what we wrote. That said, if we serve up something terrible, we know it can ruin our reputation and you’ll move on to the next human — or robot — so know that we do care, we do invest ourselves in the writing, and we do want it to match your tastes.
3. We Bring Voice That AI Can’t
AI is clever, but it’s not human. It’s not witty. It’s not sarcastic. Not flawlessly, at least. Ghostwriters, however, can easily adapt to the voice and tenor of a piece of content, making sure it matches a client’s needs.
Want something funny? We got it. Need something more deadpan. OK! Looking for something tongue in cheek, we can deliver
4. We’re Not Emotionally Attached
Now here, AI and ghostwriters actually have a lot in common. Neither one of us is emotionally attached to our client work. Or at least we shouldn’t be. We make it for you, so if you want to make edits or change things around, we won’t get mad or upset with you. Feel free to remix and adapt as needed. If a ghostwriter gives you attitude because you changed a word, they might be a little green and don’t quite understand that they’re working for you and to save their ego for their novel.
5. We Shouldn’t Need Endless Prompting
Copywriters, ghostwriters, writers in general should be able to deliver something efficiently with minimal questioning and back and forth. While you can refine content with ChatGPT, you can be editing forever and never really get the right sort of content. But with writers, endless emails with your team about the content means one of two things. Either you didn’t provide more than five words on your brief, or they are maybe too inexperienced for the job.
You don’t want to work with a writer who will take their time developing something that would make Hemingway nod. You want something quick and efficient that gets the job done. I’m not saying I’d pull together something poorly written, but I understand that my value is in my speed, not just in my vision, and I take the initiative to do my research and deliver strong content ahead of deadline.
As a writer, I ghostwrite for my rent, my food, my bills, and clients need to know that their happiness is my bottom line when we’re working together. When I start writing an essay for some literary review, then you can expect me to get fussy.