My ghostwriting website now has new content. It may be viewed at William Hammett: Independent Ghostwriter.
The text on most pages has been replaced, with a new bio (About William Hammett), a testimonials page, editing page, a slideshow featuring a few of the books I've edited, and a new home page with info on publishers and agents.
Thanks to past and present clients, those who follow this blog, and all newcomers.
~ William Hammett
Contact wmhammett@aol.com
Index of Articles
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
Monday, March 31, 2014
Ghostwriters on elance and odesk
I have been looking at resumes posted by ghostwriters at the ghostwriter clearinghouse sites elance.com and odesk.com. The resumes themselves (and I've read quite a few) display writing that is equivalent to high school level or below. If the resumes are bad, what must the actual work produced by these writers be like?
In the first paragraph of every resume I read--resumes advertising ghostwriting services--are egregious grammatical errors and awkward phrasing. Below is a simulation of the kind of resume that is posted. It is NOT an actual listing from either site, but it approximates the awful writing one encounters at elance or odesk.
"I am ghostwriting professional with many years of service. I love to write all the time, if you need web copy for your web site, I can help because that is my main area. I also write novel under my own name, such as Romantic novels that have been published, however I write both fiction and non-fiction. If your looking for the best, you have found it. !I specialize in SEO and web content."
Here are the problems.
1) There are two comma splices in the paragraph.
2) The word "a" is omitted in the first sentence.
3) The tone and phrasing is simplistic, not professional.
4) The word "novel" should be plural--"novels."
5) Is the novel "Romantic" in nature, or is it part of the romance genre? The author should say that she writes romance novels, not romantic novels.
6) "Romantic" should not be capitalized.
7) "Your" should be "you're," meaning "you are."
8) There is a mysterious exclamation point in front of the last sentence.
9) The mention of web content is redundant.
This paragraph would fail freshman comp in both high school and college. (I taught writing at both levels.) It is disgraceful that elance and odesk have no one checking the resume content of people they allow to register on their sites. No one should pay money to writers who cannot master the basics.
Most writers on these sites, of course, charge very little money. Some charge $10/hour, and those who write books charge an average of $600. Would you pay a doctor $20 to take out your appendix?
Let the buyer beware. You get what you pay for.
~ William Hammett
Contact wmhammett@aol.com
Index of Articles
In the first paragraph of every resume I read--resumes advertising ghostwriting services--are egregious grammatical errors and awkward phrasing. Below is a simulation of the kind of resume that is posted. It is NOT an actual listing from either site, but it approximates the awful writing one encounters at elance or odesk.
"I am ghostwriting professional with many years of service. I love to write all the time, if you need web copy for your web site, I can help because that is my main area. I also write novel under my own name, such as Romantic novels that have been published, however I write both fiction and non-fiction. If your looking for the best, you have found it. !I specialize in SEO and web content."
Here are the problems.
1) There are two comma splices in the paragraph.
2) The word "a" is omitted in the first sentence.
3) The tone and phrasing is simplistic, not professional.
4) The word "novel" should be plural--"novels."
5) Is the novel "Romantic" in nature, or is it part of the romance genre? The author should say that she writes romance novels, not romantic novels.
6) "Romantic" should not be capitalized.
7) "Your" should be "you're," meaning "you are."
8) There is a mysterious exclamation point in front of the last sentence.
9) The mention of web content is redundant.
This paragraph would fail freshman comp in both high school and college. (I taught writing at both levels.) It is disgraceful that elance and odesk have no one checking the resume content of people they allow to register on their sites. No one should pay money to writers who cannot master the basics.
Most writers on these sites, of course, charge very little money. Some charge $10/hour, and those who write books charge an average of $600. Would you pay a doctor $20 to take out your appendix?
Let the buyer beware. You get what you pay for.
~ William Hammett
Contact wmhammett@aol.com
Index of Articles
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
Ghostwriters: Who Are They?
There are tens of thousands of people online advertising their services as "ghostwriter." But who are they and what qualifies them to be ghostwriters?
Regrettably, most people who ghostwrite have no formal training in writing or editing and know very little about the publishing industry. Internet ads, however, make ghostwriting seem like a glamorous and lucrative field. It isn't. It can pay the bills only if one has a great deal of experience in writing and publishing and has used a sound business model built on solid credentials.
Internet ads at yahoo.com, ask.com, about.com and other sites make breaking into ghostwriting sound easy. "Get a website, decide what you want to write about, and determine what you want to charge. Then you're ready to go! Work from home!" This is naïve in the extreme.
In order to be a successful ghostwriter, one needs to be skilled in advertising and marketing, web design (even if you hire others to build your site), social media, blogging, fee structures, contract law, copyright law, negotiation, time management, and bookkeeping. A writer also needs to know how to assess high and low risk clients, must be aware of what the competition is doing, and have an extensive knowledge of the current climate in publishing.
What is most needed, however, is writing and editing expertise, preferably as a result of formal training in editing, writing, textual criticism, and any specialty areas that one wishes to write about. Ideally, a seasoned ghostwriter should network with agents, editors, and publishers and should belong to one or more professional associations for ghostwriters and editors.
With the advent of the Internet, thousands of people decided to become ghostwriters because they "did well in writing school term papers" or because they helped a friend pen a novel or nonfiction book. If one goes to odesk.com, elance.com and other ghostwriting "clearinghouses," where people advertise their services, it is easy to see that something is amiss. Grammatical mistakes and awkward phrasing are abundant in the first lines of far too many posted resumes. I recently read twenty-five such resumes and found grammatical mistakes in twenty. Three others had awkward phrasing.
Writing a book is labor intensive and calls for skills that are honed over many years. Unfortunately, people who are seeking to have books written don't have the slightest clue that the ghostwriters they speak with are not qualified to write books let alone charge fees for doing so.
~ William Hammett
Contact wmhammett@aol.com
Index of Articles
Regrettably, most people who ghostwrite have no formal training in writing or editing and know very little about the publishing industry. Internet ads, however, make ghostwriting seem like a glamorous and lucrative field. It isn't. It can pay the bills only if one has a great deal of experience in writing and publishing and has used a sound business model built on solid credentials.
Internet ads at yahoo.com, ask.com, about.com and other sites make breaking into ghostwriting sound easy. "Get a website, decide what you want to write about, and determine what you want to charge. Then you're ready to go! Work from home!" This is naïve in the extreme.
In order to be a successful ghostwriter, one needs to be skilled in advertising and marketing, web design (even if you hire others to build your site), social media, blogging, fee structures, contract law, copyright law, negotiation, time management, and bookkeeping. A writer also needs to know how to assess high and low risk clients, must be aware of what the competition is doing, and have an extensive knowledge of the current climate in publishing.
What is most needed, however, is writing and editing expertise, preferably as a result of formal training in editing, writing, textual criticism, and any specialty areas that one wishes to write about. Ideally, a seasoned ghostwriter should network with agents, editors, and publishers and should belong to one or more professional associations for ghostwriters and editors.
With the advent of the Internet, thousands of people decided to become ghostwriters because they "did well in writing school term papers" or because they helped a friend pen a novel or nonfiction book. If one goes to odesk.com, elance.com and other ghostwriting "clearinghouses," where people advertise their services, it is easy to see that something is amiss. Grammatical mistakes and awkward phrasing are abundant in the first lines of far too many posted resumes. I recently read twenty-five such resumes and found grammatical mistakes in twenty. Three others had awkward phrasing.
Writing a book is labor intensive and calls for skills that are honed over many years. Unfortunately, people who are seeking to have books written don't have the slightest clue that the ghostwriters they speak with are not qualified to write books let alone charge fees for doing so.
~ William Hammett
Contact wmhammett@aol.com
Index of Articles
Sunday, January 26, 2014
Smashwords
While Kindle Publishing is perhaps the most popular format for those who want to reach a wide market with their eBooks, Smashwords is one of the largest and most effective eBook distributors in the world. Smashwords' biggest selling point (and one that is very valid) is that it does not make money by selling services to authors, but rather makes a profit on selling books to readers. Remember that POD companies make money on formatting and cover design, not book sales. Anytime an author approaches a print-on-demand or eBook publisher, he or she should also be aware of endless package deals that attempt to upsell the customer on extra services, usually promotional in nature, that are generally worthless. Smashwords has a straightforward and successful business model that is a viable option to Kindle (although one can format for both). The company is also utilized by literary agents and conventional publishers as a distribution tool.
The eBooks found on Smashwords are compatible with platforms such as Amazon Kindle, Sony Reader, Barnes and Noble Nook, iPhones, iPod Touch, and more. Smashword distributes titles to major retailers, including Apple, Barnes and Noble, Sony, Kobo, Diesel eBook Store, and others.
Authors receive 85% of net proceeds and 70% through affiliate sales. This is a lucrative arrangement for authors and rivals Kindle Direct, which gives authors 30% to 70% royalties. Smashwords' percentages allow authors to charge less for their titles, which ostensibly results in greater sales. Authors also receive free marketing tools, such as author pages, bios, and headshots. Smashwords makes serious attempts to market titles since, as stated above, its profits are generated from sales, although the company expects authors to take the lead in promoting their books, which is standard in today's world of self-publishing.
As with most self-publishing operations, Smashwords authors are free to sell their works to mainstream publishers. With more and more literary agents reading self-published books and taking their authors on as clients, what have you got to lose? It's a brave new world in publishing. Write a great book, have it properly edited, and get it into the literary marketplace. You can't catch a fish unless you throw your line into the water.
~ William Hammett
Contact wmhammett@aol.com
Index of Articles
The eBooks found on Smashwords are compatible with platforms such as Amazon Kindle, Sony Reader, Barnes and Noble Nook, iPhones, iPod Touch, and more. Smashword distributes titles to major retailers, including Apple, Barnes and Noble, Sony, Kobo, Diesel eBook Store, and others.
Authors receive 85% of net proceeds and 70% through affiliate sales. This is a lucrative arrangement for authors and rivals Kindle Direct, which gives authors 30% to 70% royalties. Smashwords' percentages allow authors to charge less for their titles, which ostensibly results in greater sales. Authors also receive free marketing tools, such as author pages, bios, and headshots. Smashwords makes serious attempts to market titles since, as stated above, its profits are generated from sales, although the company expects authors to take the lead in promoting their books, which is standard in today's world of self-publishing.
As with most self-publishing operations, Smashwords authors are free to sell their works to mainstream publishers. With more and more literary agents reading self-published books and taking their authors on as clients, what have you got to lose? It's a brave new world in publishing. Write a great book, have it properly edited, and get it into the literary marketplace. You can't catch a fish unless you throw your line into the water.
~ William Hammett
Contact wmhammett@aol.com
Index of Articles
Saturday, January 25, 2014
Believe in Your Work
As a follow up to a recent entry, the publishing world is undergoing a paradigm shift, and people have many different option: seeking literary agents, mainstream publishing, independent presses, POD, eBooks, Kindle Direct, Kobo, Smashwords, and more. But one thing hasn't changed. If you feel strongly about your finished novel (or work of nonfiction), stand by it. If you don't believe in the work, no one else will.
There was an amazing documentary on PBS this past week about J. D. Salinger (part of their American Masters series). The New Yorker rejected him many times, and Catcher in the Rye was originally rejected by Henry Giroux at a prestigious New York publishing house. The novel was later acquired by Little Brown and Co. and sold sixty million copies. Virtually every famous and successful author was originally told that their work wouldn't sell. Herman Melville made $537 on Moby-Dick and died almost penniless.
As for Salinger, he wrote for forty years for himself, disdaining to publish. He simply believed in the act of writing and the integrity of his stories. He wasn't interested in what anyone else thought. Beginning in 2015, his literary estate will begin publishing his forty years worth of material--material that he believed in as he pounded on an old manual typewriter in his New Hampshire bunker.
All successful writing begins with a passion for the act of writing without thought of the outcome. It is a spiritual calling, trying to say what wants to be expressed. If you adopt this attitude each day as you sit at the keyboard, there is no such thing as failure.
~William Hammett
Contact wmhammett@aol.com
Index of Articles
There was an amazing documentary on PBS this past week about J. D. Salinger (part of their American Masters series). The New Yorker rejected him many times, and Catcher in the Rye was originally rejected by Henry Giroux at a prestigious New York publishing house. The novel was later acquired by Little Brown and Co. and sold sixty million copies. Virtually every famous and successful author was originally told that their work wouldn't sell. Herman Melville made $537 on Moby-Dick and died almost penniless.
As for Salinger, he wrote for forty years for himself, disdaining to publish. He simply believed in the act of writing and the integrity of his stories. He wasn't interested in what anyone else thought. Beginning in 2015, his literary estate will begin publishing his forty years worth of material--material that he believed in as he pounded on an old manual typewriter in his New Hampshire bunker.
All successful writing begins with a passion for the act of writing without thought of the outcome. It is a spiritual calling, trying to say what wants to be expressed. If you adopt this attitude each day as you sit at the keyboard, there is no such thing as failure.
~William Hammett
Contact wmhammett@aol.com
Index of Articles
You Own the Copyright to Your Literary Property
As soon as you write anything on paper or commit your story to your hard drive, you own the copyright to your work according to the U.S. Copyright Office. You don't need formal registration even though that is certainly wise once you get the work published.
The fastest way not to get published is to ask agents, editors, publishers, and ghostwriters if it is safe to send them samples of your work or to request that they sign non-disclosure or con-compete documents. We get thousands of queries a year (in some cases, tens of thousands of queries a year). If we had to sign such documents every time we received a query, we'd live at the Post Office.
No one in a reputable position in the publishing industry is going to steal your work. If you ask whether it is safe to share your ideas, you are guaranteeing that your query will be ignored.
~ William Hammett
Contact wmhammett@aol.com
Index of Articles
The fastest way not to get published is to ask agents, editors, publishers, and ghostwriters if it is safe to send them samples of your work or to request that they sign non-disclosure or con-compete documents. We get thousands of queries a year (in some cases, tens of thousands of queries a year). If we had to sign such documents every time we received a query, we'd live at the Post Office.
No one in a reputable position in the publishing industry is going to steal your work. If you ask whether it is safe to share your ideas, you are guaranteeing that your query will be ignored.
~ William Hammett
Contact wmhammett@aol.com
Index of Articles
Friday, January 24, 2014
The Quest for Literary Representation
Querying an agent has always been a numbers game. If you wanted a response from an A-list agent (and hopefully a request for a manuscript), you had to send out dozens of queries. It was okay to send along a sample chapter or two, which was great if you had a snappy style and a great opening. Response times were reasonable, with most agents responding in one week to three months.
These days, many agents want only email queries, while many still want a single page sent via snail mail (but often without any sample chapter). If an agent is interested, you might get a request for three sample chapters. If these pass muster, you might be asked to send the first one hundred pages. Only then might you be asked to send the entire manuscript. There are, of course, exceptions.
Worse still, more and more agents simply aren't responding at all if they aren't interested in an idea or proposal, even when a query or sample pages are sent with an SASE. I once got a request for sample pages one year after I had queried an agent. I'd already forgotten about the submission. I sent the pages. Another year passed, and I was asked for another hundred pages. A year after that, I emailed and asked if the agency was interested. I was promised a response within three months. Six months later, I emailed again and never received a reply. That was three and a half years down the drain.
Is it any wonder that more and more authors are self-publishing and taking their literary works straight to readers and doing their own promotion? There are great agents out there, but it's harder than ever to land one.
~ William Hammett
Contact wmhammett@aol.com
Index of Articles
These days, many agents want only email queries, while many still want a single page sent via snail mail (but often without any sample chapter). If an agent is interested, you might get a request for three sample chapters. If these pass muster, you might be asked to send the first one hundred pages. Only then might you be asked to send the entire manuscript. There are, of course, exceptions.
Worse still, more and more agents simply aren't responding at all if they aren't interested in an idea or proposal, even when a query or sample pages are sent with an SASE. I once got a request for sample pages one year after I had queried an agent. I'd already forgotten about the submission. I sent the pages. Another year passed, and I was asked for another hundred pages. A year after that, I emailed and asked if the agency was interested. I was promised a response within three months. Six months later, I emailed again and never received a reply. That was three and a half years down the drain.
Is it any wonder that more and more authors are self-publishing and taking their literary works straight to readers and doing their own promotion? There are great agents out there, but it's harder than ever to land one.
~ William Hammett
Contact wmhammett@aol.com
Index of Articles
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