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
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Monday, March 31, 2014
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
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