There are many individuals who have sites on the internet, sites advertising their services as a ghostwriter. Additionally, there are thousands of resumes posted on the sites of ghostwriting clearinghouses, such as elance, odesk, and upwork. The problem is that many people who are seeking a ghostwriter because they don't have the necessary writing skills to write a book are blind to the poor phrasing and grammatical errors on these sites and in the clearinghouse resumes.
Also, many people don't know a great deal about the publishing industry or what qualifications a competent, professional ghostwriter should possess. I invite people searching for a qualified ghostwriter to click the following link and read the many articles on William Hammett's How to Hire a Ghostwriter. The site contains an index of all articles on the subject. The index may be found at the bottom of each post and also in the right sidebar.
The articles cover a wide range of topics, such as how to query a ghostwriter, what credentials one should look for, how to spot unqualified writers, the pitfalls of hiring a ghostwriting company, and much more. Always due your due diligence, but before you begin, learn the issues involved and what questions need to be asked.
William Hammett's How to Hire a Ghostwriter
Good luck!
~William Hammett
Contact: wmhammett@aol.com
Sunday, May 17, 2015
Sunday, April 12, 2015
Getting the Words Right
I have to shake my head sometimes at the advertising done by some ghostwriters. I recently stumbled upon the website of a pricey ghostwriter who will write your book for $65,000 to $75,000. Okay, but she also says that she will write your "fictional novel" with professionalism. Here's the rub: all novels are fiction. Editors and agents usually don't take a second look at a query when an aspiring author pitches a "fictional novel." Only someone totally unfamiliar with writing and publishing would pay such high prices to someone who doesn't know that "fictional novel" is a redundancy. If a ghostwriter can't get the words right on his or her website, what's going to happen during the composition of a book.
And then there is the ghostwriting website I saw a few moments ago. The ghostwriter said, "I'll write your novel, fiction or non-fiction, for $50,000." First, non-fiction isn't hyphenated. Second, and more importantly, a nonfiction book isn't a novel. As mentioned above, a novel is a work of fiction. I'm not going to pay someone $50,000 if he can't handle advertising copy and doesn't know the difference between fiction and nonfiction.
Both of the above ghostwriters omit hyphens dozens of times on their sites. They talk about "full length books" and "book length manuscripts." The words should be "full-length" and "book-length."
One ghostwriter wrote a sentence that read, "My vast writing experiences covers a wide range of topics, from travel to how-to." The phrase "experiences covers" is a subject-verb agreement error worthy of a high school student."
The same ghostwriter says, "Always be careful when selecting a ghostwriter, if you choose the wrong one, you might regret the finished product." "If you choose" begins a new sentence. The ghostwriter has therefore produced another high school error: a comma splice. Also, how does one "regret a product." That's awkward phrasing. One might regret "reading the finished product," but not the product itself.
And then there are the hundreds of ghostwriters who call themselves ghost writers. "Ghostwriter" is one word, ladies and gentlemen. "Ghost writer" as two words implies that the writer authors books on ghosts.
Always examine ghostwriting websites carefully, remembering that if you need or want a ghostwriter, you may not notice the kinds of errors I have listed above. You need to get as much information as possible about the profession of ghostwriting and then do your due diligence for any ghostwriter you're considering.
It always pains me to say this, but online ghostwriting is, for the most part, a scam industry with unqualified people trying to get your money. This is not to say that every ghostwriter has criminal intent, however. Sad to say, some people don't know enough to know what they don't know.
~William Hammett
And then there is the ghostwriting website I saw a few moments ago. The ghostwriter said, "I'll write your novel, fiction or non-fiction, for $50,000." First, non-fiction isn't hyphenated. Second, and more importantly, a nonfiction book isn't a novel. As mentioned above, a novel is a work of fiction. I'm not going to pay someone $50,000 if he can't handle advertising copy and doesn't know the difference between fiction and nonfiction.
Both of the above ghostwriters omit hyphens dozens of times on their sites. They talk about "full length books" and "book length manuscripts." The words should be "full-length" and "book-length."
One ghostwriter wrote a sentence that read, "My vast writing experiences covers a wide range of topics, from travel to how-to." The phrase "experiences covers" is a subject-verb agreement error worthy of a high school student."
The same ghostwriter says, "Always be careful when selecting a ghostwriter, if you choose the wrong one, you might regret the finished product." "If you choose" begins a new sentence. The ghostwriter has therefore produced another high school error: a comma splice. Also, how does one "regret a product." That's awkward phrasing. One might regret "reading the finished product," but not the product itself.
And then there are the hundreds of ghostwriters who call themselves ghost writers. "Ghostwriter" is one word, ladies and gentlemen. "Ghost writer" as two words implies that the writer authors books on ghosts.
Always examine ghostwriting websites carefully, remembering that if you need or want a ghostwriter, you may not notice the kinds of errors I have listed above. You need to get as much information as possible about the profession of ghostwriting and then do your due diligence for any ghostwriter you're considering.
It always pains me to say this, but online ghostwriting is, for the most part, a scam industry with unqualified people trying to get your money. This is not to say that every ghostwriter has criminal intent, however. Sad to say, some people don't know enough to know what they don't know.
~William Hammett
Friday, April 10, 2015
The Ghost of Richard Brautigan by William Hammett
I love the works of 1970s counterculture icon, port, and novelist, Richard Brautigan. Brautigan (1935-1984) wrote short, quirky, surrealistic novels. The best-known is his 1976 Trout Fishing in America. Others include In Watermelon Sugar, A Confederate General from Big Sur, Sombrero Fallout, The Hawkline Monster, and So the Wind Won't Blow It All Away.
Over the years I've used many different prose styles and written in several genres. I've always been partial to what literary agents call quirky fiction and really love the offbeat novels of Kurt Vonnegut, Tom Robbins, and yes, Richard Brautigan. Several years ago I had a rather outrageous idea for a novel and decided to use Brautigan's short chapter format and incorporate Brautigan himself into the story. Agents failed to sell it, but a small press eventually published an earlier, shorter version of the novel, called Salamander Illusions. I'm happy that Word Wrangler Publishing has given the work a second chance under the new title of The Ghost of Richard Brautigan.
The ad blurb is as follows.
"Lamont Bistro, a writing teacher married to Bourbon Street exotic dancer Jaguar Montaigne, receives regular visits from the ghost of Richard Brautigan, novelist, poet, and counterculture icon of the 1970s.
In this short, quirky, fast-paced novel reminiscent of Brautigan's dark humor and satire, Brautigan challenges Bistro to write a novel about his sexy young wife, snake-handling evangelicals, a swamp monster, Babe Ruth, a gaudy theme park named Gatorworld, Mount Kilimanjaro, the Gulf War, a deity named Bob, and a planet diagnosed with Narcissistic Personality Disorder.
As Bistro writes, however, he wonders if he himself has become a character in a surrealistic novel by the late great Richard Brautigan."
The book is available through Amazon. All books recently published will also be available through the Word Wrangler Publishing online store. Click on the book cover in the right sidebar to be taken to the book at Amazon.
Thanks for stopping by!
~William Hammett
Over the years I've used many different prose styles and written in several genres. I've always been partial to what literary agents call quirky fiction and really love the offbeat novels of Kurt Vonnegut, Tom Robbins, and yes, Richard Brautigan. Several years ago I had a rather outrageous idea for a novel and decided to use Brautigan's short chapter format and incorporate Brautigan himself into the story. Agents failed to sell it, but a small press eventually published an earlier, shorter version of the novel, called Salamander Illusions. I'm happy that Word Wrangler Publishing has given the work a second chance under the new title of The Ghost of Richard Brautigan.
The ad blurb is as follows.
"Lamont Bistro, a writing teacher married to Bourbon Street exotic dancer Jaguar Montaigne, receives regular visits from the ghost of Richard Brautigan, novelist, poet, and counterculture icon of the 1970s.
In this short, quirky, fast-paced novel reminiscent of Brautigan's dark humor and satire, Brautigan challenges Bistro to write a novel about his sexy young wife, snake-handling evangelicals, a swamp monster, Babe Ruth, a gaudy theme park named Gatorworld, Mount Kilimanjaro, the Gulf War, a deity named Bob, and a planet diagnosed with Narcissistic Personality Disorder.
As Bistro writes, however, he wonders if he himself has become a character in a surrealistic novel by the late great Richard Brautigan."
The book is available through Amazon. All books recently published will also be available through the Word Wrangler Publishing online store. Click on the book cover in the right sidebar to be taken to the book at Amazon.
Thanks for stopping by!
~William Hammett
Thursday, March 26, 2015
STREET MAGIC by William Hammett
My novel Street Magic is now on sale at Amazon's Kindle store. You may see the cover and click to purchase the book in the right navigation column. It is horror/suspense.
I wrote the novel many years ago after reading Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes. It's Bradbury's best, in my opinion, and unlike his other novels and short stories, it isn't really science fiction, although some might say it has that kind of flavor. Regardless of the genre, I was amazed at the prose style Bradbury used. Its sentence parameters are loose, and the style is highly lyrical, almost poetic. The words flow effortlessly from beginning to end in Bradbury's classic tale of good against evil. That's when it occurred to me to write Street Magic, my own humble effort to pen a lyrical tale of good against evil.
It was fun to write. I let the first draft flow without any revision and then went back over it many times over the years adjusting various sentences. There comes a time, however, when a writer has to give birth to his child, and so I decided, thanks to the good people at Word Wrangler Publishing, to put Street Magic out there, where it will now have a life of its own. Like all parents, I hope that life will treat my offspring kindly, but we'll see. There's a time to let go.
The book description is as follows:
The people of Pace, Indiana are jolted from their routine small-town lives when a street magician, Lark the Magnificent, begins staging one incredible show after another. There is seemingly nothing that the man in an electric-blue suit can't do, from levitating above the sidewalk to making it snow on a sunny day.
But Joe Bailey, meek bachelor and town archivist, notices that things in Pace aren't quite right. People are going missing, stores are closing, and some one--or some thing--is living in a row of abandoned homes on River Road.
In this homage to Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes, William Hammett has written a chilling tale in lyrical prose about the evil locked behind the doors of small-town America, an evil that Joe Bailey will have to combat with his own brand of street magic.
The book was published by Word Wrangler Publishing on March 24, 2015. Thanks, Barbara, for all of your hard work on this one.
And thanks as always to my readers and friends for stopping by.
~William Hammett
contact wmhammett@aol.com
I wrote the novel many years ago after reading Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes. It's Bradbury's best, in my opinion, and unlike his other novels and short stories, it isn't really science fiction, although some might say it has that kind of flavor. Regardless of the genre, I was amazed at the prose style Bradbury used. Its sentence parameters are loose, and the style is highly lyrical, almost poetic. The words flow effortlessly from beginning to end in Bradbury's classic tale of good against evil. That's when it occurred to me to write Street Magic, my own humble effort to pen a lyrical tale of good against evil.
It was fun to write. I let the first draft flow without any revision and then went back over it many times over the years adjusting various sentences. There comes a time, however, when a writer has to give birth to his child, and so I decided, thanks to the good people at Word Wrangler Publishing, to put Street Magic out there, where it will now have a life of its own. Like all parents, I hope that life will treat my offspring kindly, but we'll see. There's a time to let go.
The book description is as follows:
The people of Pace, Indiana are jolted from their routine small-town lives when a street magician, Lark the Magnificent, begins staging one incredible show after another. There is seemingly nothing that the man in an electric-blue suit can't do, from levitating above the sidewalk to making it snow on a sunny day.
But Joe Bailey, meek bachelor and town archivist, notices that things in Pace aren't quite right. People are going missing, stores are closing, and some one--or some thing--is living in a row of abandoned homes on River Road.
In this homage to Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes, William Hammett has written a chilling tale in lyrical prose about the evil locked behind the doors of small-town America, an evil that Joe Bailey will have to combat with his own brand of street magic.
The book was published by Word Wrangler Publishing on March 24, 2015. Thanks, Barbara, for all of your hard work on this one.
And thanks as always to my readers and friends for stopping by.
~William Hammett
contact wmhammett@aol.com
Thursday, March 19, 2015
Complaints about Ghostwriting Companies: Twenty Things You Need to Know
The complaints against ghostwriting companies are out there if you do your due diligence. In fact, ghostwriting companies are far more vested in being vanity publishers and marketers. Ghostwriting is a way for them to bring in customers for these other services.
If you don't believe me, Google the name of the company you've seen advertising online and type the words "scam" or "ripoff" after the company name. After you recover from shock, ask yourself if you really want to give them your money.
Here are some of the things you'll learn about these companies.
1) Many subcontract writing to inexperienced writers across the country.
2) Many companies abandon customers after they get paid.
3) The owners and CEOs of most of these companies have no background in publishing.
4) The companies have been sued several times and have complaints lodged against them with the Better Business Bureau.
5) Some work is outsourced to other countries.
6) The sales reps, owners, and department heads at some companies are often lawyers, not people in the publishing industry.
7) The contracts at many companies are detailed, and if you read the fine print, you'll learn that you have no recourse for work that is not performed or just plain botched.
8) Complaints against these companies exist on dozens of sites online (and the best place to begin is the trustworthy "AbsoluteWrite WaterCooler")
9) The editing at many companies betrays a lack of basic knowledge of grammar and punctuation.
10) Marketing and promotion are usually package deals that offer to send your finished book to reviewers who are not interested in your genre or category of book. The press releases they send out are almost always ineffective.
11) The claims that they have handled bestselling books are usually false or based on a different definition of "bestseller."
12) One company features pictures of book covers on their websites even though it never handled the books.
13) Most mainstream publishers, as well as most reputable literary agents, have never heard of these companies, which claim to be industry leaders.
14) Sales reps know little of the publishing industry and frequently tell potential customers things such as "Successful books are rarely longer than 200 pages anymore." The statement is totally false.
15) To keep their costs down, many of these companies try to restrict the length of a book, sometimes to 200 to 225 pages long. The truth is that books are as long as they need to be.
16) Offering you coffee mugs, T shirts, posters, postcards, and other "stuff" with your book's name will probably not result in sales for your books, but this is another part of the "package deal."
17) Prices for creating cover art and eBook conversion are extremely high.
18) Most companies deal in volume, meaning that one-on-one contact is often limited.
19) Ghostwriting and self-publishing are simply business models that some entrepreneurs found lucrative. when POD became popular.
20) Many companies prey on customers' lack of knowledge about the publishing industry.
When searching for a quality ghostwriter, it's better to hire an independent writer who has training, experience, credentials, and knowledge about the publishing industry. Let the buyer beware.
If you don't believe me, Google the name of the company you've seen advertising online and type the words "scam" or "ripoff" after the company name. After you recover from shock, ask yourself if you really want to give them your money.
Here are some of the things you'll learn about these companies.
1) Many subcontract writing to inexperienced writers across the country.
2) Many companies abandon customers after they get paid.
3) The owners and CEOs of most of these companies have no background in publishing.
4) The companies have been sued several times and have complaints lodged against them with the Better Business Bureau.
5) Some work is outsourced to other countries.
6) The sales reps, owners, and department heads at some companies are often lawyers, not people in the publishing industry.
7) The contracts at many companies are detailed, and if you read the fine print, you'll learn that you have no recourse for work that is not performed or just plain botched.
8) Complaints against these companies exist on dozens of sites online (and the best place to begin is the trustworthy "AbsoluteWrite WaterCooler")
9) The editing at many companies betrays a lack of basic knowledge of grammar and punctuation.
10) Marketing and promotion are usually package deals that offer to send your finished book to reviewers who are not interested in your genre or category of book. The press releases they send out are almost always ineffective.
11) The claims that they have handled bestselling books are usually false or based on a different definition of "bestseller."
12) One company features pictures of book covers on their websites even though it never handled the books.
13) Most mainstream publishers, as well as most reputable literary agents, have never heard of these companies, which claim to be industry leaders.
14) Sales reps know little of the publishing industry and frequently tell potential customers things such as "Successful books are rarely longer than 200 pages anymore." The statement is totally false.
15) To keep their costs down, many of these companies try to restrict the length of a book, sometimes to 200 to 225 pages long. The truth is that books are as long as they need to be.
16) Offering you coffee mugs, T shirts, posters, postcards, and other "stuff" with your book's name will probably not result in sales for your books, but this is another part of the "package deal."
17) Prices for creating cover art and eBook conversion are extremely high.
18) Most companies deal in volume, meaning that one-on-one contact is often limited.
19) Ghostwriting and self-publishing are simply business models that some entrepreneurs found lucrative. when POD became popular.
20) Many companies prey on customers' lack of knowledge about the publishing industry.
When searching for a quality ghostwriter, it's better to hire an independent writer who has training, experience, credentials, and knowledge about the publishing industry. Let the buyer beware.
Join Me at My Goodreads Author Page
For information on books written under my own name, visit my Goodreads Author Page, which also has a blog and short bio. More books will be listed in the next month (Street Magic and The Ghost of Richard Brautigan). My most recent books, Circling Goes the Wind and Rimsky Rises may be purchased at the Amazon Kindle store.
You may find the above page at William Hammett's Goodreads Author Page.
Approximately six more novels will be released this year as Word Wrangler Press continues to publish my backlog of out-of-print books. Check back for more information and release dates.
~William Hammett
Contact: wmhammett@aol.com
You may find the above page at William Hammett's Goodreads Author Page.
Approximately six more novels will be released this year as Word Wrangler Press continues to publish my backlog of out-of-print books. Check back for more information and release dates.
~William Hammett
Contact: wmhammett@aol.com
Wednesday, March 18, 2015
Finding a Ghostwriter Capable of Writing Your Bestseller
The ads on the Internet for ghostwriters and ghostwriting companies claiming "Clients have become bestsellers" just go on and on, don't they? Unfortunately, this is a hollow claim. A potential client last week told me that he'd contacted one of the big ghostwriting firms and been handed over to a young girl, an English major, who had just graduated from college. She'd never written a book in her life let alone a bestseller.
I have written for fiction writers and businessmen and businesswomen who are tops in their fields. One client has been affiliated with Doubleday, Random House, Oxford University Press, and Rizzoli. Another recent client has sold books in the United States, Canada, and Europe.
So how can you find a ghostwriter who can make your novel or nonfiction book a contender?
First, don't believe everything on the Internet about ghostwriters. In fact, believe almost none of it. Most ghostwriting websites are filled with glitzy ads that don't hold up under scrutiny. Choose an independent ghostwriter since almost all ghostwriting firms deal in volume and are really POD companies attempting to get customers who will pay to have a book printed after a rookie has produced a poorly-written manuscript. These companies couldn't care less about your dreams, goals, or the quality of the writing. They just want your money.
Contact a ghostwriter with a query email that summarizes your proposed book. You own the copyright to your material, so be professional and don't merely write an email that says "I want to know about your service. Call me at 555-5555." Agents and editors in New York City delete these kinds of queries or throw them in the trash.
Talk with the ghostwriter on the phone and/or exchange emails to see if the ghostwriter handles your kind of book or story, but beware. Most low-level ghostwriters will handle any job even if they have no expertise in a given area.
Next, check to see if the ghostwriter has a publishing record, both for his clients and under his own name.
Finally, select a ghostwriter who shares your passion and interest. Make sure you're not just another job or number. The ghostwriter should be able to connect with you and your ideas at a deep level. Remember that online ghostwriting is becoming both a scam industry and a place for amateurs and moonlighters to earn some extra money. In the end, you get what you pay for. You don't pay a doctor five dollars to take out your tonsils.
~William Hammett
Contact: wmhammett@aol.com
I have written for fiction writers and businessmen and businesswomen who are tops in their fields. One client has been affiliated with Doubleday, Random House, Oxford University Press, and Rizzoli. Another recent client has sold books in the United States, Canada, and Europe.
So how can you find a ghostwriter who can make your novel or nonfiction book a contender?
First, don't believe everything on the Internet about ghostwriters. In fact, believe almost none of it. Most ghostwriting websites are filled with glitzy ads that don't hold up under scrutiny. Choose an independent ghostwriter since almost all ghostwriting firms deal in volume and are really POD companies attempting to get customers who will pay to have a book printed after a rookie has produced a poorly-written manuscript. These companies couldn't care less about your dreams, goals, or the quality of the writing. They just want your money.
Contact a ghostwriter with a query email that summarizes your proposed book. You own the copyright to your material, so be professional and don't merely write an email that says "I want to know about your service. Call me at 555-5555." Agents and editors in New York City delete these kinds of queries or throw them in the trash.
Talk with the ghostwriter on the phone and/or exchange emails to see if the ghostwriter handles your kind of book or story, but beware. Most low-level ghostwriters will handle any job even if they have no expertise in a given area.
Next, check to see if the ghostwriter has a publishing record, both for his clients and under his own name.
Finally, select a ghostwriter who shares your passion and interest. Make sure you're not just another job or number. The ghostwriter should be able to connect with you and your ideas at a deep level. Remember that online ghostwriting is becoming both a scam industry and a place for amateurs and moonlighters to earn some extra money. In the end, you get what you pay for. You don't pay a doctor five dollars to take out your tonsils.
~William Hammett
Contact: wmhammett@aol.com
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
-
Listening to music is one the ways that I tune my brain into the creative centers of my cerebral cortex. I especially like to listen to cl... -
Samuel Dashiell Hammett (1894-1961) was a writer of hardboiled mysteries and produced works such as The Maltese Falcon, The Thin Man, The Da... -
This is a really short post because the word says it all. The word is lyrical, beautiful, soothing, and rolls off the tongue. It’s tec...