Ghost Writing Online

Ghost Writing is when a writer writes on an assigned topic under someone else’s name with their consent, or writes under another alias. These writers, or ghostwriters, often write books completely from scratch, but sometimes their work involves rewriting or editing an existing work. Websites and blogs on the internet have a lot of content and and many of these website and blog owners hire ghostwriters to write the "search engine optimization" or "search engine optimizer" (SEO) content for their sites. This frees the owners up to market and build the sites to the specs that they want. There is a rising need for online ghostwriters to write new content for all of these sites. New SEO content keeps these sites at the top of the search engines. People take advantage of this need by becoming online ghostwriters, however, there are many ethical issues of online ghostwriting such as making plagiarism easy and other issues of authenticity of content.

Ghostwriting Historically

In the past, a ghostwriter writes the book for which someone else received credit. When an author needed help writing a book, a ghostwriter would take their idea and turn it into a story. The ghostwriter is paid a flat rate for the book and signs over all rights to the owning author. In some cases, the ghostwriter may receive a small percentage of the profits. The ghostwriting services which people received when they hired a book ghostwriter are simple and straightforward. One would supply the ghostwriter with the idea, genre, the audience they intended to reach, and any information that they wanted to be included in the book. The ghostwriter handled the research and produced the content of the book. The ghostwriter kept costs within budget and produced the book in the time frame that was required. Ghostwriting services also included proofreading, editing, and in some cases, publication. Ghostwriters are often hired to write speeches, sermons, articles, copy for advertising, screenplays, e-books, sales letters, book proposals, op-eds, & radio and TV commercials. Because of their experiences working with clients from different fields, ghostwriters have had the tendency to have knowledge on a variety of topics. Usually a ghostwriter will then need no more than one hour per week of a persons time to make sure they're on track as the ghostwriter completes the authors book over the next 3-6 months depending on the length of the book.

Online Ghostwriting

Some websites are ghostwritten, due to the fact that not all authors have the information technology skills or the time to dedicate to running a website. Nonetheless, the style, tone and content is modeled on that of the credited author. Many website ghostwriters are freelance but some are freelancers who work under contract, as with radio presenters and television presenters. Occasionally a "house pseudonym", or collective name is used by the author of the website. This is similar to ghostwriting for blogs, and in some cases it can be used as an SEO tactic. Since the 2000s (decade), with the increasing popularity of blogs as a form of writing, a new form of ghostwriter has emerged: the blog ghostwriter. Companies or organizations hoping to generate interest in their blog site sometimes hire ghostwriters to post comments to their blog, while posing as different people and using pseudonyms. Blogs are sometimes rated according to how many web 'hits' they get from users viewing the page, and this rating is used by advertisers considering paying for ad space on a blog website.

Many people working on the same piece of written work

New Online Ghostwriters

Many people become an online ghostwriter by submitting articles to content sites like Associated Content. They often are required to have a few published samples beforehand. They then submit the articles on their chosen topic area, submitting writing clips that traditionally range between 400 and 600 words. These articles usually showcase a keyword density of 3 to 5 %, with an emphasis on the writer's ability to write SEO content.

Online Ghostwriting Sources

Indeed.com

A search engine for finding ghost writing jobs.

Constant Content

Here, ghostwriters write what they want to write and set their own prices for their work. They also are able to set usage rights instead of all rights so that they can sell their work repeatedly.

Jobs for Bloggers - ProBlogger Job Board

Jobs that cater particularly towards blogging.

Twitter

Many ghostwriters search for jobs on Twitter or use the service to find other job sites.

Find writing work on Elance

Ghostwriters use this site for various writing and blogging opportunities.

Freelancer.com

Members to this site can bid on ghostwriting jobs. They can also bid on writing work. When one wins a writing job, they pay a small percentage of the fee they receive for the work.

Online Freelance Writing Jobs

Full of information about online writing for beginning freelance writers. This can also be used to find jobs.

Ethics

Authenticity Issues with Anonymity

Ghostwriting is known for the anonymous, cooperative effort it provides in getting work done. This provides for a greater chance of the work being unbiased. However, because of the quantity of people working together and the anonymous nature of the work, some argue that the information is not accredited. Furthermore, ghostwriting may be considered merely as someone's, or a group of peoples' opinions.

Plagiarism by Ghostwriting

In one study conducted on 11 post-secondary institutions in Canada, one percent of people who admit to cheating use online "paper mills." Although students are able to buy papers online, they largely do not. Nevertheless, sites such as Craigslist show how accessible purchasing a custom-written academic paper is. This makes it difficult on professors who may have gotten used to judging the presence of plagiarism based off of a paper looking suspiciously good, because services like these can further offer papers with what a professor might perceive as typical student errors. One way professors have approached this problem is by tailoring assignments to include personal details that ghostwriters will find hard to produce.

Public Reputation and Ghostwriting

Using a ghostwriter is common practice, especially in the entertainment industry where it is easy to lend one's name to a publication and then reap the ensuing profits. The only thing celebrities must worry about is their reputation if the product is a bust or has some other ethical issue. Often, writers are listed along side the celebrities on the cover of the released product and there is no issue. A problem arises, though, when celebrities use a ghostwriter and claim to have completed all of the work themselves, giving the ghostwriters no credit or glory. This process unethical because the ghostwriter's work is not getting accredited to the appropriate producer, causing the person who did not complete the work to reap unfair benefits. This has been known to occur with such things as presidential autobiographies. At the time of this edit, there is one major case in the latest news that has garnered national attention, an album from hip-hop artist Nas. The rapper has been accused of using ghostwriters on his released products and is denying it. His reputation has declined in the eye of the public as he has lied about doing creative work by himself.

Nas has been in the hip-hop industry for a long time, breaking on to the scene in 1994 with his instant classic Illmatic. He knows that in order to be respected within the community, one usually writes and performs all of his or her own rhymes. There are obviously some collaborations or other circumstances that excuse the general rule but to be considered genuine, the rule must be followed. In 2008, Nas released his album titled Untitled. In 2012, accusations arose via Twitter that Nas's rhymes had been ghostwritten by stic.man and Jay Electronica, two other prominent hip-hop artists. Fans have begun to question Nas's entire catalog of work now, potentially undoing years of work building his credibility within the industry. Though this issue may be a result of the specific industry's culture, a lot of damage has been done by ghostwriting.

Conclusion

Ghostwriting can be a successful profession with many monetary benefits, but the nature of the job brings forth unresolved ethical problems. Authenticity and plagiarism stigmatize the field of ghostwriting online. Most importantly, Ghostwriting allows books and articles articles to be produced at a faster rate, through collaboration and a diversity of ideas from different people working on a single piece.

References

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