How to build a ghostwriting portfolio as a beginner | create a ghost writer portfolio for more jobs

Summary

In this informative video, Alma from elnicane.com tackles the challenge of building a ghostwriting portfolio without violating non-disclosure agreements. She offers practical tips on sharing work internally, obtaining client permission for external sharing, and using project descriptions and testimonials to showcase capabilities. Alma also provides strategies for marketing ghostwriting services ethically, emphasizing the importance of clear communication and leveraging social media platforms like LinkedIn.

Takeaways

• 😀 Building a ghostwriting portfolio can be challenging due to the nature of ghostwriting where the writer's name is not credited for the work.
• 📚 Ghostwriters write various content like articles, speeches, books, blog posts, and web copy, but the credit goes to the client or their company.
• 🚫 Ghostwriters cannot publicly share their client's writing unless given permission, which creates a dilemma in showcasing their work.
• 💼 One way to build a portfolio is by sharing ghostwritten work internally, which might require clients to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA).
• 🔗 Some clients may allow sharing ghostwritten work externally, such as on LinkedIn, but not on other platforms like Twitter or Instagram.
• 📝 Describing projects in detail can help showcase a ghostwriter's skills and experience without revealing the client's identity or the specific work.
• 💬 Collecting testimonials from ghostwriting clients can serve as a powerful endorsement and can be shared on platforms like LinkedIn.
• 📚 Providing references from past clients can help establish credibility and trustworthiness in the ghostwriting field.
• 📈 Marketing ghostwriting services involves using titles with 'Ghostwriter' in them on platforms like LinkedIn, Medium, and personal websites.
• 📢 Sharing descriptions of ghostwriting projects and offering more information upon request can help attract potential clients interested in similar work.
• 🌐 Actively participating in discussions about writing tips and ghostwriting on platforms like podcasts and Medium can increase visibility and attract potential clients.

Q & A

What is the main challenge faced by ghostwriters when building a portfolio?

The main challenge ghostwriters face is the inability to publicly share their work due to the nature of ghostwriting, which requires anonymity and confidentiality, making it difficult to showcase their skills and experience.

What is ghostwriting and what types of content can a ghostwriter create?

Ghostwriting is the process of writing content for others without receiving public credit for the work. Ghostwriters can create a variety of content including articles, speeches, books, blog posts, email newsletters, and web copy.

Why can't ghostwriters publicly share their work?

Ghostwriters can't publicly share their work because the credit goes to the client or the hiring company or business. Sharing the work publicly without permission would violate the terms of ghostwriting and potentially breach non-disclosure agreements (NDAs).

How can a ghostwriter share their work internally without violating NDAs?

Ghostwriters can share their work internally by having third parties, such as prospects, sign an NDA ensuring they will not distribute the material or reveal that it was ghostwritten.

What is an example of how a ghostwriter can share their work externally with permission?

An example is sharing ghostwritten work on LinkedIn, as some clients may be okay with external sharing on specific platforms like LinkedIn but not on others like Twitter, Instagram, or personal websites.

How can ghostwriters describe their projects without revealing client identities?

Ghostwriters can describe their projects by providing in-depth details about the work, such as the genre, the nature of the project, word count, and the process involved, without mentioning the client's name or any identifying information.

What is the importance of collecting testimonials in a ghostwriting portfolio?

Collecting testimonials is important as it provides social proof of the ghostwriter's skills and reliability. Testimonials can be used in place of direct links to work, offering assurance to potential clients.

How can a ghostwriter use a reference to showcase their work?

A ghostwriter can provide potential clients with the contact information of past or current clients who are willing to act as references. This allows new clients to speak directly with those who have experienced the ghostwriter's work.

What marketing strategies can a ghostwriter employ to promote their services?

Ghostwriters can market their services by creating a title with 'Ghostwriter' in it on platforms like LinkedIn and Medium, sharing their expertise in writing and ghostwriting, and offering more information about their ghostwriting upon request.

How can a ghostwriter demonstrate their legitimacy and adherence to rules in their portfolio?

A ghostwriter can demonstrate legitimacy by including a blurb on their portfolio indicating their ethical approach and willingness to share more information about their ghostwriting upon request, as well as showcasing their expertise through posts, podcasts, and other content.

Outlines

00:00

😀 Building a Ghostwriting Portfolio

In this paragraph, Alma from elnicane.com introduces the concept of ghostwriting and the challenges faced by ghostwriters in building a portfolio. Ghostwriters are individuals who create content such as articles, speeches, books, and web copy without receiving public credit. The dilemma arises when they need to showcase their work to secure new clients but cannot do so due to the nature of ghostwriting. Alma offers tips on how to build a ghostwriting portfolio ethically, such as sharing work internally, obtaining client permission to share specific pieces, and describing projects without revealing client identities. She also suggests collecting testimonials from clients as a way to demonstrate credibility.

05:02

📚 Marketing Ghostwriting Services

This paragraph delves into strategies for marketing ghostwriting services. Alma discusses the importance of obtaining client testimonials and using them to enhance a ghostwriter's portfolio. She shares her personal experience of writing ghost content for a tech blog and how she managed to secure a testimonial from the editor, which she could share on LinkedIn. Alma also emphasizes the value of having a clear title that identifies one as a ghostwriter on platforms like LinkedIn and Medium. She suggests creating a portfolio that includes project descriptions and testimonials, and being ready to provide more detailed information upon request. Additionally, she advises ghostwriters to actively market themselves by participating in relevant discussions, writing posts, and appearing on podcasts to establish their expertise in ghostwriting.

Keywords

💡Ghostwriting

Ghostwriting refers to the act of writing content for someone else who is credited as the author. In the context of the video, it is the primary service being discussed, where the ghostwriter remains anonymous and the client receives the credit for the work. The video focuses on how to build a portfolio for ghostwriters, who face the unique challenge of not being able to publicly showcase their work due to the nature of their job.

💡Portfolio

A portfolio is a collection of work samples that demonstrate an individual's skills and experience. In the video, the speaker discusses the challenges of creating a ghostwriting portfolio since ghostwriters cannot publicly share their work. The script provides tips on how to overcome these challenges and build a portfolio that showcases the ghostwriter's abilities without violating confidentiality agreements.

💡Byline

A byline is the line of text that identifies the author of a written work. In the context of ghostwriting, the lack of a byline is a key issue because it means the ghostwriter does not receive public credit for their work. The script discusses this dilemma and how it affects a ghostwriter's ability to build a portfolio and market their services.

💡Freelancer

A freelancer is an individual who is self-employed and is not committed to a particular company for a long period. In the script, the term is used to describe the type of work arrangement a ghostwriter might have, where they take on various writing projects for different clients without being tied to a single employer.

💡Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA)

An NDA is a legally binding agreement that establishes a confidential relationship between parties. In the video, the speaker mentions that sometimes a third party or a new client may need to sign an NDA to view a ghostwriter's work, ensuring that the confidentiality of the ghostwriting work is maintained.

💡Internal Sharing

Internal sharing, as discussed in the video, refers to the practice of sharing ghostwritten work within a limited circle, such as with potential clients who have signed an NDA. This allows the ghostwriter to showcase their work without publicly revealing the client's identity or the fact that the work was ghostwritten.

💡External Sharing

External sharing is the act of publicly sharing information or content. The video mentions that some ghostwriting clients may allow the ghostwriter to share their work externally on certain platforms like LinkedIn, but not on others like Twitter or personal websites, thus maintaining a balance between showcasing work and preserving confidentiality.

💡Testimonials

Testimonials are positive feedback or recommendations from clients about a service or product. In the script, the speaker suggests collecting testimonials from ghostwriting clients as a way to build credibility and demonstrate expertise, even when direct links to ghostwritten work cannot be shared.

💡Cold Pitching

Cold pitching is the process of approaching potential clients without a prior relationship or introduction. The video script mentions that ghostwriters may need to engage in cold pitching to secure their first few clients, as they cannot rely on a public portfolio of ghostwritten work to attract business.

💡References

References are individuals who can vouch for someone's skills, character, or work performance. In the context of the video, if a ghostwriter cannot share a portfolio of work, they can offer references from past clients to prospective clients as a means of establishing trust and credibility.

💡Marketing

Marketing is the process of promoting and selling products or services. The video discusses various strategies for marketing ghostwriting services, such as using social media, creating a strong online presence, and leveraging the power of testimonials and project descriptions to attract potential clients.

Highlights

Alma from elnicane.com shares tips on building a ghostwriting portfolio without violating NDAs.

Ghostwriting involves writing content without bylines, creating a catch-22 for freelancers needing to showcase their work.

One can share ghostwritten work internally, with third parties potentially signing NDAs to maintain confidentiality.

Some clients may give permission to share ghostwritten work externally, such as on LinkedIn.

Describing ghostwriting projects in detail can help showcase a writer's capabilities without revealing client identities.

Hannah Sandoval uses project descriptions and word counts to demonstrate her ghostwriting experience.

Collecting testimonials from ghostwriting clients can serve as a form of portfolio evidence.

Testimonials can be shared on social media or included with project descriptions in a portfolio.

If unable to share work externally, providing references from past clients can validate a ghostwriter's expertise.

Cold pitching and landing jobs can lead to opportunities where clients are willing to act as references.

Market ghostwriting services by including a clear title with 'Ghostwriter' on platforms like LinkedIn and Medium.

Sharing writing tips and ghostwriting insights on blogs and podcasts can attract potential clients.

Alma suggests creating a title with 'Ghostwriter' to establish identity and credibility in the field.

Providing more information about ghostwriting upon request can help maintain client confidentiality.

The video includes a discussion on the ethical considerations of marketing ghostwriting services.

Alma offers additional resources, including a video on ghostwriting 101 for those interested in the topic.

The importance of maintaining client confidentiality while still being able to market ghostwriting services is emphasized.

Viewers are encouraged to subscribe to the channel for more content on freelance writing, marketing, and ghostwriting.

Transcripts

hi my name is Alma from elnicane.com and

for today's video I'm going to share

with you how to build a ghostwriting

portfolio alright so let's look at this

now what happens if you landed a first

gig you're totally thrilled but then you

realize oh no there's no byline for your

work oh my goodness when job two rolls

around you're back at the beginning of

getting your first gig right because

you're a ghost writing and it feels like

a catch-22 as a freelancer hmm you can't

tell this New Prospect of your writing

job because it's ghost written so what

do you do right now with violating any

rules or crossing NDA lines you can

still build a ghostwriting portfolio

I'll share my best tips for creating

that Ghostwriter portfolio and how to

Market your ghostwriting business

alright but if you're just sort of you

know not sure what it actually is let's

look at what ghost writing is a

Ghostwriter is someone who writes copy

like articles they write speeches books

fiction books they do blog posts they do

email newsletters web copy but it isn't

credited for that work now the credit

goes to your client or someone in that

company or business that hired you note

that none of your work is credited to

you and this means you cannot publicly

share your client writing anywhere

unless your ghostwriting client gives

you permission this is where the whole

Catch 22 comes into play you need work

so you need to Market your work but you

can't Market your work because it's

ghost written so how are you going to

build this portfolio let's look at ways

you can do this without getting in

trouble from your clients so the first

is to just share it internally now this

might mean you're not going to get a lot

of work or it might mean you need to

hustle and cold pitch a lot to get that

first hit so people can email you and

then you can share your ghostwriting

work internally so the third party is

the prospect that you're negotiating

with may have to sign an NDA for this to

work and this means that they will never

distribute your material or reveal that

it was Ghost written in other formats in

other ways now your ghost writing client

may not care and give you permission

Mission regardless to share your ghost

writing work so in your email to your

incline you can just say hey just wanted

to ask you know I'm looking for some

more ghost writing work but I can't

share my ghostwriting work publicly is

it all right if I share a link of what I

wrote to any prospects that ask for it

and then you can see what they say they

can say well sure or they can say they

need to sign an NDA in the years that

I've done ghost writing I haven't had

someone sign an NDA so it was an issue

the client was more than happy to say

sure go ahead you can share it

internally but not online you can also

share it externally though that's

another option so I do have ghost

writing clients that are totally okay

with me sharing it on LinkedIn in

particular but not share it all over

Twitter and Instagram or even on my

writer website so I have at least two or

three in the past that have said it's

fine on LinkedIn and only on LinkedIn so

this is an example of my LinkedIn little

resume and one one of the most recent

ones is for WordPress writing it's all

under the owner of the business Emily

and so I wrote These under her brand

voice she gave me a style guide so that

I can write under her voice she

specifically hired me for copywriting

but it was under ghost writing now

another popular way to build a ghost

writing portfolio is to just describe

your projects so if you aren't allowed

to include a link or the business name

in your pitches or online you can talk

about the project and describe what you

did so Hannah Sandoval is a fiction

ghost writer and she often shares

descriptions of her work so let's just

take a look what this looks like so here

she is she here is one project so she

has healing fairy tales collection and

she describes all of this it is fantasy

fiction and self-help the project is a

collection of fairy tale short stories

designed to help readers deal with

trauma and the stories were the client's

therapeutic way of working through her

own childhood trauma and she framed the

stories with a guide to help others use

this method so she really talked in

depth depth about this whole project and

she also gives some details here that

it's 12 short stories it's approximately

35 000 words the genre that she worked

from the client outlines and all of this

can help with a prospect who is looking

at her portfolio here clicks on this and

says okay so she's able to do this semi

big project for this client well I need

you know 20 short stories and I need 60

000 words maybe I can call on her to do

this for me right so this is a nice way

to demonstrate on your portfolio these

descriptions another way you can frame

this idea of building your ghost writing

portfolio is to collect testimonials

from your ghost writing clients you can

instead of having like a portfolio

filled with links you can have a short

description and underneath that

description you can have a testimonial

or you can pepper these testimonials on

social media so this is what I did I

mean I had a client who asked asked me

to write ghost writing content for their

product a universal iot remote kind of

thing so for example what I did is I

wrote the content for their blog for

sure Universal and gave it to the editor

and so here is this is no longer on

their website but I do have what I gave

them which is a Google doc with an image

and I gave them a zip file of all the

images that I used and I wrote this for

their Tech blog here there is no

attribution the blog has no name to it

if it does it would just say the team at

sure Universal so it was my writing but

it was under them and so I was able to

get the editor to write a testimonial

for me here she is now the VP of

marketing but she was the content lead

that I spoke to the most and so she

wrote a little description of my work

she did not say that it was Ghost

writing but I was more than happy to you

know publish this because she liked my

my actual will work my ethics and all

that and that was a good testimonial

from her and I was able to also share

this on LinkedIn I asked her

specifically if I can share those posts

on LinkedIn and say that it was Ghost

written and she said that was fine so I

was able to get a testimonial which just

strengthened my ability to provide

valuable work to clients as well as get

that portfolio item so like I said for

you if you don't have that able to share

externally then just write a project

description and then have the

testimonial underneath that could work

now if all else fails the best resort is

to actually get a reference you know you

might not be able to have a really

in-depth ghost writing portfolio online

but if you are good at Cold pitching if

you're good at Landing jobs then you can

have past clients act as a reference to

help you get new ghost writing work so

if someone is interested in your writing

you can let them know you would be happy

to provide them with a past or current

client's contact information upon Quest

so you can have them sit here talk to my

you know my ghost writing client that I

had six months ago I wrote a book for

her yada yada you can talk to her and

then let me know if that's something

that you want me to do for you right you

can do something like that as long as

your previous or past client is more

than happy to act as a reference for you

this is very similar to you know when

you need a job working somewhere right

you have numbers of your references all

right so how do you Market your ghost

writing services now you can do as

Hannah has done on her portfolio Page by

sharing a description of your work now

at the bottom or at the top of your

portfolio page you can like add a little

blurb and mention that you can give them

the prospects that's okay now your

portfolio you can give them more work

information about your ghost writing

upon request so they look at your

portfolio they see that you do ghost

writing they see that you're not sharing

the links that you know you're very

ethical and all that they are interested

in your writing because it's in the same

genre this same Niche and then they ask

more about your ghostwriting work that's

when you can divulge your clients if

they allow you that's where you can give

them Links at that time I would also on

top of doing that I would also create a

title with Ghostwriter in it so you know

expert book Ghost Writer fiction Ghost

Writer whatever type of ghost writing

you want to do put that in your title on

LinkedIn on medium on your where to

website when you do a podcast or when

you do other things to let people know

who you are right because that's the

next thing once you have that title you

need to share it all over you need to

mark it on Twitter you try to get some

podcasts that talk about writing tips

and ghost writing write a post on medium

about your topic about ghost writing all

of this will just send signals online on

the internet from people that are

reading your post that you are a

Ghostwriter that you write about ghost

writing that you have some good tips

about ghost writing they look at your

LinkedIn and they see that your goes

ready for you know for books and then

these are your projects if you're

allowed to share them externally if not

you have a little blurb saying you know

if you want some information about my

ghost writing then you know contact me

here right like you can do ways to show

that you are a legit Ghost Writer that

you're following the rules but that you

can still Market your business in these

manners so hopefully that helped you if

you're interested I do have a video on

ghost riding 101 so make sure you check

out that video after this one and for

more freelance writing marketing ghost

writing AI content for Freelancers make

sure you subscribe to my channel and

like this video I'll see you in the next

video

[Music]

thank you