Part of the vision of the IAPGW is to “raise global awareness of ghost writing as a profession.” As executive director of this association, I see it as one of my primary duties to educate the world-at-large as to what ghost writers do, and how we help others get their stories, knowledge, messages and philosophies in writing and out to their clients or audiences.
To that end, I’m excited to announce a couple of upcoming interviews that I will be doing. On Monday, March 29, Heidi Richards of the Women’s Ecommerce Association, International (http://wecai.org ) will interview me on how ghost writers can help women entrepreneurs develop info products for their businesses. Then in May, Patricia Fry at the Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network (http://spawn.org ) will run an interview she conducted with me via e-mail about my own ghostwriting experience, ghostwriting in general and how this association came to exist.
That makes this an excellent time to join the IAPGW, especially at the professional level, as your listing in the membership directory will be available to anyone in search of a ghost writer. Because I have been so busy and haven’t had an opportunity to change them, you’ll see that you can still have time to take advantage of the low membership fees for charter members. But this opportunity will only remain available until April 15, 2010, so don’t delay!
To your success,
Mary Anne Hahn
Executive Director
Message from Mary Anne
Greetings:
This past Wednesday, I held the first of what will be an ongoing series of teleclasses for ghost writers, “How to Use Twitter to Attract Clients.” I chose that topic because of the relative ease I’ve had in building an awesome network there, and in promoting the International Association of Professional Ghost Writers, my WriteSuccess.com site, and my own writing services.
Right now, there’s just no beating Twitter when it comes to getting immediate and widespread publicity for yourself and your writing business—in fact, I even received a request to do a March 23 interview about ghostwriting at the Women’s ECommerce Association International (http://wecai.org) from someone who found me via Twitter, an opportunity I never would have gotten otherwise. If you missed Wednesday’s class and would like me to give it a second time, please email me and I’ll set something up.
On a different happy note, the “disappearing client” I wrote about in the last issue (http://iapgw.org/2010/02/25/invisible-ink-the-case-of-the-disappearing-client) has decided to give me another opportunity to work with her. The fact that I virtually threw myself at her feet and begged for mercy no doubt helped! Yes, I’m kidding, but I did follow up with her, admitted how I hadn’t done due diligence before tackling the first articles she sent me to work on, and reiterated both my experience and desire to show her I can deliver the level and style of writing she’s looking for. Another lesson learned (or relearned, I should say)—a little persistence can go a long way.
To your success,
Mary Anne Hahn
IAPGW Executive Director
P.S. Need clients? I’ll be mentioning the IAPGW in that interview on March 23. If you’re a professional-level member, you can list yourself on the member directory and be there when women come looking for ghost writers to hire. Hop on over to http://iapgw.org/member-benefits and join today!
Feature Article:
Boo! Are You Afraid to Charge What Your Ghostwriting is Worth?
© 2010 by Mary Anne Hahn
One of the scariest aspects for many ghost writers involves setting rates for our writing services—and standing behind those rates when potential clients balk. As a result, we might tend to undercharge just to get the work.
We do this for one of any number of reasons. Maybe we’re just trying to get our foot in the ghostwriting door, and are a bit desperate to get those first assignments. Maybe we see how little other people are willing to charge on job bid sites like Elance or Guru, and think we need to low-ball our offers as well. Maybe even you think that asking for what others say is the going rate sounds too high.
If you really want to make a living as a ghost writer, you need to approach it like a business and learn how to develop a comfort level with setting and sticking to your rates. Not doing so will only leave you feeling frustrated and undervalued; moreover, if you try to increase your rates over time, your bargain-hunting clients will simply seek new bargains elsewhere.
Here are some tools you can use to determine what your writing rates should be:
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Determine what your annual salary needs to be (remember to figure in income taxes, health insurance and other benefits you might receive if you worked for someone else). Then use this nifty little freelance rate calculator at http://allfreelancewriting.com/freelance-writing-rate-calculator , which provides calculations based on dollar, pound, euro, rupee, yen and yuan.
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Do some research to see what other ghost writers are charging for their services. On her ghost writing Web site, for example, Kim Pearson offers ranges for different kinds of work, and explains how the range is determined. You can find her rates here: http://www.primary-sources.com/rates.html.
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Still feeling uneasy about asking for the going rate? Maybe what you need is mindset coaching. I personally belong to Success IQ coach Stephanie Frank’s very affordable inner circle, and have learned a great deal from her during her once a week coaching calls in areas such as confidence building, time management and other success principles. You can find out more about her program here: http://budurl.com/iqsuccess.
The bottom line is, you do yourself and other ghost writers a disservice when you settle for too little compensation in return for your writing and editing work. Don’t be afraid to quote—and get—the amount of money your skills deserve. You’ll find that it’s much easier to pay your bills when you do.
March Poll
What do you find is your greatest challenge as a ghost writer? Register your vote at http://iapgw.org.
Upcoming Events
I’m looking to set up an April interview with Kim Pearson at http://www.primary-sources.com , the ghost writer I mentioned in the article above. You won’t want to miss the experience and insights she’ll share with us. The call will be free for IAPGW members, and $17 for nonmembers. You can learn more about IAPGW membership benefits here: http://iapgw.org/member-benefits
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Greetings:
This past Wednesday, I held the first of what will be an ongoing series of teleclasses for ghost writers, “How to Use Twitter to Attract Clients.” I chose that topic because of the relative ease I’ve had in building an awesome network there, and in promoting the International Association of Professional Ghost Writers, my WriteSuccess.com site, and my own writing services.
Right now, there’s just no beating Twitter when it comes to getting immediate and widespread publicity for yourself and your writing business—in fact, I even received a request to do a March 23 interview about ghostwriting at the Women’s ECommerce Association International (http://wecai.org/ ) from someone who found me via Twitter, an opportunity I never would have gotten otherwise. If you missed Wednesday’s class and would like me to give it a second time, please email me and I’ll set something up.
To your success,
Mary Anne Hahn
IAPGW Executive Director
P.S. Need clients? I’ll be mentioning the IAPGW in that interview on March 23. If you’re a professional-level member, you can list yourself on the member directory and be there when women come looking for ghost writers to hire. Hop on over to the member benefits page and join today!