We all want to be authors, but to be an author you need to learn how to write, don't you? Nah.
Writing Is Hard
The worst part about writing, is the writing. We need to stop romanticizing the craft because let's be honest—it's a pain in the ass. Why can't our ideas, just be on the page? We thought them; why can't we write them? Is that too much to ask?
Apparently it is, because you've probably tried to write something (a book, a blog post, etc.), or are currently trying to write something, and you think it will be good (it probably will be), but you just can't write it. Or you are writing it and it's just… not what you imagined. Well, I have bad news. Every writer has been there, and every writer will be there again. That's just part of the process.
So why do we want to write if we know it sucks? The answer is because we don't want to write something. We want to have written something. We don't want to be writers—we want to be authors. We want our name next to something, and we want people to tell us how cool we are for writing that thing. We want money from the people who will be thankful we wrote it.
But again, we don't want to write, because writing sucks (and it's okay to say it). Having had written, on the other hand, feels awesome. Are you following me? I think this is getting too abstract.
My point here is that if you want to be a writer, you need to learn how to write. There's no way around it; I'm sorry. It is going to take years, a tonne of frustration, and a tonne of motivation.
If you want to be an author, however, I have good news. You just need to hire a writer. We call this ghostwriting.
What Is Ghostwriting?
A ghostwriter is someone who writes content to be published under someone else's name. So if you hired me to write a blog post for you, I would write it, and you would post it to your blog under your name.
This is, as I said, very common. In fact, it's almost expected. Subject matter experts should be out there being experts on their subject, not sitting inside writing. Thus, we have some kind of symbiotic relationship between SMEs and writers. You have interesting stuff to talk about, and I know how to write stuff interestingly.
We're two peas in a match made in heaven or something, right?
Why Do You Ghostwrite? Don't You Want To Be An Author?
Of course I want to be an author. And I am—check out my case studies. But I also enjoy writing for other people because I learn a lot about writing that way. Different people have different voices, they have different ways they want to tell their stories, and so learning to write for them makes me a better writer.
And I know I said writing sucks (it does), but like anything difficult, it's rewarding to do it. It doesn't matter to me that no one knows I wrote something that wasn't my idea in the first place. I know I wrote it and that gives me plenty of satisfaction.
"You're Not A Real Author If You Don't Write It Yourself!"
This YouTube video sums up what I think of that. There's nothing wrong with hiring a ghostwriter, and the only reason someone would make a point like that is because they're upset your book is better than theirs (because you hired a professional, and they assumed they were better at writing than me and all my colleagues [they're not]).
Writing and being a subject matter expert are two different things. They're two different skills. Just because you're knowledgeable in a subject, doesn't mean you're going to be able to write about it in such a way that your audience cares to read about it. Plenty of books, I'd even say the majority of books, blog posts, tech articles, whatever, are ghostwritten.
Do you think Bobby Orr wrote his own book? Of course not. He's a hockey player, not a writer. But people still want to hear from him. And people want to hear from you too.
If I'm Not Writing It, How Do You Know What To Write?
By talking to you.
As a ghostwriter, the real key to my job is being able to piece together a narrative from what you tell me. The process is pretty simple (at least mine is). I want to know everything about your topic. What have you already written? Do you have outlines? Do you have ideas sketched on notepads all throughout your house? I want them all. Chances are, you've got some really great writing hidden in there, and we can pull it out and expound on it.
If you haven't written anything, and your ideas are all in your head, that's fine too. I'll dig them out. That's another important aspect of ghostwriting: knowing which questions to ask.
And once I've started writing, I'll send you samples to make sure that it sounds like you wrote it.
Who Do You Ghost Write For?
Anyone who has an interesting story to tell. Doesn't matter if it's self-help, or about computer programming, or about changing the world, if I think you have a compelling story to tell, I'll help you tell it.
So, don't keep your ideas secret. Everyone has an audience (even you). There are plenty of great reasons to never become a writer, but that doesn't mean you can't become an author.