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Comment by Ben McCann on November 11, 2009 at 2:51am

Is this comment me or my GhostSocialNetworker @Lindsay, would you mind if I hired your to GhostBlog for me? I don't care about Authentic, I just want you to increase my SEO and visibility so that I can make a LOT OF MONEY!!! $$$$$ ;o)

@Robby - Hilarious, could you Ghost Mechanic for my car and GhostCook my meals ... oh wait, we hire people to do all sorts of things, but at some point ( especially relationship management ) it can get ridiculous. There is a balance, I just plan on CLONING myself ... cause nobody does it quite like me.

Comment by Lindsay Manfredi on November 9, 2009 at 9:32pm

Linda, I don't know Katherine. But thank you for understanding. I am just one avenue of the entire marketing picture. Some people need us. :-)
Robby, we have this discussion going on on my blog ;-)
Bill, I totally hear you on the value and effectiveness depending on the writer and the situation. I don't fit with everyone, but the clients I do take on, I do my best to convey the message as they say it. I just package it up.

Thank you all for contributing to this.

Comment by Bill Bean on November 8, 2009 at 10:34am

Great points, lindsay! The value and effectiveness of ghostwriting depends on the writer and the situation. It's as much art as science. The more personal the content, the more interaction I have with the person I'm writing for. I also add a fair amount of coaching with the intent that someone would eventually start interacting themselves. Every situation is a little different.

Comment by Robby Slaughter on November 6, 2009 at 5:45pm

Repeating my comment from Lindsay's blog:

I see your point, Lindsay. And you’re right, after all—producing great content is hard work, so why not hire an expert?

I’m really thinking that there’s no reason to stop at using ghostwriting for blogging. Politicians use ghostwriters for speeches, sports figures use ghostwriters for publishing their novels. Executives have assistants write their emails and their memos. Ghostwriting just makes sense, right?

So, I’m in the market to hire a ghostwriter for other content generation tasks: Facebook status updates and Twitter posts. Christmas cards and mass emails to friends. Heck, why not individual emails to my contacts to see how they are doing? That relationship maintenance really takes a long time.

And you know, something that is REALLY time consuming is writing messages to my wife. I love her, but why can’t I hire a ghostwriter for all of those little emails, those text messages? How about some love letters—surely a ghostwriter can really help out with these.

And you know, why stop at writing? Surely with the explosion of ghostwriters, I can find a ghostwriter who can mimic not only the way I write, but the sound of my voice! Then the ghostwriter can make all of those phone calls to my sweetie and tell her I love her while I am doing more important core business functions.

If I could find a ghostwriter who not only sounded like me but looked like me, that would be perfect! I’d never have to deal with routine interactions with her again.

Since this is the Internet, I have to explain that the above is sarcasm. I’m not opposed to ghostwriting, I just think it’s important to note that this is not a clear-cut issue.

Comment by Linda J Ranger on November 6, 2009 at 3:28pm

Very well said. Probably more people should use a ghost writer considering their writing style does not convey their message or too many misspellings and grammatical errors. It is still the person's thoughts just said better. I also know someone who does this for a living and her name is Katherine Burt. Do you know her?