Book Review: Goodbye Byline, Hello Big Bucks by Kelly James-Enger

I realize I’m incredibly late to the party as far as the many, many books on building and improving your freelance business go, so I do apologize to those of you who probably read this book years ago. But since diving into freelancing without much of a plan, I’ve been trying to make the time to read the books that I’ve heard positive buzz about.

And Goodbye Byline, Hello Big Bucks: The Writer’s Guide to Making Money Ghostwriting and Co-Authoring Books by Kelly James-Enger is certainly buzz-worthy. She offers a clear, step-by-step process for establishing yourself as a ghostwriter, warts and all. While ghostwriting can certainly be a lucrative income stream, some writers may not want to put a major amount of work into a book project and not get any credit for it. This is where co-authoring—collaborating with another writer and seeing both names on the cover—may be a better option.

Enger, who has ghostwritten and co-authored a number of books, provides pointers on what to charge, how to decide on a client (will they be amiable or a total PITA?, will they be easy to reach and accessible or difficult to track down?), how to get down to work with authors (whether as a ghost or a collaborator), assembling book proposals, and how to tackle 10 common problems many ghosters experience.

While I haven’t tackled any book-length projects, I’ve ghostwritten blogs and other materials and my ego was fine with it. Of course, a book is considerably more work, so I think all of the elements would have to be in line before I’d agree to such an arrangement. I could see the pros and cons of both ghosting and co-writing, and I think both come down to one thing: being able to work well with others (and that goes for the collaborator, too). The other person must be willing to pull their share of the weight in order to get the project done, and Enger doesn’t sugar-coat the fact that not all clients are a joy to work with (as any freelancer would agree!) But her suggestions and input for how to deal with different types of roadblocks are helpful, and could be useful for dealing with any type of writing client.

What about you? Have you ever ghosted or co-written a book with another author? Care to share your experiences?

How Far Would You Go in the Name of Research?

A few weeks ago a few fellow writers and I made our annual trek to the regional writers’ conference we attend every year. As usual, we came home with minds chock-full of useful tips and tidbits about advancing our writing careers.

I attended a very interesting session on capturing “aha!” moments led by a writer and forensic psychologist who is well-known in these parts for her subject matter (forensics, serial killers, ghosts, vampires, and essentially anything related to the dark side of human nature) and her researching methods. She’s a loyal practitioner of immersion research and has produced a number of interesting books as a result. She went “underground” with a group of modern-day vampires in order to learn about this subculture firsthand. She’s also gone ghost hunting with a group of paranormal investigators (yes, think Ghostbusters) and who knows what else.

Immersion research has always fascinated me. I’m expecting 2 books she recommended at the session: The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean and The Mole People by Jennifer Toth, about New York’s other population—the folks who have established whole communities in the city’s subway tunnels and underground nooks and crannies –and I’m anxious to read both of them. It’s gotten me thinking. How far would I be willing to go in the name of research? I complete the majority of my assignments using the traditional methods. I’ll do a face-to-face interview if the subject is particularly interesting or if the story relies heavily on capturing the mood and/or tone of a place or experience, but I’ve certainly never gone ghost hunting or traveled into the depths of New York City to interview the city’s homeless population (not that I’d turn down either opportunity). I guess my limits would be if I’m asked to do anything that puts me in physical harm, if I must spend an exorbitant amount of money on the experience (and won’t be reimbursed), or if the subject matter just doesn’t feel right and I have an ethical objection to it. Otherwise, I like to think of myself as being pretty open-minded and if I’m offered the chance to participate in a once-in-a-lifetime experience, I think I’d be pretty agreeable to it.

What about you? How far would you go in the name of research?

Trying Something New

This little girl's been keeping me pretty busy lately, too! This is Juno, our 4-month-old chocolate lab (she's gotten much bigger since this picture was taken!) She is sweet, super smart, loves to cuddle and play, and has energy to spare!
Besides being a great primer for parenthood, having a new puppy makes for excellent writing material. I'm in the process of researching pet and animal markets, brainstorming ideas, and putting together a few queries for some of my better ideas. The timing couldn't be better--most of my writing has come from trade publications, but it's nice to branch out into something a little more broad once in awhile. I'm looking for new spins on many of the topics I've written about extensively already--careers, dating, and history top the list--so she came around just at the time I was itching for an entirely new topic.

I'm completely enamored with this girl, and I look forward to all of the time we'll get to spend together. She's brought so much to our lives already!

What about you? What new elements of your life have inspired your writing lately?

The Art of Cutting Back

An unexpected (but much welcome) full-time temporary job, a flurry of revisions of my graduate school project, and squeezing in writing assignments I just couldn't turn down kept my nose to the proverbial grindstone since the beginning of the year. Something had to go on the back burner, and unfortunately, it was my blog.

Since I didn't have time for every single new project that came my way, I had to take a hard look at my writing workload and make the conscious decision to scale back. For the first time ever, I turned down an assignment (but it's a regular feature of a magazine I write for frequently, so I'm on track to write it for the rest of the year), and I made the difficult to decision to drop three regular projects. My “cutting back” criteria was simple: I cut projects that were either low-paying or not enjoyable. Hopefully, by dropping some of these clients, I'll free up enough time to take on projects that pay a bit more or are just more fun/interesting. To that end, I've started seeking out a few new pubs and sending out queries again—admittedly, my query-writing skills are terribly rusty since most of my work has been with trade pubs—and hoping to fill in the gaps of the clients I dropped.

My primary writing assignment at the moment is my graduation capstone project, which I am diligently trying to finish. I'm not even sure what I hope to achieve once I get my degree...my goal right now is just to finish!

What about you? What have I missed? What changes have you made to your productivity and/or writing routine lately?

Resurfacing

Today marks 5 months since I left my FT job and dove, basically headfirst, into freelancing.

What a learning experience it's been!

It's been pretty quiet on the blog lately, but that's because I have been literally up to my eyeballs with work. I thought I'd resurface briefly just to say hello, then I'm diving right back in. September was a little slower than I would've liked, but then something happened in October and it seemed like I was getting a new project every time I turned around! One week I got an email literally every day asking about my interest/availability for different projects--some that are moving forward, others which are on hold for now.

But I'm not complaining.

You know, since leaving my job (and I'm sure I'm not alone here), I think many folks wonder what I do all day. Since I'm not dressing up and heading out to the office every morning, let alone getting a regular paycheck (which I do miss, I have to admit), to some I'm basically one step above a slug on the couch. That annoys me. I can say with all honesty that I've never worked harder in my life. Back in my office days, I admit that I, well, could've used my time more productively, let's say, on occasion. But I definitely can't say that now. Between my paying work and the towering pile of grad school work that's due in a few very short weeks, I feel overwhelmed regularly! I'm trying to get better about organizing my day and smarter about time management (and curb that pesky, pesky social media addiction).

So--I thought it would be good to take stock of what I've been working on lately and what's on my plate for November.

October: I finished 5 articles--1 for a regional pub, 3 for trades, and 1 for a college alumni publication. Additionally, I have my ongoing content writing gig and I reconnected with a friend of a friend whom I did some work for earlier this year, and I'm back to writing some blog posts for her (with a larger potential project in the pipeline). I also edit a local magazine for the 50+ set, so the 2nd issue went out. Besides editing the content, I also wrote 2 articles for this issue.

November: I have 5 articles due--4 of them next week! Gulp. Of the 5, 1 is for a trade, 1 is for another (different) college alumni pub, 1 is for a regional pub, and the 5th is for a new-to-me online consumer market...in Canada! The magazine I edit is also putting together a year-end directory of services, I have my content writing gig and blog posts (which I expect to continue through November), and oh yeah...this pesky thing called my graduation capstone project, which I realized (yesterday) I have been on the complete wrong track with. Guess I'll be typing like never before.

December: 2 articles lined up so far--1 for a trade, 1 for a custom publisher that I worked with earlier this year and am thrilled to be working with again. They pay well and the topics have been interesting. Also hoping another project comes to fruition, but until then, I think I have enough to keep me occupied.

So, that's what I've been up to, in a nutshell. How has everyone been? What fun/interesting projects have you been working on?