by Leo Wiles
03 October 2018
Hi Rachel and Leo. What’s the etiquette around sharing my published work online – on socials, on my website? Particularly with ghost-writing? Can ghost-writers share their work ever, or is that generally a big no-no? Kay
The first rule of ghostwriting is you do not talk about ghostwriting. The second rule of ghostwriting is… well you get the picture.
Don’t get me wrong, Kay, I sympathise with your position, as being being a ghost-writer can leave Bermuda Triangle size gaps that are hard to explain away to prospects.
Similarly, it can be incredibly frustrating when you’ve turned around a social media account that had 5 likes and is now being shared by 50,000 adoring fans snapping up a product or service. Or you ghost-wrote a book that’s now a best-seller, and the ‘author’ is getting all the accolades on breakfast TV.
Copywriters know all too well how to live without acknowledgement and accolades. The company’s logo or brand name in your websites About section can be all the leverage you need to showcase that you are serious marketing mercenary.
But as a ghost-writer, often a contract may prevent you from mentioning names or even using a logo on your site. And that’s annoying given a lot of referrals can come from great work you’re able to share with your networks online.
But should you risk sharing or telling people about the great blog posts you’re penning for an industry leader, or the column you ghost-wrote for a TV personality? Nope. Why? Because you can sabotage your career and possibly even be sued. I’m not being paranoid, either – read your contract, ring the person who hired you and check if you don’t believe me. Sharing and spruiking your work in a lot of ghost-writing cases negates the very reason you were hired in the first place. Sometimes, it may be possible, such as if you get a ‘co-authored’ credit on a book or the client agrees to let you share. But I’d always check first.
One consolation: if you’re good at what you do, your name will be passed on. That’s a given.
Are you a ghost-writer? How do you deal with the fact that you can’t really share your work with the world – or prospective clients?
