I have another great guest article today for everyone. I’m sure you are going to find this really useful and packed with great ghostwriting tips. I won’t say to much I will leave that to Mary Anne.
The Case of the Disappearing Client
© 2010 by Mary Anne Hahn
Recently, I landed a ghost editing assignment for which I felt especially suited, one that held the sweet promise of ongoing work. The client worked for a professional organization in a field where I possess a tremendous amount of experience. She needed someone to edit articles that she received from contributors for the association’s newsletter that, while technically correct and filled with information her members needed, needed serious revamping.
Someone who was familiar with my work and her need introduced us via e-mail. The client filled me in on her need, I quoted my price ranges depending on the amount of editing needed, and she accepted. She sent the first two articles. I rolled up my sleeves, went to work, and sent them back to her within the specified time frame. At her request, I invoiced her using PayPal. I sat back and waited for payment, and more assignments, to roll in.
Knowing that the reason she’d hired me was because she was swamped with work, I waited a week before sending a follow up e-mail. I asked her if the work I’d done was satisfactory and, if not, what could I do differently? I reiterated my interest in doing whatever it took to maintain an ongoing working relationship with her.
Bottom line: I eventually received payment for the two articles, but nothing else. No feedback, no new work. My e-mailed questions above went unanswered.
The fact is, as with any endeavor, we ghost writers will not be able to please everyone all the time. Some clients will be difficult to work with, period, and others might envision something totally different from what we give to them. Like receiving a magazine rejection letter, we may find ourselves a bit stung and demotivated when a relationship with a client doesn’t work out as we’d hoped.
Rather than give in to discouragement or question our writing ability, however, we need to look at these occurrences as learning experiences and use them to improve the ghost writing services we offer to future clients. In my situation, for example, I now see that I could’ve/should’ve asked the client for examples of what she considered to be good articles, or samples of articles she herself had edited, rather than assuming my knowledge of the subject matter would suffice. Or I could’ve/should’ve requested back issues of the newsletter. I also could’ve/should’ve set up one exploratory phone call, rather than handle the entire relationship via e-mail.
Even huge corporations need to learn from setbacks and mistakes, whether their own or published accounts of others. Ghost writers are no different. I’ll know better when similar opportunities come my way. And I hope that, by sharing this experience, I can help you avoid similar pitfalls in your own ghost writing business.
Mary Anne Hahn is the founder and Executive Director of the International Association of Ghost Writers, an organization passionately dedicated to uniting, supporting, advocating for and educating professional and aspiring ghost writers worldwide. To learn more about IAPGW benefits and subscribe to its free newsletter “Invisible Ink,” visit http://iapgw.org .
Until next time,
Keep Writing
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{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Oy. That is frustrating. Good thing you were able to get this figured out early on in the relationship.
I’m currently ghostwriting a book and in the last third of the project the client decided to do a kitchen remodel. As you can imagine, this has slowed progress WAY down… Blech.
George