{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }

Alisa Bowman 05.27.09 at 1:37 pm

As a fellow ghost writer, I agree with you. People outsource aspects of their jobs and lives all the time. Hiring a ghost writer is similar to buying a prepared dish at a grocery story (potato salad perhaps) and then re dishing it so it appears as if you made it. People do this all the time. They usually don’t feel unethical about it. They also allow others to believe that they decorated their own houses when, in fact, an interior designer did it. No human being is an expert in all things, which is why it’s common place for people in business to pay other people to do aspects of their jobs. They hire researchers, transcriptionists, lawyers, accountants, and, yes, writers. With the fall of newspapers, I’m just glad someone wants to pay me to write just about anything, whether my name goes on it or not! At least I get to do the one thing I love: write. And then for a completely narcissistic and self absorbed outlet, I blog and take all of the credit. It’s a win-win.

janice 05.28.09 at 1:07 am

What you do is completely ethical, because you sell a good service honestly and do a job well. Whether or not others lie openly or by omission about how much they contributed, or claim your writing as their own is their business. Like Alisa says, it means you get to write, to earn a living doing what you love. You have your other blogs and upcoming ventures to openly express yourself in.

One of my coaching clients landed a dream job, but whether or not she tells folk the role coaching played is up to her. She did all the hard work and I was proud of the service I provided. I’ve gathered testimonials for ages, but have never been comfortable using them; that’s one of my ethical grey areas although I know it makes marketing sense.

Sean 05.28.09 at 10:55 am

Alisa: SO WELL SAID! If I was throwing a large party, I would have it catered and wouldn’t think twice. The bottom line is I get to write. I have a skill that people are willing to pay for. For a lot of people (the majority I’d argue), it doesn’t make a lick of sense to struggle over words when they should be running their business. Paying us to do it is far more practical. Besides, their clients don’t care who actually sat down to articulate the ideas, the care about the character of the content.

Janice: I know exactly how you feel. I know I have clients who would be willing, and probably happy, to provide a testimonial, but I’m loathe to ask. I feel like they hired me for discretion and it’s not proper to ask. Though one of these days, I’m sure I will end up adding a testimonials page to the old tab bar. By the way, terrific post at Write to Done this morning, Janice!

Leave a Comment

You can use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>

CommentLuv Enabled