Would you like to be paid to tell other people's stories?
Would you like to learn the systems and processes behind ghostwriting someone else's book?
Would you like to help business owners, founders and thought leaders share their wisdom, build their personal brands, and leave a lasting legacy?
In short, would you like to become a ghostwriter?
If so, you're going to love this episode of So You Want to be a Copywriter because this time, we're doing things a little differently.
We're flipping the script.
Usually, I'm the one asking the questions. But today, Valerie Khoo, founder of the Australian Writers' Centre, takes over the interviewer's chair to ask me about my latest book, Secrets of the New Online Entrepreneurs, and the unexpected journey that led me from copywriter to ghostwriter.
Together, we explore what it really takes to write a business book and why copywriters are uniquely positioned to become exceptional ghostwriters.
In this episode, we discuss:
- How I wrote Secrets of the New Online Entrepreneurs
- The step-by-step process I use to ghostwrite books for clients
- How to structure a complex business book with multiple contributors
- The challenges of interviewing and managing more than 40 entrepreneurs
- Realistic timelines for writing and delivering a business book
- How to stay motivated when working on long-form projects
- The similarities and differences between copywriting and ghostwriting
- Why copywriters often make the best ghostwriters
- How to take an effective brief and why it's similar to a copywriting brief
- The importance of setting expectations and getting permission to guide the interview process
- What to do when clients aren't happy with your work and how to navigate feedback professionally
Bio:
Bernadette is an award-winning Australian entrepreneur, author and copywriting coach. She is the founder of the Australian School of Copywriting and has helped thousands of business owners and writers create high-performing content.
A former senior account director and copywriter at Young & Rubicam, she has worked on campaigns for brands including Apple, American Express, Optus and Colgate. She is a TEDx speaker, bestselling author of How to Build an Online Business, Secrets of Online Entrepreneurs, co-author of Radek Sali’s How to Build a Billion Dollar Business, which won an Australian Business Book Award and the ghostwriter for many of Australia’s top CEOs and entrepreneurs. Her book Secrets of the New Online Entrepreneurs is out now.
She is also a professional actor and has appeared in Neighbours, The Games, Round the Twist, Winners and Losers and Jack Irish. She is also a trained yoga teacher and was the inaugural in-house mindfulness coach for the Carlton Football Club.
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