Donald Trump isn’t particularly skilled with words. Dive into his Twitter timeline or watch any of his rallies and this fact will be obvious to any observer within minutes; his ‘Scott Free’ Twitter gaffe is practically the stuff of legends. It should then be no surprising to learn that Trump also doesn’t really read. And I don’t mean read as in literature or poetry, I mean read as in presidential briefings, memos, policy papers etc that are integral to the highest office of the United States of America. And yet, this is also the same man who wrote The Art of the Deal, the book that basically turned Trump into what he is now. What gives?

The answer is simple; ghostwriters. You know how in Harry Potter there’s Dobby the house elf, a magical creature whose existence is crucial to the upkeep of Hogwarts and yet most students in the school are unaware of their existence? That’s exactly what ghostwriters are, hence the word ghost in their name. Given how writing has been a crucial element in content marketing and that not everyone can be good writers, it’s not uncommon to see SEO services doubling as ghostwriting services as well.

The practice of ghostwriting

Normally, ghostwriters aren’t credited but in certain cases, like with Donald Trump’s book The Art of the Deal, the journalist Tony Schwartz is credited as the co-author, together with half of the book’s advance and royalties. Ghostwriting is commonly used in the realm of non-fiction, most of celebrity memoirs and autobiographies are usually written with the help of a ghostwriter, although the degree of input or influence a ghostwriter has varies from one case to another.

To a certain degree, ghostwriters also exist in fiction and just like in non-fiction; they’re sometimes credited as well. Quite a number of late-career Tom Clancy’s books are co-written with another author for example. In another strange case, despite the fact that the late Virginia C. Andrews has been deceased for more than three decades, books under her name are still being regularly released to this day.

The benefit of using a ghostwriter is plenty and in the case of Donald Trump, it can be argued that a ghostwriter is actually necessary. There’s a reason why the journalist Tony Schwarz ended up with his name written in the same font size as Donald Trump in the cover of the book. In terms of content creation and marketing, the benefit gained from hiring ghostwriting services is really not that different.

Professional quality work under your name

This is especially true if you or your staff aren’t particularly capable writers but still would like to have a series of in-depth articles for your website. Even amateur writers would be able to write short-form contents when they have to but with a long-form or in-depth articles, you’re going to need a professional to at least guide your hand, which is where ghostwriters come in. Insider’s knowledge about your particular industry isn’t enough to create quality content, the execution matters just as much.

Now, the excuse usually thrown around is that ghostwriters are the exact opposite, they may have the writing skills necessary to engage readers but they don’t have the same knowledge as you do regarding your business. This is why ghostwriting should be a collaborative process; your knowledge and the ghostwriter’s prose should complement each other. In the case of Trump’s book for example, Schwartz spent 18 months in close proximity to Trump to gain insight on his subject.

To save time and/or increase productivity

If you’re a business owner, I’m guessing you probably only have a limited amount of time to spent on writing and if you’re not used to writing at all, you’re also going to need more time to write the an article of the same length compared to professional writers. This is a bad idea as it is possible that things you consider relevant when you started writing might as well be obsolete two weeks later when you’ve finally finished.

Having a dedicated ghostwriter allows you to sidestep this issue by offloading that work on them while still maintaining the same level of quality. Are you familiar with the author James Patterson? Go into any bookstore, physical or digital, look for his name and prepare to be presented with hundreds of books written under his name. In 2018 alone, Patterson published at least a dozen books with one co-written with none other than Bill Clinton thanks to the help of ghostwriters and they’re all of roughly the same quality. He’s like the McDonald’s of the book industry and I meant that as a compliment.

They may bring fresh insight into your business

If we’re talking about ghostwriting as a collaborative process, your ghostwriter might also provide you with insight you might not be previously aware of. This is because good ghostwriters would normally do their own research into a particular subject before writing about them and since they do this with all of their writing, they have a wealth of knowledge accumulated from their previous gigs. Experience is actually pretty universal; an intelligent person could apply the things they’ve learned from one subject to another even if they’re only tangentially connected.