- Welcome to GPDP: What to expect from this class, what we expect from you, what our “grades” mean, how to get help from us as you go along, and how to work with your fellow students.
- The End: What you need to command $35,000+ fees for full-length book manuscripts.
- MS Word for Writers (PC and Mac): How to correctly code manuscripts for 21st-century acceptance and reflow.
- Chicago Manual of Style (CMS): The book industry’s style guide standards and exceptions, and how ignoring them reduces a manuscript’s credibility in the marketplace. All assignments must conform to industry standards (CMS rules and MS Word templates).
- This Business of Books: A brief overview of the book industry from an insider’s perspective, and how not knowing the difference between market, booksellers, and audience can hurt a title’s sales.
- The History of Ghostwriting (and Editing): A quick look at how publishing company editors evolved into 21st-century ghostwriters.
- Introduction to Ghostwriting: The scope, responsibilities, and earning potential of freelance or work-for-hire writers, collaborators, and editors vs. today’s professional ghostwriters.
- Mindset Transitions: The “headflips,” or mindset transitions, that can help you change how you think about and present yourself right now, as well as how you will perceive and present yourself at the end of the full GPDP.
- Interviews: How to interview like a professional ghostwriter rather than a journalist or freelance writer.
Introduction to Ghostwriting
Professional Development Course
Introduction to Ghostwriting is your gateway to becoming a book-industry insider. Learn what it takes to become a ghostwriter and launch (or expand) a flourishing career.
This Introduction to Ghostwriting course, which is a prerequisite for the full Ghostwriting Professional Designation Program (GPDP), provides an overview of the professional ghostwriter’s knowledge base and skill sets. Professional ghostwriters require an insider’s perspective of the industry, including manuscript coding and decoding skills, and other duties that fall within a ghostwriter’s scope of responsibilities.
Introduction to Ghostwriting is a six-week online class that covers everything you need to know—including who does what over the course of a book’s life, why some books don’t make it while others do, how to increase a manuscript’s chances in the marketplace, and where you fit into that landscape as an editorial service provider.