Secrets of a Successful Ghostwriter: Insights for Aspiring Writers

Embarking on a journey as a copywriter or ghostwriter can be both exhilarating and challenging. It’s a path filled with creativity, learning, and endless possibilities. Today, we delve into the experiences and insights of someone who has navigated this path, overcoming hurdles and discovering the keys to success along the way.

Allow me to introduce Sheharyar Arshad popularly known as POSTMAN on LinkedIn because he delivers the daily post.

He is a tech nerd turned into a copywriter and ultimately the LinkedIn ghostwriter for occupied business owners.

At this interview session, I got him to share with me his life as a ghostwriter and copywriter.

Let’s dive in…

Secrets of a Successful Ghostwriter: Insights for Aspiring Writers

Can you share a bit about your background and how you got started in the world of ghostwriting and copywriting?

It was an unexpected venture; I had never thought I would start writing. It all began at the boarding school I joined 6 to 7 years ago, a place full of opportunities for writing and other activities. I participated in various events and theater competitions, which sparked my talent for English creative writing. After spending almost 5 years there, I polished my skills and began editing personal essays and recommendation letters for my peers applying to universities.

Upon returning and looking for college placements, a friend suggested internships during my vacations. I sought jobs and internships, landing one after 2 to 3 months. My first internship, though not highly paid, offered a decent amount and valuable learning experiences in content writing. I was hired as a storyteller at a fashion digital company in Pakistan called One Story, where I learned a lot.

I gained exposure to the open market, storytelling, and copywriting. This led me to focus on my LinkedIn profile, where I saw people monetizing their writing skills. Inspired, I spent 2 to 3 months on LinkedIn, and now I have a decent job at Randall as a ghostwriter.

Ghostwriting caught my attention when I saw the term on LinkedIn. Intrigued, I researched it and found that I had relevant experience. I tried my luck and landed a few ghostwriting jobs. The rest is history.

What are some key skills and qualities that aspiring copywriters should possess to succeed in the industry?

If anyone wants to be a copywriter, a ghostwriter, or any sort of content writer, SEO content writer, or anything like that, the first and foremost thing you have to do is dedicate time to up skill. There is nothing more important than upskilling each day of your life, even if you become the most renowned copywriter in the whole industry, niche, area, or dominion. You have to upskill. You have to have an attitude of learning, and you have to learn from the best.

You don’t go around and learn from people who are themselves in the initial phases. But I do prefer learning from those people as well because you learn through their mistakes.

The big question that arises is how you upscale. Number 1, follow the people who are established in your domain. Follow the creators who have had a good number of years of their experience. The people who write copy daily, the people who have established results as well as foundational copy. Learn from their writing style.

Learn from their writing frameworks. Practice it. Nothing good comes without practice. There are many websites and courses that a person can take to upscale.

It depends on the circumstances the copywriter faces. Keep in mind that you have to up skill daily and reach out.

What advice would you give to someone who is just starting and looking to land their first gig as a copywriter?

The first thing I would advise a person looking out for a gig as a copywriter is to create a compelling portfolio first because it is totally necessary. You need a portfolio to pitch something and convince somebody to buy your services.

How do you do that? You practice your copy. Get the copy from established creators and make changes to show how you would have written it, creating a sample. Start writing for people in the initial phases, even for free, to build your portfolio.

Once you have a reasonable amount of work, you can showcase it and land your first copywriting gig.

How important is it for copywriters to understand the target audience they’re writing for? Any tips on how to effectively research and connect with a target audience?

It is crucial to understand who your target audience is because it is out of the question not to research them. If any copywriter starts writing something, there are a million products in the market that people write for. And all those products are directed to be sold to somebody.

And you have to sell to that person according to their needs, requirements, problems, and benefits. In order to search for your own target audience, you have to first see where you land yourself in that target audience.

For example, if somebody is selling pencils, you need that pencil. First and foremost, jot down points that you would want.

Secondly, there are many other ways to do so. You can conduct surveys, and do research on what sort of pencils people want, what sort of modifications people want, and what sort of problems they face. For example, some leads are not sharp enough, some are not strong enough, some pencils don’t have a good grip, some are not sharpened properly, some have smooth writing, and some don’t. So all these problems when you combine them, you try to find out the benefit from them.

And when you get to that benefit, you have to channel that topic to answer. That is how I do the target audience research.

Can you share any strategies or techniques for writing persuasive copy that resonates with readers and drives action?

A lot of things are involved in it. I would like to emphasize frameworks over here. We have to follow certain frameworks that create connectivity throughout your content with the reader. You have to understand that whenever you write something, it is not something out of the blue and it is not something that goes out in the blue.

It is something that comes from a directed mindset and it is going towards a directed mindset. It has to be organized properly. Follow certain frameworks. There are many frameworks people talk about. For example, the PAS framework and PAPA frameworks.

There are a lot of frameworks that a person can talk about and can work on them. My foremost advice would be frameworks. Work on your framework.

In today’s digital age, what role does SEO play in copywriting, and how can aspiring copywriters leverage SEO best practices to enhance their work?

Talking about SEO. SEO is the need of the modern era. It’s the need of modern writing. It’s the need for modern content.

If you want to rank somewhere, you have to optimize the content accordingly. However, there is a problem that people doing SEO overdo it, and they lack the element of personalization in their content. So we have to take them both hand in hand and, a balance is to be achieved, out of both of them in order to create content that ranks on the engines as well and ranks on the audience’s mind as well. We have to understand that fine difference. And how to do that?

We do that by not stuffing too many keywords. We have to create a voice tone that people can understand, not only engines can understand. SEO is important. Its need cannot be denied. It is totally important in copywriting as well.

How do you approach working with clients as a ghostwriter? Are there any key communication tips or best practices you’ve found to be effective?

Yeah. Talking about ghostwriting and how to approach, it is one of my favorite topics here. I’ve talked about them in one of the series that I’ve launched on LinkedIn called the Abrupt Fable series on Wednesdays. It was related to ghostwriting and how to write for founders and CEOs.

How do I approach a ghostwriting plan? The first thing I do after closing that deal is to start conversations that are not held between normal clients. You see when you’re writing for a founder, you have to project their voice into your content. And to understand that, you have to know certain things that a normal client and freelancer don’t know.

In order to do that, we have to break the ice. You have to get a bit of frank behavior in between you and your client, and you have to be friends to a certain level.

When you achieve that, I would advise that you conduct at least one call per week to know what considerable events happened in the founder’s or the client’s life that you can use in your content or what they think about it. The more you talk to them, the more you understand their voice, the more stories you can expect, and the more content ideas you can get. That is my first and foremost priority when I approach ghostwriting.

What are some resources or tools that aspiring copywriters can use to improve their skills and stay updated on industry trends?

Yeah. The tools and instruments to use for copywriting. There are many out there on the Internet. One has to search for them. For example, every content writer, every copywriter uses Grammarly and such tools for punctuation and stuff.

But, one tool that I use are Swipe. co. Swipe.co is a website that has copies from all over the world that are performing well. You can go there, get those pieces of copy, practice them, and learn from them. Apart from that, there are many other… Second, I will advise you to get those newsletters right into your inboxes, but not every newsletter. Newsletters from good creators, the creators who create good copy, get those newsletters. Get yourself signed up for them.

And I think that would be it from the instruments part. Apart from that, there are certain pay tools as well. There are certain free tools as well. People advise them all the time. For example, on LinkedIn, certain people advise about Tableau. It is a good tool for LinkedIn management and all that stuff. So, yeah, there are many tools out there that people can utilize.

Lastly, can you share a memorable success story or project you’ve worked on as a ghostwriter or copywriter, and what lessons aspiring copywriters can learn from it?

Yeah. A success story as a copywriter or ghostwriter. Then I do have a couple of stories with me, which I wrote for ghostwriting clients in which I can create a copywriting project. But the one that worked out for me well was, there was this tech CEO who reached out to me and who wanted to know if we wanted a LinkedIn presence. And we talked about it and, he was actually in his twenties.

He was a young CEO. And so I wanted to channel this stuff into his content and to show the world that if he, being so young, could do something like this, it’s possible. So, before I made that post, his content was getting like 4 to 5 likes.

And when I made that storytelling post about how he ended up creating his company, you know, it was a bang, and we almost got more than 125 likes on it and a couple of… A lot of comments and, of course, the impressions showed up as well. The next moment he reached out to me and said, “Man, it’s a miracle and something weird has happened.” And that’s the moment that he started to trust in me. He started to put his trust in me. And yes.

It’s the 3rd month that we are working together right now. There are such stories that I enjoy, that I admire them that keep me motivated.

Thank you so much, it was wonderful talking to you. And once again, thank you so much for having me on Inkwrit. I love such sort of questions in which I have to share my expertise with people who can benefit from them.

Let’s wrap up

For aspiring writers and ghostwriters, here’s a key takeaway: Success in this field requires dedication and adaptability. Remember to continuously hone your skills, understand your audience, and find your unique voice. Beyond technical abilities, empathy and creativity play a crucial role in standing out.

In conclusion, embrace the journey, stay open to new opportunities, and never stop evolving. Your passion and dedication will guide you toward success. If you find this article helpful please leave a comment and want to learn more about ghostwriting please click here.