How to Provide Constructive Feedback to a Ghostwriter

Have you ever been chewed out by the boss at some point in your life? That is an example of what not to do. Sure you may have sent out correspondence on their behalf with their first name typed as “Smelly” instead of “Smitty” but yelling won’t change that fact.

A ghostwriter can ease the burden of creating content but not if they get an attitude every time you have a comment to make about their work. Learn how to give feedback so neither one of you ends up getting angry.

Two Important Mistakes

With ghostwriting, two of the most frequent mistakes that you will provide feedback on are wrong voice and poor editing skills. Rest assured, there will be other reasons at times to “call them into your office” but these are biggies that require more work for you to fix than simply running spell checker.

It may take a try or two for the ghostwriter to capture the nuances of your voice. The problem comes in when you want light and conversational and you get dry and boring. Or, you may want specific formatting: bullet points, single space within and double after a paragraph or something totally different. When the ghostwriter submits the content without any of the formatting that you specified it’s not saving you any time.

Tip #1–Providing constructive criticism begins with your frame of mind. Take a step back from the situation. In the case of the example in the opening, the mistake is embarrassing for you (to say the least) but that can be managed.

Tip#2–Never assume anyone is intentionally at fault. As far as writing style, ask the ghostwriter if they are having trouble conforming to that voice. Tell them what you have noticed and how it differed from what you wanted.

Tip #3–Provide a solution along with the feedback for the problems that you notice. There is a good rule of thumb for this: If you have a problem, come to the table with possible solutions. This shows that you are not condemning their efforts but offering to help improve their work to meet your needs.

Tip #4–Are you in the clear? It’s easy to forget what instructions you gave and didn’t give. For formatting issues, it may have been left out of the conversation. In that case, let the ghostwriter know what you wanted, apologize for not including the instruction and ask them to reformat the work.

Working with a ghostwriter is a partnership arrangement. To that end, strive to create an atmosphere that supports questions and clarification when needed. Then, criticism is more likely to be received in a professional manner.

Leave a comment    

Share

About the Author

Garnet Miller is a part time freelance writer with a focus on ghostwriting and project management. She has been published in three FaithWriters anthologies, Associated Content, a coffee table book entitled “Letters to My Mother” and a soon to be released anthology entitled, “Delivered” as well as a Christian newspaper. She is managing editor and writes two columns for Extreme Women magazine.