Ghostwriting — a lucrative side hustle.
How you can use Twitter to grow a ghostwriting side hustle to $10k+ per month
While the name is a little strange, ghostwriting is nothing spooky — it just translates to writing material for someone else and letting them use their name even though you wrote it.
It’s a valuable side hustle for a lot of writers because it’s quick and easy money. There has been a sudden rise in ghostwriting for Twitter in recent years, especially since you can monetize your platform now! So a lot of creators have opted to use ghostwriters for their content.
It’s the perfect side hustle for you!
If you think you’re a lousy writer, think again. Writing isn’t a skill you are born with, it’s something you learn with practice. Not all ghostwriters are people with college degrees, most of them start by reading an article like this and then getting started! According to research, ghostwriters can make anywhere from around $2,000 to $10,000 as a side hustle, depending on experience! Some excellent ones might be able to start an agency and write even more.
So, why is it valued?
The simple answer is, that people are busy now! During the covid pandemic, a lot of ghostwriters couldn’t find jobs because everyone had enough time to sit at home in lockdown and work on their social media. But now that there isn’t as severe of a worldwide pandemic, there has been a sudden rise in ghostwriting job advertisements, just take a look at LinkedIn! Celebrities, athletes, and even models need ghostwriters for their social media, and Twitter is a very popular platform for ghostwriting.
How can you become a ghostwriter?
Before you apply yourself as a ghostwriter, you need to sharpen your skills. This is very easy to do but CRUCIAL for this side hustle. Here are a few ways to improve your skills:
Read as much as you can and as often as you can.
If you don’t like reading, start stalking pages of celebrities on Twitter or people who are verified on Twitter, more often than not, they have a ghostwriter! If you like reading books, novels, or magazines, continue reading them and add Twitter accounts to your list. Your future clients need someone who understands their writing styles and has a good understanding of storytelling. Take as many notes as possible while you’re reading, this will help you pick up on writing in different tones and styles.
Practice writing in different styles and tones.
The line “you get what you pay for” is important to you if you’re the one offering the service. You wouldn’t spend $3,000 for someone who won’t live up to their words right? So, don’t be that person for your client. Sharpen yourself as much as possible by practicing every single day for a couple of hours. A simple way you can do that is, to pick out a person on Twitter, get familiarized with the way they tweet, and try to come up with tweets that match their style. Ask your friends to see if the style and tone match and keep track of your progress! Even try going as far as thinking how a certain fictional character would tweet to practice, for example: “How would Simba from the Lion King tweet?” and come up with 5-7 tweets depending on his personality. This will help you unlock great potential.
Understand that ghostwriting takes patience.
You’re very close to advertising yourself now! Great job on your progress! Now it’s the most difficult part, patience. Understanding ghostwriting is easy, you become familiar with tones and voices, you are writing for someone else, etc., but coming to terms with the fact that people won’t hire you straight away can be very difficult. While you have had ample time to practice and you are very good at what you do, people will choose the person who has had more experience than you. But not to worry! All of this can be solved quite easily by staying consistent, never letting yourself down if you aren’t getting clients, keeping your profile up to date, and never stopping practicing, even when you get clients, do NOT stop practicing your writing skills!
Advertise yourself.
Now that you are prepared for all the outcomes, you can go ahead and advertise yourself. Update your profile on LinkedIn and post about yourself and your practicing experience. Make a Twitter profile and update your bio to say that you are a ghostwriter. Tweet that you are looking for a job and you will eventually get a ton of clients. Keyword, eventually. Do not forget the last tip, which was patience.
General pricing
While you don’t want to overcharge your clients, you also shouldn’t be underpaid. If you are just starting, a general rule of thumb is 500$ for 90 tweets and 1 thread. Consider not promising “growth in followers” or an “increase in engagement” until you’ve had your first satisfied client, after which point you can go on and put their progress in your job description.
What to do while you’re hustling for your first client?
You can’t just sit around and wait! Other than spending your time practicing writing, you should work on social media growth. How will you be able to help your client if you can’t even help yourself to grow? Start being consistent on Twitter, post tips to grow, advice for ghostwriters, and quotes. Use hashtags appropriately when necessary and tag huge creators in your posts where necessary to get on their radars. Other than that, sign up to our newsletter for frequent growth tips so you have an easy way to grow your followers 😉
Another thing you can do is start reaching out to potential clients yourself.
Look for a small account that looks like they have a lot of potential, come up with a couple of tweets for them, and approach them in their DMs.
You got your client! Great! How should you make them a paying customer?
Getting 1 or 2 clients is easier than making them a paying customer. How do you do that? Well, for starters, listen. Even though this is a writing job, it’s best to listen more than you write. When speaking to your client, take consistent notes about their tone and voice, what they expect from you and what their niche is about. While a sense of humor is good, just remember that it is subjective, so do ask them about it! This isn’t your page or your own free will to be executed! In the beginning, after posting 4-5 tweets, ask them if they are alright and if your client would like you to continue in the same style.
Be true to your words! If your client asks you for 400 tweets within a month, and you agree to it, it is your responsibility to get those done. Using an automation tool like Hypefury can make this job much easier. You can take a day and schedule multiple tweets at once to go out at specific times of the day.
Keep up with trends, do not fall behind, if you see something trending that could go with your client’s niche, tweet it immediately.
Don’t be afraid to LEARN. You can always become better even if you’re at your peak! Learn from growth courses, invest in yourself, and buy tools to make your writing style better. You can even learn from Twitter ghostwriters! Here’s a list of some great writers:
- Eddy Quan
- Wise Connector
- Guilherme
- WritingToRiches
- Dakota
- Joshua Lisec
- Beta Modification
- GetPaidWriting
- Tochukwu
- Cian
- Mr. Money Tweets
- ThoroughBreedDave
- Build Big Money
- Young Toy King
Is this the future of writing?
Without a second thought, YES. There has been a sudden increase in ghostwriting for social media ever since the restrictions of the pandemic were lifted and people got busy. Ghostwriters are usually hired by people who want to create quality content for their huge fan base but don’t understand Twitter or simply don’t have the time or think of it as a less important side hustle. There is a sudden increase in hiring ghostwriters among A-listed celebrities and you could be there one day!
The ability to create long-lasting relationships with an audience that isn’t even yours and creating content that can easily mask off as someone else’s is a difficult but rewarding job!
If you are reading this, what’s stopping you from starting as a ghostwriter? Start NOW to expand yourself as much as possible because this field is definitely increasing rapidly and it will eventually become difficult to find a place in recent years. So, what are you waiting for?
Did you know that Hypefury has a ghostwriting feature for Twitter writing clients built right into its platform?
