Reader Mail

Subject: Book Reviews

I like the added feature of book reviews. How about reviewing romance fiction? It's a great genre--there's something for everyone. If cowboys and ranchers are your thing, check out the westerns-- either contemporary (set in the present) or historical (set in the past). If you've ever wondered what it would be like to travel either forward or back in time, check out time-travels.

And there's so much more! I hope you'll take this into consideration!

Sincerely,

Amy McBay

Dear Amy,

We have! As part of our expansion of our book review section, we have added romance book reviews. Did you know that romance books make up approximately 50% of all the books sold in the U.S.? That's a lot of romances! This month we welcome two new Romance reviewers -- we hope you will enjoy reading about their picks for this month.

The Editors

Subject: Ghostwriting opportunities

I am responding to the reader mail about ghostwriters. Although, there are often on-line ads for writers, normally experience is required and typically the work involves more research than writing. I want to write. How does one get to be a ghostwriter? Where can people get sources of information for such work to break into the field? Are there any primers on the subject? Sample contracts? I have been unable to find such information roaming the infoworld and an article on the subject.

S. Hall
Nepean, Ontario, Canada

Dear S. Hall,

As a general proposition, ghostwriters are professionals with a number of years of writing experience to their credit. This makes sense; usually someone hires a ghostwriter because he or she does not possess the time, inclination or perhaps skills to produce the desired product. That is why many celebrity books are either ghostwritten or are written with a co-author. The celebrity's name sells the book, but it is the professional collaborator or uncredited ghostwriter who does all the work. As you would with any profession, you must spend time learning the necessary skills. You could start out with the small freelance jobs or as a staff writer for a small periodical and work your way up in the field, building your clip file as you go. There are many excellent books on the subject of becoming a freelance writer; there are several featured in our book review section of this issue. An easy way to search for a book specifically on ghostwriting is to go to Amazon.com and run a search using the keyword Ghostwriting. It will pull up several titles on the subject. Good Luck!

--The Editors