Ghostwriters aren't just writing lyrics

COMMUNICATING CULTURE

I swear by the time I get through with you, you’re gonna believe me when I say that writers are superstars. We run the culture, shape it, report on it, and define it. We just do all of that from the background.

And that’s OK. We don’t need to beat our chests, but we do need recognition. We need to realize how powerful we are and how important we are to how people see the world.

Take Neil Martinez-Belkin, for example. Have you ever heard of him? Maybe you have. More likely you’ve heard of a rapper named Rick Ross or another rapper named Gucci Mane. Martinez-Belkin has ghostwritten bestsellers for both rappers, two of those for Rick Ross.

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Why is that important? Because Gucci Mane and Ross have been two of the most influential voices in hip-hop, particularly Gucci. Gucci is less known, but he’s nurtured or exposed the world to numerous artists that have defined the sound of hip-hop for the last two decades.

Quick history lesson: Atlanta has been the core of hip-hop since the early 2000s. Acts like Outkast, TI, Ludacris, and Jeezy helped give the south a presence when hip-hop was previously dominated by east-coast rappers and New York rappers, more specifically.

Gucci is also from Atlanta. And although you might not know his music, he is responsible for acts like The Migos and Young Thug. These two are important because they popularized the current sound of hip-hop. Most of hip-hop for the last decade has been “Trap Music.” It’s a phrase that was coined by TI in the late 90s/early 2000s, but it didn’t have a defined sound till over a decade later when acts like Future, Young Thug and Migos came on the scene. Gucci is the one that exposed those acts to the world. His impact on hip hop is unquestioned.

Martinez-Belkin tells Gucci Mane’s story in detail. He helped an entirely new audience understand why Gucci is so important to hip-hop, and he did it quietly while Gucci got to enjoy the praise (which is very much deserved, btw).

Our influence as ghostwriters doesn’t stop there. Michelle Obama thanked a “team of collaborators” for helping her complete her bestselling memoir, Becoming. And while it’s been a bit more hush, hush about the exact people who helped ghostwrite her story, Verna Williams is a name that’s been brought up several times. Verna and Obama met in law school and have remained friends ever since.

Other ghostwriters are easy to acknowledge because their names are on the cover. Denene Millner, who currently has her own imprint at Simon and Schuster, ghostwrote books for Taraji P. Henson and Cookie Johnson, who is Magic Johnson’s wife.

But I don’t want you to think that ghostwriting is all about penning memoirs for celebrities. Actually, ghostwriting isn’t just relegated to books. My friend, Pauleanna Reid, has built a seven-figure ghostwriting business that includes speeches and articles for high-level execs, entrepreneurs, along with some celebrities.

Another friend of mine, Ken Pierre, makes five figures a month ghostwriting tweets. Yes, I’m serious. Ghostwriting is much more versatile than you think.

So as ghostwriters, not only are we articulating the books that tell stories of the most influential people in culture, we’re also communicating with employees and telling everyday stories on social media. And I haven’t even gotten to journalists yet, which I’ll be doing an entire post on.

I say all of this so we know our worth and understand our value. That’s my mission. Writers are the true superstars of culture and we’ve been that way since the first symbol was written down to help traders. Ghostwriting is one way we contribute to culture and earn a lot of dollars doing it.

Side note: If you’d like to know more about ghostwriting, let me know. I’ve made some good money as a ghostwriter and I’m always down to share information.