Registration opens July 1, 2022—limit 15 students
Full online course starts August 17th, 2022
Ghostwriting Professional Designation Program is the world’s first and still premier comprehensive ghostwriter training course.
• Instructional videos: 60 (20 hours)
• Live coaching/demo/Q&A: 43 weeks (64.5 hours)
• Independent action steps required: 2-8 hours/week
Prerequisites: Introduction to Ghostwriting (6-week class) and Ghostwriting Action Steps.
- Unit 1: Introduction to Ghostwriting*
An easy, professional-level 6-week online class, Introduction to Ghostwriting covers everything you need to know about who does what over the course of a book’s life; why some “good” books don’t make it yet some “bad” books do; how to increase a manuscript’s chances in the marketplace, and where you, as an editorial-service provider, fit into that landscape. Topics include:
Welcome to GPDP
What to expect from this class, what we expect from you, what our point system means, how to get help from us as you go along, and how to work with your fellow students.The End
What you need to command $35,000+ fees for full-length book manuscripts.MS Word for Writers (PC and Mac)
How to correctly code manuscripts for 21st-century acceptance and reflow.Creative Analysis 101
An introduction to creative analysis, its uses and elements, its contribution to the structure process, and its importance to closing high-fee gigs. Includes 6 Independent Action Step assignmentsChicago Manual of Style (CMS)
The book industry’s style guide standards and exceptions, and how ignoring them reduces a manuscript’s credibility in the marketplace. All assignments must conform to industry-standards (CMS rules and MS Word templates).This Business of Books
A brief overview of the book industry from an insider’s perspective, and how not knowing the difference between market, booksellers, and audience can hurt a title’s sales.The History of Ghostwriting (and Editing)
A quick look at how publishing-company editors evolved into 21st-century ghostwriters.Introduction to Ghostwriting
The scope, responsibilities, and earning potential of freelance or work-for-hire writers, collaborators, and editors vs. today’s professional ghostwriters.Mindset Transitions
The “head flips,” or mindset transitions to help you change how you think about and present yourself right now, to how you will perceive and present yourself at the end of the full GPDP.Interviews
Mindset transition #1: how to interview like a professional ghostwriter rather than a journalist or freelance writer.* Can be taken asynchronously at https://www.learndesk.us/class/5379842587492352/introduction-to-ghostwriting
- Unit 2: Structure
This unit covers structure theory plus how to deconstruct, fix, and restructure any manuscript for optimal author and reader satisfaction. Topics covered in this professional ghostwriting program include:Structure: Welcome back
An introduction to the units, transitional steps, internal and external impressions, learning phases, creative-analysis concepts, and client/project rules necessary to advance from a freelance writer to a GPDP Professional-Designation Ghostwriter.Structure Theory
An introduction to Slinky flow, structure parameters, the five-step structure process, and the elements of nonfiction and fiction structure.Structure: Chart & Map
How to create and utilize nonfiction/memoir charts and fiction maps.Structure: Creative Analysis
How to extend critical thinking, debate protocol, abstract reasoning, and focused ingenuity to everyday life and raw manuscripts.Structure: BISACs
How to use industry classification and placement to determine a book’s focus.Structure: Markets v. Booksellers v. Audience
The differences between industry market, booksellers (physical and online), and a title’s reading audience.Structure: Mine for Gold
How to define “gold,” find the “gold,” and spin the “gold” in any presenting manuscript or unwritten project.Structure: Nonfiction Templates
The five most common nonfiction templates and the creative Freeform exception.Structure: Nonfiction Content Disruptions
How to apply creative analysis to a nonfiction manuscript, typical nonfiction issues, where they come from, and what we can and cannot do about them.Structure: Nonfiction Deal Breakers
The most common nonfiction and memoir deal breakers, why they happen, and what we can do about them if we’re allowed to.Structure: Fiction Parameters
The differences between writing and ghostwriting fiction; who novelist clients are and what to expect from them; fiction elements and rules; and ghostwriting’s fiction limitations.Structure: Plot and Characters
The ghostwriter’s perspective on fiction structure, architecture, and character studies, what readers expect from a good novel, and the scope of PMA character traits ghostwriters can and cannot impose.Structure: Meet in the Middle
How to use an old Hollywood trick to fix, bolster, or complete a novel’s plot.Structure: Fiction Disruptions & Deal Breakers
An exploration of fiction’s deal breakers and content disruptions. - Unit 3: Analysis & Recommendations
This unit covers how to create WCLLC’s proprietary three-part sales tool/book plan. Topics include:Ghostwriting Psych 101
Recognize and capitalize on basic human needs and human nature.A&R Purposes & Outcomes
The five purposes and three outcomes of an A&R.A&Rs Snapshot
The four elements of the A&R’s first page, including Ghostwriting Psych 101 impact and how to develop an industry-standard one-liner, or pitch.A&R The Analysis
Ghostwriting Psych 101 approach to balancing industry gold and strengths and reader appeal with disruption contents/deal breakers in a kind, friendly, firm, yet authoritative and ultimately effective single-page narrative.A&R Recommendations
Ghostwriting Psych 101 approach to providing a blueprint for ameliorating all disruptions and deal breaks, heightening impact, boosting salability, and elevating the manuscript into a marketable literary property.A&R Close & Format
How to segue to a project proposal or decline the gig. Includes formatting for greatest professional appearance and impact. - Unit 4: Ghostwriting Tech
This unit covers the deepest-held secret of professional ghostwriting—the “intuitive” skill vital for every aspect of professional ghostwriting, from concept development through landing the gig. Topics include:
Ghostwriting Psych 101: Ghostwriting Theory
What ghostwriters must do to make a manuscript work; the scope of what ghostwriters can do to achieve that goal; the scope of what ghostwriters cannot and must not do.Tells
How to identify author tells, and how to maintain those tells through the ghostwriting and editing processes.Chart to Chapter
The sequence from charting a nonfiction manuscript to ghostwriting fully developed chapters.Nonfiction “Story”
Boosting auto read with internal story structure.Ghostwrite Nonfiction
How to construct a nonfiction chapter, special memoir considerations, and how to manipulate narrative, dialogue, examples, and illustrations.Live-action Nonfiction Ghostwriting
Demonstration video.Nonfiction Drafts
The seven steps between finishing a draft and submitting it for review (or to a client).Map to Chapters
The sequence from mapping a fiction manuscript to ghostwriting fully developed, plot/character-integrated scenes and chapters.Ghostwrite Fiction
What the ghostwriter can correct in a fiction manuscript, and the lengths to which they can (and cannot) go to make those corrections.Fiction Show & Tell
Boosting auto read with active story.Live-action Fiction Ghostwriting
Demonstration video.Fiction Drafts
A recap of the seven steps between finishing a draft and submitting it for review (or to a client). - Unit 5: Musical Line Editing
This unit explores the apex of editorial revision: music, rhythm, and impact. Topics include:
Ghostwriting Psych 101: Music & Rhythm
An auditory exploration of how MLE impacts the written word.Musical Line Edit (MLE) Theory/Technique
Introduction to the “auto read” concept; how to eliminate unnecessary passive verbs and prepositions; how to use the MLE to correct structure, content, and ghostwriting issues; how to use the MLE to drag and accentuate drive.Ghostwriting vs. Editing
The differences between freelance, publisher, and MLE liberties and restrictions.MLE Drafts
The progression of eliminate passive/static phrases, rearrange for Slinky flow, compound tight ideas, standalone impact.Applied Nonfiction Technique
Demonstration video.Applied Fiction Technique
Demonstration video. - Unit 6: Submissions & Sales
This unit delves into selling the final analyzed, structured, written/rewritten, and musically edited property to literary agents, traditional publishers, and supply-chain entities. Topics include:Ghostwriting Psych 101: Return on Investment
What it takes for an author to recoup their publisher’s (or their own) investment in their book.Proposals # 1
How to create the Book Contents, Book Details, Author Bio, and Platform/Promotion sections of an industry standard Book Proposal.Proposals #2
How to create the Competition, Market, and Overview sections of an industry standard Book Proposal; how to arrange and package a Book Proposal for submission to literary agents and acquisition editors.Fiction
How to write an industry-standard synopsis; how to create an industry-standard fiction proposal.Industry Submission
How to write an effective query letter; where to research agents and non-agent-required publishers; how to create a submission log.Bestseller Strategy Plans
How to compile an initial, title-specific off- and online marketing plan with submission log to help the client launch their author career. - Unit 7: Build Your Business
AVAILABLE ONLY TO THOSE WHO HAVE EARNED AN 80% OR HIGHER AVERAGE ON ALL PREVIOUS UNITS.
This wrap-up unit explains how to put all your knowledge, skills, and tools to use to create, sustain, and grow your ghostwriting business. Topics include:
Ghostwriting Psych: Your Business Model
Template for a professional ghostwriter’s business model including primary services, supplemental services, products, fee ranges, and terms.Bids
How to write an effective Project Proposal (bid) with and without an attached A&R; important deal closers.Options & Alternate Bids
How to write an effective Project Proposal (bid) when there is no presenting manuscript.Contracts
How to write an effective, equitable ghostwriter contract.Business Plan/Wambtac Model
How to create your business plan; best practices for approaching your circle of influence; the Wambtac business model.Sales Funnel
The six-step sales funnel to attract clients and establish your authority; the 5-step negotiation/close sequence; troubleshooting and how to avoid the need to troubleshoot.Ready, Set, Launch
The business, mindset, setup, legalities, materials, databases, introductions, responses, negotiation/close sequence, and breadcrumbs necessary to formally launch your new enterprise.Ghostwriting Psych 101: Final Words
A recap of the mindset transitions; how to use the Elliott Wave principle and metaphysics to support your new career; and parting words.Apprentice Program
How to do your first gig through Wambtac Ghostwriters’ Apprentice Program.