Facts
Demand for excellent ghostwriters higher than the supply
Most profitable career for 21st century writers
UPECA 2018 Outstanding Non-Credit Program Award
Graduates report annual income increases of 50% to 150%
100% of 2019–2021 participants rate faculty as Excellent
Unique, comprehensive curriculum
Stats
Instruction: 60 videos (16.5 hours)
Live Q&A/demo: 43 weeks (64.5 hours)
Independent Action Steps: 6 steps (10 hours)
Creative Analysis: 4 non-literary ponderings (8 hours)
Total commitment required: 2-10 hours/week
Benefits
Empowering real-world results that can be applied immediately
Cutting-edge research, trends, and skills
Committed to inclusive and diverse environment/student body
Online instruction structured for working adults
Curriculum
Unit 2: Structure
Welcome Back: Theory: GPDP scope and expectations
Structure: Theory, Strucure: Slinky flow, auto read, and the nonfiction structure and fiction architecture process.
Chart and Map: Mechanical Skills: Reading-for-purpose, nonfiction charting, and fiction mapping.
2nd Pondering: Creative Skill, Ghostwriting Psych: Critical thinking, debate protocol, abstract reasoning, and focused ingenuity applied to an uncomfortable topic/situation.
Mine for Gold: Professional Skill, Ghostwriting Psych: Identify and consisely state a manuscript’s strongest industry-oriented sales points.
BISACs: Professional Skill: The Book Industry Standards and Communications system to categorize books into major subjects and branches.
Markets: Theory: How a title moves through the sequence of market, sales, and audience.
Nonfiction Templates: Creative Skill: Most common templates used to covey nonfiction material.
Nonfiction Content Disruptions: Professional Skill, Ghostwriting Psych: The most common issues that disrupt reader attention and/or a manuscript’s forward motion and why ghostwriters do not dwell on them in client communications.
Nonfiction Deal Breakers: Professional Skill, Ghostwriting Psych: Most common nonfiction issues that turn off agents, publishers, and reviewers, why they occur, and how to fix them; the most common memoir deal-breaking issues, why they occur, and how to fix them.
Nonfiction Project: Choose a nonfiction exceprt and prepare a book blueprint comprising all of the above for it.
Fiction Parameters: Theory, Ghostwriting Psych: The differences between writing and ghostwriting fiction, the 3 types of novelists and the scope and limitation of ghostwriting fiction.
Plot & Characters: Creative Skill: How to extract Perspective, Motive, and Agenda from character action, and how to impose those attributes to rectify implausibilities and sequence-of-events v. plot issues
Meet in the Middle: Creative Skill, Ghostwriting Psych: Insider technique to create a plausible, dyamic plot outline or remedy plot holes.
Fiction Disruptions & Deal Breakers: Professional Skill, Ghostwriting Psych: Most common fiction issues, their causes and solutions, and the ghostwriter’s limitations for fixing them,
Convert Movel to Novel: Professional/Creative Skill: Identify movel elements, recognize industry & reader issues with movels and why they occur, and how to fix them.
Fiction Project: Choose a fiction exceprt and prepare a book blueprint comprising all of the above for it.
Unit 3: Analysis & Recommendations
A&R Purposes & Outcomes: Theory: Wambtac’s proprietary, multi-function sales tool.
Ghostwriting Psych: Theory: The human-nature elements of the A&R, ghostwriting in general, client relations, and project management.
Snapshot: Mechanical Skill, Creative Skill: Blueprint data’s effective presentation and how to craft an industry-standard one-sentence pitch.
The Analysis: Creative Skill: How to befriend, impress, and establish authority and value without selling yourself.
The Recommendation: Creative Skill: Explicit, easy-to-follow instructions for fixing deal breakers.
Close and Format: Mechanical Skill: Most effective A&R closings and formatting.
Unit 4: Ghostwriting Technique
Ghostwriting Theory: Theory, Ghostwriting Psych: Parameters, purpose, A&R/blueprint application, and the multi-layered creative process of ghostwriting a book.
Voice: Mechanical/Creative Skill, Ghostwriting Psych:Recognize author tells, intent, flavor, and perspective.
Chart to Chapter: Mechanical Skill: Use blueprint elements to organize/outline, impose chapter breaks, clump-and-dump, establish chapter theses, and develop individual chapters.
Write Nonfiction: Creative Skill, Ghostwriting Psych: Variables of creating/revising nonfiction book content.
Nonfiction Drafts: Mechanical Skill: Steps to take before submitting a nonfiction assignment.
3rd Pondering: Creative Skill, Ghostwriting Psych: Apply citical thinking, debate protocol, abstract reasoning, and focused ingenuity to an uncomfortable topic/situation.
Map to Chapter: Mechanical Skill: Use blueprint elements to organize/outline plot-action sequence, impose chapter breaks, clump-and-dump, impose PMA, and develop individual chapters.
Prompt to Chapter: Creative Skill, Ghostwriting Psych: Use raw transcripts and blueprint elements to organize/outline plot-action sequences, impose chapter breaks, clump-and-dump, impose PMA, and develop individual chapters.
Fiction First Chapters: Creative Skill, Ghostwriting Psych: The elements of an effective, page-turning opening chapter for a novel.
Ghostwrite Fiction: Creative Skill, Ghostwriting Psych:The various corrections we can make while staying within the limitations of ghostwriting fiction.
Fiction Drafts: Mechanical Skill: Steps to take before submitting a fiction assignment.
Unit 5: Musical Line Editing (MLE)
Note: This unit is currently under revision
Words and Music: Theory: The musical equivalent of MLE illustrated by Scott Joplin’s “Maple Leaf Rag.”
Introduction to MLE: Theory: Parameters, purpose, and literary decisions of MLEing nonfiction or fiction.
Ghost-MLE Bridge: Theory: MLE remedies for specific manuscript challenges.
More Techniques: Mechanical Skill: Basic Writing Conventions as they apply to MLE.
4th Pondering: Creative Analysis, Ghostwriting Psych: Apply citical thinking, debate protocol, abstract reasoning, and focused ingenuity to an uncomfortable topic/situation.
Unit 6: Submissions & Sales
Return on Investment (ROI): Theory, Ghostwriting Psych: Books’ various sales channels/typical ROI ranges.
Proposals #1: Professional Skill, Ghostwriting Psych: Book Contents, Details, Author Bio, and Promotion parameters, purposes, and guidelines.
Proposals #2: Professional Skill, Ghostwriting Psych: Market, Competition, Overview parameters, purposes, and guidelines.
Fiction Proposal: Professional Skill: Synopsis, fiction proposal elements parameters, purposes, and guidelines.
Submissions: Professional Skill: Query letters, agent/publisher research, submission-log tool.
Bestseller Strategy Plans: Mechanical Skill, Professional Skill: Wambtac’s proprietary added-value tool for word-of-mouth, bulk, and high-volume sales.
5th Pondering: Creative Analysis, Ghostwriting Psych: Apply citical thinking, debate protocol, abstract reasoning, and focused ingenuity to an uncomfortable topic/situation.
Unit 7: Business & Professionalism
Business Model: Business Skill (Solopreneurship): Parameters of the ghostwriter’s business model.
Bids: Professional Skill: Parameters and templates for project proposals/sales tool.
Options and Alternate Bids: Professional Skill: Parameters and templates for optional and add-on ghostwriting project proposal/sales tool.
Contracts: Business Skill: Wambtac’s vetted ghostwriting-project agreement template.
Business Plan: Business Skill: Parameters for creating a business plan with standard and ghostwriting-specific considerations.
Sales Funnel: Business Skill: Wambtac’s 6-step sales funnel from first introduction to closing the deal.
Ready, Set, Launch: Business Skill: Six steps to opening a ghostwriting business.
Apprentice Program: Business Skill: How to do your first gig with Wambtac Ghostwriter mentorship,
Final Words: Theory: Last thoughts to chew on and encouragement from our founder.