Ghostwriting Professional Designation Program

Ghostwriting Professional Designation Program (GPDP) is the only all-inclusive, soup-to-nuts, online ghostwriter-training course in the world.

GPDP will teach you what a ghostwriting job is, how to do the job, how to successfully complete the job—and how to use the job to attract new clients.

An intense, 13-month, masters-level online program, GPDP covers every aspect of how to command $35,000 or more per gig while making your clients happy and producing marketable literary properties.

Ghostwriting theory
How ghostwriting differs from the various types and levels of editing and collaborating; a ghostwriter’s scope, limitations, and responsibilities; ghostwriters as book-industry insiders; why ghostwriters maintain strict confidentiality and invisibility; Ghostwriting Psychology 101; and the five Rules of Ghostwriting.

Industry realities
Good manuscripts vs. marketable literary properties; Chicago Manual of Style exceptions; who does what in the publishing sequence; how to employ the industry supply chain; and market vs. booksellers vs. audience.

Skill sets
How to decode/code manuscripts to industry standards; the 5-step nonfiction/memoir chart-to-chapter process; the 6-step fiction map-to-chapter process; how to identify and maintain author “tells” throughout the creation/editing process; musical line editing; and how to create market-viable submission products.

Creative analysis
The ghostwriter’s 4-part deliberative process for revealing a manuscript’s “gold,” distinguishing deal breakers from content disruptions, uncovering character and plot implausibilities, determining author sensibilities, and demonstrating editorial expertise and industry authority to close deals.

Unique tools
nonfiction charts; plot maps; meet-in-the-middle workarounds; PMA character studies; Bestseller Strategy Plans; A&R project bids; equitable contracts; and B-State strategic planning.

Mindset transitions
16 distinct “head flips” to move your needle from how you perceive of and present yourself right now to being a high-end professional and a vital member of the book industry.

Business Professionalism
how to command editorial authority as a service-oriented book-industry insider; the facets of entrepreneurship; and how to position yourself “in a class of your own.”

Successful certification candidates must demonstrate their grasp of all above elements on two projects (nonfiction and fiction).