It’s a little strange to acknowledge that someone as famous and prolific as Stephen King is perhaps the ultimate ghostwriter. Then again, what about Stephen King and his writing isn’t strange? In 1977, King was frustrated with the industry standard that made it difficult to publish more than a single novel per year. Thus, King began publishing using the pen name Richard Bachman.
King published four novels before his secret was exposed, making this one of the greatest publishing tricks in literary history. As a great ghostwriter, Stephen King has a lot of tips for ghostwriters and content creators in general.
“Good books don’t give up all their secrets at once.†- Stephen King
Now, there’s nothing wrong about giving up all your secrets, just be sure to space it out effectively. After all, if you want to brand yourself as a thought leader in a particular industry, you have to provide useful content - but you always want to have something to say.
To do this, spread out your knowledge over a series of blogs or articles. The more in-depth you get on a particular topic, the more valuable the information is and the more content you can squeeze out of your knowledge.
“Any word you have to hunt for in a thesaurus is the wrong word. There are no exceptions to this rule.†- Stephen King
Really, Mr. King?
While this might seem counterintuitive at first, it makes complete sense. Shouldn’t writers have and develop our own unique voices? The more that we rely on 3rd party sources such as a thesaurus to do the writing for us, the less of our voice remains in the content. Make your content your own - natural and authentic.
“Description begins in the writer’s imagination but should finish in the reader’s.†- Stephen King
Remember, article writing and written online content should be concise and effective. When we include superfluous descriptions, we muck up the idea and sometimes make it difficult to follow the point of the piece. Surprisingly, you can have very clear and descriptive writing in just a few words.
Word economy is everything. Your words are like dots on the page, and it’s the job of the reader to connect them all.
“Write with the door closed, rewrite with the door open.†- Stephen King
To unleash your voice and personality in your article writing, write without any inhibitions. Write as though no one will read it. Once you get all of your ideas and thoughts onto the page, then that’s the time to critique it with an editor’s eye, not beforehand.
Article writing in mental privacy allows you to get all your ideas out. While they may not be the “best†ideas, at least you have the opportunity to develop and revise them with your open-door-edit.
