How to Get Ghostwritten Articles About Your Company Published in Trade JournalsBy J.D. Solomon When it comes to PR, there is nothing better than getting a feature-length article about your company published in an industry journal. These articles, bylined by a key customer or senior executive, are written by a professional ghostwriter. Advantages A published article generates tremendous third-party endorsement and validation of your product or service. You get an immediate spike in PR attention, plus the long-term benefit of a reprint that can be distributed by sales reps and posted on your website. Disadvantages Trade journal ghostwriting has a very long incubation period. From inception to publication, these projects can take anywhere from five to 18 months; nine months is average. Secondarily, you must give up some editorial control; the bylined author and the magazine’s editors have the ability to influence the tone and even content of the piece. Process Planning — The ghostwriter and client discuss possible story topics, and the client identifies one or two candidates for authorship. If a customer, the prospective author should be a strong product/company champion who has an interesting story to tell about the implementation. If a company executive, the author should be someone with industry stature. The ghostwriter will conduct preliminary interviews with the prospective authors to identify themes for the article. The ghostwriter will also identify primary and secondary trade journal choices for publication. Writing — Once the ghostwriter and client agree on a bylined author, topic/theme and targeted publication, the ghostwriter will conduct follow-up interviews, do other research as needed and write the article. Typical length is between 800 and 1,500 words. Review and submission — The article is reviewed by the client first, then by the bylined author. The approved draft is submitted to the publication by the bylined author (with the help of the ghostwriter). The article may be submitted to just one publication at a time. It is usually necessary to include a photograph of the author and some kind of photo or illustration related to the product or service. Acceptance — The publication’s editors review the article for acceptance; this can take 60-90 days and sometimes longer. If accepted, it goes into the queue for publication; waiting time is typically three to six months. If rejected, the ghostwriter will submit the article to the secondary journal. Fees Fees vary depending on the nature of the topic and the number of interviews and amount of research required. Fees may be quoted as a project fee, an hourly rate or a per-word rate. See samples of ghostwritten articles by JDS Strategic Communications J.D. Solomon is the founder and president of JDS Strategic Communications, a marketing company that specializes in helping small and growing businesses. Information about his
company can be found at www.marketerinabox.com. © J.D. Solomon This article may be freely distributed
as long as it appears in its entirety,
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