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Gathering of the Ghosts

January 22, 2024

American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA) and Gotham Ghostwriters will co-host the first-ever national convention of professional ghostwriters in New York City.

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The Gathering of the Ghosts will highlight and promote the ghostwriting profession and elevate it as a viable career path for writers, bringing them together for a one-day, in-person event with education, awards, and networking.

Our immediate goal is to build a greater sense of community and connectivity within the field and start what we hope will be an ongoing dialogue about the trends shaping our work and the common challenges ghostwriters face.

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Agenda

Sessions will include the state of the publishing industry and the role of the “ghost” in the traditional publishing, hybrid, and self-publishing sectors; the impact of AI; and a town hall forum on how the field can be best be served, including the imperative to diversify our community.

Breakfast

Keynote speaker: Fireside Chat

How to Help Clients Choose the Best Publishing Path for Their Book

As publishing continues to transform and hybrid and self-publishing companies grow their market share, collaborators are often asked to play a new role – advising clients about what type of publishing is best for them and their book. Find out what types of books and book proposals editors and agents are looking for, how to vet hybrid publishers, and when to recommend self-publishing.

Moderator

Brooke Warner

Panelists

Regina Brooks
Josh Bernoff
Naren Aryal

The Money Dance

Money, or the specter of it, pervades every aspect of the delicate romance between author and ghostwriter. So let’s talk pricing. How do you prove your work is worth what you deserve? What’s the right way to charge for initial “get-to-know-you” work, and how do you break down payments and milestones fairly? What’s the right range of fees for proposals and manuscripts, and do they vary based on the need for research, interviewing, shorter or longer manuscripts, or the number of revisions? Should you ask for a share of advance and royalties – and should you reduce your fee in exchange? Should there be more standardization? Should there be more transparency? And what do you do when the project takes twice the effort you expected – or stalls entirely?

Moderator

Kevin Anderson

Panelists

Catherine Whitney
Michael Levin
Marcia Layton Turner

LUNCH & Presentation of Inaugural Andy Awards

Be a Visible Ghost

Writers who differentiate themselves and expand their outreach can generate a river of requests, referrals and revenue. Prospective clients sometimes think, “one writer fits all” and may not know where or how to find the right ghost for their project. By showcasing your unique combination of skills, talent, and experience and expanding your visibility, you’ll connect with more clients who are good fits, whether it’s because of the genres you write, the topics you’re interested in, or the causes you care about.

Panelists

Pauleanna Reid

AI: Don’t compete with robots, collaborate

Instead of worrying about how AI is changing the way content is created, writers can learn how to work with it to make your process more effective and efficient. Artificially intelligent writing tools can summarize content quickly, assemble paragraphs in simple and clear language, and mimic the styles of any writer, so they can be helpful partners for those types of tasks. But it takes human intelligence to write with originality, humor, verve and wit. This panel will cover how writers can use AI as a productivity tool, how it will affect fees and change client expectations, the impact it may have on legal, copyright and plagiarism cases, and the skills writers need to develop to make the most of this new world.

Moderator

Greg Mone

Panelists

Scott Sholder

Town Hall: Addressing the community’s needs and goals.

The Andies

The Andy Awards honor the spirit of collaboration—the AND— in nonfiction book writing. The first award for ghostwriters and paid collaborators, the Andies are jointly presented by Gotham Ghostwriters and the American Society of Journalists and Authors, bringing collaboration out of the shadows and into a well-deserved spotlight.

The Andies recognize the quality of the work and the collaborative process in three categories of book collaboration:

Business and Thought Leadership

Memoir and Narrative Nonfiction

Prescriptive Nonfiction

Collaborative projects have increasingly distinguished themselves as outstanding nonfiction performers. They are among the most popular and well-reviewed nonfiction books in circulation, often appearing on bestseller lists. The process of collaboration not only enhances the quality of a work, it enables narratives that might have gone untold and ideas that might have gone unexpressed, to reach the marketplace.

Submission Guidelines

Submissions open July 12 and close October 20, 2023.

More Information

For more information about the Gathering of the Ghosts, the Andy Awards or sponsorships

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