Relatively, content drives all forms of marketing but when it’s time to outsource copywriting (or content writing) to bolster your marketing strategy, you need to be clear on one thing: Should you hire a copywriter or a content writer?

Now let’s get down to identifying what they really are;

Ghostwriting: A ghostwriter is hired to write literary or journalistic works, speeches, or other texts that are officially credited to another person as the author.
Copywriting: Copywriting is the act or occupation of writing for the purpose of advertising or other forms of marketing. The product, called copy, is written content that aims to increase brand awareness and ultimately persuade a person or group to take a particular action
Having highlighted the meaning of those two forms of writing, their difference can be easily spotted;

The AIM is one major factor that differentiates ghostwriting and copywriting. Ghostwriting is aimed at writing for an individual who for many reasons can’t take the time to write them, and in most cases, freelancers are hired to do this job.
While copywriting is aimed at introducing a brand/product to create brand visibility and awareness without having to stay anonymous.

The OWNERSHIP also incites the difference between these two. Ghostwriting is never owned by the real writer after all he’s writing on behalf of someone else, to the fact that he doesn’t take any credit whatsoever for the work done apart from being paid to do the job.
Example: A freelancer can be hired to write a short novel or a song as a ghostwriter that means the book/song will be written but the fellow who gave him the job will take up ownership of the work.

For Copywriting, he seem like the alpha and omega as he writes with identity, he has no reason to be anonymous. Copywriters also work in-house for retail chains, book publishers or other big firms that advertise frequently. They can also be employed to write advertorials for newspapers, magazines, and broadcasters.

Third, Working ethics
To some people they consider the jobs done by a ghostwriter unethical, meaning they don’t think it is right.

Example: You can read a book by an author while unknown to the reader what they thought was written by the author was actually written by a ghostwriter and not by the author’s name written on the book cover.
So, to many, they don’t think it’s right since it seem they are being deceived into reading another individual’s thoughts and not the thoughts of the supposed author whose name is written on the book cover.

In Conclusion, either you want to hire the service of a ghostwriter or a content writer be sure the ideas/thoughts expressed in the write-ups match with yours. So. you’d not risk exposing yourself to some unwanted public situations.

I am systematically impressed with the above write up but due to my lukubridious intelligence I don't have anything say..... FTC

I post content about Nigeria entertainment both home and away..... https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGfxgfjfXonmhDkrsIJUqrg

First to comment

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It amazes me that you won't find comments on great contents like this one...

But when its about BBN or other irrelevant topics about celebrities living their own lives, who deliberately stir controversy and say some things just to trend, you wee see the number of pages increase per minute.. (who do us this thing?)

This shows that our priorities has been misplaced.. Our amiable mods are not even helping matters sef cos the number of irrelevant topics in front page outnumbers great content... should we blame them?? No i guess.

Nairaland is like a business, "since majority of traffic will come from junk news, feed them more!" I guess thats the order from the oga at the top.

A better Nigeria is in the hands of each and everyone of us, not only our leaders. Abeg ehn, make we set our priorities right, las las we go dey alright.

No difference...yes there is difference. Infact yes there is no difference

Nice content

Yes, the difference is obvious na .......A ghostwriter is someone who is hired to write a literary or journalistic works, speeches that are officially credited to another person as the author .....While Copywriter on the other hand,described the act of writing a text for the purpose of advertising or other forms of marketing

Copywriting and ghostwriting have no relationship at all.

No wonder wey person wey no go school dey say dem write book.

Yes....Thanks For This Wonderful write up, we don't do much of Copywriting here in Nigeria but i know Ghostwriting is big business here, especially in the music industry.

I suspect OBJ employs Ghost writters to write his books after narating the themes to them or how can that Baba that travels like Ajala sit down to write those voluminous books?.

Two ends of a pole

Op - It’s debatable to claim that Ghostwriting is Unethical.

For instance, when Teni wrote a song for Davido, she seized to be the owner of that content. She obviously was paid for that service.

But I don’t see anything Unethical about that, because the ghostwriter is simply offering a service he or she is being paid for.

Conversely, Ghostwriting could be Unethical or even illegal - from the standpoint of academics. If a machinery writes a piece of Thesis for a student, which the student passes-off as her intellectual property - then it may be considered Unethical.

Whichever way, if you have got the talent - Ghostwriting is a good Side hustle. Many politicians employ the skills of content writers to write their speeches - and get paid for it.

As long as you are not committing a crime, it’s a good way to make money.

After this master piece I guess am in love with copy writing now. It has never been explained to me so simple and in plain terms before kudos. Considering the fact that I am not a good writer I still think I should venture into copywriting. Please can you provide me with tips that would help?

Very educating

Ghostwriting is almost synonymous with general article and narrative writing. It is recognized that not all who have experiences to share can document it hence the need to hire writers. No matter the implication, ghostwriters are needed.

I disagree with the fact that copywriters are known through their works. Brands and businesses work with copywriters to project their image and not the image of the copywriter. Copywriting is important for any who wants to make a big splash in the society.

PM if you need writing services

HeavenlyBang:
Copywriting and ghostwriting have no relationship at all.

Yep. I was wondering why the OP choose to contrast the two terms also.

Even a layman can decode that.

Now if he had contrasted blog writing versus article writing or maybe content writing that'd be better.

You see a lot of people mixing those up.

sleit:


Yep. I was wondering why the OP choose to contrast the two terms also.

Even a layman can decode that.

Now if he had contrasted blog writing versus article writing or maybe content writing that'd be better.

You see a lot of people mixing those up.

Should be content vs copy

I wish ghost writing could actually come with some kind of loyalty apart from the fee.

I believe most ghost writer actually do it because they don't have an audience they could market to, or probably the funds for publishing..

ps: I'm referring to the ones who write books.

HeavenlyBang:
Copywriting and ghostwriting have no relationship at all.

exactly, I don't even know why the OP brought them together...


it's an informative post though...

That was a good read. one of our past President used to hire ghostwriters

Venerable612:
Op - It’s debatable to claim that Ghostwriting is Unethical.

For instance, when Teni wrote a song for Davido, she seized to be the owner of that content. She obviously was paid for that service.

But I don’t see anything Unethical about that, because the ghostwriter is simply offering a service he or she is being paid for.

Conversely, Ghostwriting could be Unethical or even illegal - from the standpoint of academics. If a machinery writes a piece of Thesis for a student, which the student passes-off as her intellectual property - then it may be considered Unethical.

Whichever way, if you have got the talent - Ghostwriting is a good Side hustle. Many politicians employ the skills of content writers to write their speeches - and get paid for it.

As long as you are not committing a crime, it’s a good way to make money.

There is nothing to debate about ghostwriting services being ethical or not. You're being paid for a service that is NOT A CRIME. If your church leader or office boss asks you for a write up and presents it as his own, can you say it's unethical? Now, you're being paid for your specialization!

IdeasPro:


There is nothing to debate about ghostwriting services being ethical or not. You're being paid for a service that is NOT A CRIME. If your church leader or office boss asks you for a write up and presents it as his own, can you say it's unethical? Now, you're being paid for your specialization!

Respectfully, You are wrong.

Firstly, Law and Morality are two different things. Whether it’s a crime or not has nothing to do with Ethical values.

Secondly, the relationship of Boss to employee, or Church leader to follower is different from Mercenary to student.

So for instance, there is no reprimand for Boss or Church Leader who presents a speech as his own.

But any student who is discovered to have engaged a mercenary to write his Project or Course work may be Suspended, Rusticated and/or given a lower mark in that assessed work.

Bottomline is that, it depends on the context.

Venerable612:


Respectfully, You are wrong.

Firstly, Law and Morality are two different things. Whether it’s a crime or not has nothing to do with Ethical values.

Secondly, the relationship of Boss to employee, or Church leader to follower is different from Mercenary to student.

So for instance, there is no reprimand for Boss or Church Leader who presents a speech as his own.

But any student who is discovered to have engaged a mercenary to write his Project or Course work may be Suspended, Rusticated and/or given a lower mark in that assessed work.

Bottomline is that, it depends on the context.

I know we are not here to go into intellectual debate or to split hairs, one thing I'm convinced of is that ethical issue is a function of order, law, religion, morality, etc. Quick question for you, "Can we now say that it is ethically wrong to use pen names to do business in areas you're an expert but want to hide your real identity?"

IdeasPro:


I know we are not here to go into intellectual debate or to split hairs, one thing I'm convinced of is that ethical issue is a function of order, law, religion, morality, etc. Quick question for you, "Can we now say that it is ethically wrong to use pen names to do business in areas you're an expert but want to hide your real identity?"

There are several reasons writers prefer to use pen names, and it’s not ethically wrong to use pen names for a piece of work you wrote. Names are representative of identities and does not replace the writer.

What is ethically wrong is passing-off another person’s work as yours. It is also in fact illegal, and in law - the person whose intellectual property is infringed will be entitled to bring a claim under the Tort of Passing-off.

Ethics only comes in where the context requires the work to be done by one person, and it was represented to be done by that person, but was in fact done by another person. E.g. ICAN EXAMS, school projects, essay competitions etc.