What to put in a ghostwriting brief so the first draft is usable
The seven fields that turn “can you write something?” into a job that can ship in two to three weeks.
A usable brief names the audience, the outcome, the length, the deadline, whose voice it must sound like, and whether your name or theirs is on it. Missing any one of those usually costs a full revision cycle. I write final-draft ghost prose for editors, founders, and ops or communications leads; this page is the checklist I wish every first email already had.
The seven fields
- Audience. Who reads this, and what do they already know? “Board” and “customers” are not enough; say the room. Example: partners at a mid-market firm who already understand the product.
- Goal. What should the reader do or believe after they finish? One outcome beats a laundry list.
- Length. Word count or a format I can map to one (LinkedIn long-form ~1,200 words; trade column ~700–900; case study ~1,500).
- Deadline. The date you need a draft you can ship, not the date of a vague “sometime this quarter.”
- Voice notes or samples. Prior pieces under the same byline, phrases they always use, and phrases they refuse. Three links beat a mood adjective.
- Credit. Ghost (their name only), shared, or my byline under Services. Settle this before a word is written.
- Must-include facts and must-avoid claims. Numbers, product names, legal lines, competitors you will not name, and anything that would get the piece killed in review.
What “done” means
You get final-draft quality, not an outline for you to finish. One structured revision round is included unless we agree otherwise. You own shipping: paste into the CMS, send it to your editor, or publish under the agreed credit. Typical turnaround for article-length work is two to three weeks once the brief is clear.
What does not fit
SEO mills, AI-volume shops, and topics I will not stand behind are out. The live offer, including what I refuse, is on Ghostwriting. Free fill for small newspapers is a different door: Columns.
A one-page brief template
Copy this into an email to [email protected] with the subject “Ghostwriting brief”:
Audience: Goal (what the reader does after): Length / format: Deadline for a shippable draft: Voice notes or sample links: Credit (ghost / shared / byline): Must-include facts: Must-avoid claims: Anything else that would kill the piece in review:
Concrete examples
Founder LinkedIn long-form under their name. Audience: board members and enterprise buyers who already follow the founder. Goal: make the capital-raise narrative crisp enough to forward. Length: about 1,200 words. Deadline: two weeks before the board pack. Voice: three prior posts plus “no hype adjectives.” Credit: ghost. Must-include: round size already public; must-avoid: customer names under NDA.
Trade column ghost for a practitioner. Audience: peers in the same trade in one region. Goal: one practical takeaway they can use next week. Length: 800 words. Deadline: the paper’s Tuesday lock. Voice: the practitioner’s last three columns. Credit: ghost under their name. Exclusivity: another paper in the region already holds first rights for that column series, so the brief must say which outlet gets first run.
Common brief mistakes
The briefs that stall usually share the same gaps. “Something about thought leadership” with no audience and no word count means I have to invent both, and you will rewrite both. A deadline that says “ASAP” without a calendar date means I cannot protect a slot. Voice described only as “professional but warm” without samples means the first draft is a guess. Credit left blank means we discover mid-revision that the VP wanted their name on it after all.
If you only have time for four of the seven fields, send audience, goal, length, and credit. I will ask for the rest in the fit reply. That still beats an empty “can you write something?”
After you send it
A fit reply says whether I can help, what still needs clarifying, and a rate. If it is not a fit, I say so in the same email. Rates are on request; there is no discovery call required for standard formats.
If the brief is clear and the calendar is open, the next message from me is a start date and the rate in writing. You do not need a kickoff call for a standard article. Kickoff calls only help when the subject is politically sensitive inside the org, or when three stakeholders have to agree on credit before I open a blank page.
When the draft arrives, read it as the person whose name is on it. Mark factual corrections and voice notes in one pass. A second round of “make it punchier” without examples usually means the goal field was soft. Fix the goal, then ask for the revision.