This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Ghostwriter shifts from happily ever after to who done it. Hey friends, welcome to Side Hustle School. Chris Guillebeau, your host here. This is in fact about a ghostwriter writing books, writing romance novels, not a Halloween ghost. I realize it is the Halloween season as well.
So, well, I guess it could be a spooky story, but it's really a success story. So not a failure Friday story that comes out tomorrow. Anyway, glad you're here. In this segment, Throwback Thursday, we always take a look at someone whose story has evolved since we first featured them. Last week we heard from a sustainability consultant who discovered her first client from an unexpected source, her employer.
At least her employer was very supportive of her in going out and starting a second income. Today in our latest feature, we're gonna hear from that ghostwriter who once specialized in romance novels and has since broken into the true crime genre. She shares how market saturation in her original niche led her to diversify and find unexpected success in this whole new genre. So how do you go from writing romance novels to writing true crime and getting paid for it as a ghostwriter? Let's hear it directly from her.
I'll come back at the end with a quick little wrap up. [Music]
- Hey, side hustle school listeners. It's great to be back. A few years ago, I spoke about my side hustle as a ghostwriter for romance novelists. You might remember the tale of how I leveraged my love for storytelling and my knack for capturing other people's voices to break into the ghostwriting business.
Today, I'm excited to share what's new since we last talked. When I was last here, I had a slow and steady stream of projects, mostly from self-published romance authors. That was good money, but the romance market started to get saturated and I also started to get a little bored. As the increasing competition began to drive prices down, I decided it was time to make a change, but still keep writing. About a year ago, a client I had previously worked with in the romance genre reached out with a new proposition.
She wanted to write a true crime book, but had no experience in that style. Intrigued and up for a challenge, I said yes. That was my gateway into a whole new genre and it couldn't have come at a better time. Getting into true crime was not without its hurdles. I had to adapt my writing style and do thorough research to uphold the factual integrity of the stories.
But that first book was a success, both for me and the client, and it opened up a new revenue stream for my business. I've since drafted three more true crime books and even collaborated on a true crime podcast script, which was a whole new experience. As the market for self-published authors has grown, so have the tools and platforms. I've started using specialized ghostwriting software that streamlines the collaboration process, helping me manage revisions and feedback more efficiently. This was particularly useful when juggling multiple genres and projects.
Expanding my offering has also allowed me to increase my rates, especially for true crime projects that require more research and fact-checking. With romance, after all, you can just make it all up. This diversification has not only kept my side hustle lucrative, but also made it more exciting and intellectually fulfilling. If there's one lesson I'd like to share, it's the importance of being flexible and ready to pivot. The market's always changing, and your hustle should be agile enough to change with it.
So, whether you're a writer or have some other specialty, always keep an eye out for fresh opportunities. [Music]
Well, the true crime genre is huge. It definitely is probably the biggest podcast genre, lots of Netflix and other TV series. It's just a huge thing. So, naturally, books are also big, but there are some differences to writing true crime than writing, I was gonna say, fake romance.
It doesn't have to be fake. It's just fiction, right? So, I appreciate the updates. Always good to have kind of some insight into how people are running their business and how they evolve and change along the way. Let me know what you think and who you'd like to see featured from our archives of more than a thousand stories ever since January 1, 2017.
Of course, much more is coming up. A new episode every single day, seven days a week. It's always free. You can listen on the website, sidehustleschool.com, or wherever you get your podcasts. Today's notes, sidehustleschool.com/2490.
That's all for today. Thanks for tuning in. My name's Chris Guillebeau. This is "Side Hustle School." [Music]
From the Onward Project.
