How to Ghostwrite for CEOs, Thought Leaders, and Entrepreneurs
Ghostwriting for CEOs, thought leaders, and entrepreneurs is an exciting and rewarding niche one that offers high-paying, long-term clients if you do it well. These leaders have brilliant ideas but little time to write, which is where you come in. Your job isn’t just to put words on a page it’s to capture their voice, structure their ideas, and create content that positions them as industry authorities.
If you’re looking to establish yourself as a trusted ghostwriter for high-level clients, this guide will walk you through the essential steps from understanding their brand to delivering high-quality content that keeps them coming back.
Step 1: Understand Their Brand, Mission, and Audience
Before writing anything, you need to get a deep understanding of who your client is, what they stand for, and who they’re speaking to.
✅ What’s their expertise? CEOs and thought leaders often focus on specific topics whether it’s leadership, technology, business growth, or personal development. Your job is to absorb their knowledge and articulate it clearly.
✅ Who is their audience? Writing for a startup founder targeting investors is different from writing for a business coach attracting small business owners. Knowing their audience helps shape the messaging and tone.
✅ What’s their brand voice? Some clients prefer a formal, polished tone, while others have a conversational, storytelling approach. Review their past content blog posts, interviews, LinkedIn posts to understand how they communicate.
Action Step:
Create a Brand Voice Guide for each client. Outline their tone, key messaging, common phrases, and audience insights. This will be invaluable as you write for them over time.
Step 2: Conduct Effective Interviews to Capture Their Ideas
Many CEOs and entrepreneurs have great ideas but struggle to articulate them in writing. Your role is to extract their insights efficiently and turn them into compelling content.
How to Conduct a Strong Interview:
🎯 Come prepared. Research their work, watch interviews, and read their published content so you’re not asking basic questions.
🎙 Ask specific, thought-provoking questions. Instead of “Tell me about leadership,” ask:
“What’s one leadership lesson that completely changed the way you manage your team?”
“What’s a common misconception about your industry that you strongly disagree with?”
💡 Record everything. Use tools like Otter.ai or Zoom recording to capture their words verbatim. This helps you maintain their natural phrasing and tone.
📌 Pro Tip: If they say something powerful, repeat it back and ask, “This sounds like a great key message does this align with how you’d want to say it?” This ensures their words feel authentic.
Step 3: Structure Their Ideas Like a Thought Leader
Great thought leadership content isn’t just well-written — it’s well-structured. Your job is to take their raw insights and shape them into content that is engaging, easy to follow, and valuable to their audience.
Key Elements of a Strong Thought Leadership Piece:
✅ A compelling introduction — Start with a bold statement, a surprising statistic, or a personal anecdote that hooks the reader immediately.
✅ Clear, structured sections — Thought leaders often think in frameworks (e.g., “The 3 Pillars of Success” or “5 Leadership Mistakes to Avoid”). Organizing their ideas into numbered sections makes content more digestible.
✅ Practical takeaways — CEOs want their audience to walk away with actionable insights. Make sure each piece provides value, whether it’s through steps, case studies, or examples.
✅ A strong conclusion and CTA — Whether it’s “Join my newsletter” or “Let’s connect on LinkedIn,” thought leaders always have an end goal. Help them drive engagement by crafting a call-to-action that fits their objectives.
Action Step:
Create a content structure template that you can use for different formats (blog posts, LinkedIn articles, speeches, etc.). This will streamline your process and ensure consistency.
Step 4: Capture Their Unique Voice
The best ghostwriters make it impossible to tell that someone else wrote the content. Your goal is to write in a way that sounds like your client naturally speaks.
How to Match Their Voice:
🔍 Analyze their existing content. Look for patterns in their language, sentence structure, and storytelling approach.
🗣 Mimic their phrasing. If they frequently say, “Let’s rethink how we approach leadership,” don’t change it to “We should reconsider leadership strategies.” Small details matter.
📖 Adjust for formality. Some clients prefer a conversational, first-person tone, while others need a more polished and professional voice. Adapt accordingly.
📌 Pro Tip: After writing a draft, read it out loud. If it doesn’t sound like something your client would naturally say, revise it.
Step 5: Deliver High-Quality, Publish-Ready Content
CEOs and thought leaders are busy. They don’t have time to edit messy drafts. When you submit work, it should be polished, professional, and ready to publish.
Best Practices for Delivering Content:
✔ Proofread carefully. Typos and grammatical errors can undermine credibility. Use tools like Grammarly or Hemingway Editor.
✔ Format for readability. Use short paragraphs, bullet points, and subheadings to make content easy to skim.
✔ Provide multiple title options. Offer a few compelling title choices to give the client flexibility in how they present the content.
🚀 Action Step: Before submitting any piece, do a final quality check read it from the perspective of their audience and ensure it aligns with their voice and message.
Step 6: Build Long-Term Relationships with High-Level Clients
Once you’ve successfully ghostwritten for a CEO or entrepreneur, the goal is to turn that one-time project into an ongoing collaboration.
💼 Be reliable. Deliver work on time (or ahead of schedule) and communicate professionally.
📩 Be proactive. Suggest new content ideas based on industry trends. Thought leaders appreciate ghostwriters who bring fresh perspectives.
🔗 Encourage referrals. If a client loves your work, ask if they know other business leaders who need a ghostwriter. High-level clients often network with others in their industry.
📌 Pro Tip: If you help a client publish content that performs well (high engagement, media features, etc.), highlight that success. This reinforces the value of your work.
Final Thoughts: Becoming a Trusted Ghostwriter for CEOs and Thought Leaders
Ghostwriting for CEOs, thought leaders, and entrepreneurs isn’t just about writing it’s about understanding their ideas, capturing their voice, and delivering content that elevates their brand.
By following these steps, you’ll position yourself as a go-to ghostwriter in this space leading to high-paying clients, long-term contracts, and the opportunity to work with some of the most influential minds in business.
