Wednesday, February 25, 2015

I ain't afraid of no ghost...




No, we are not going to be watching the movie or talking about Ghost Busters.

What is ghostwriting? A ghostwriter is a writer who writes books, articles, stories, reports, or other texts that are officially credited to another person. Celebrities, executives, and political leaders often hire ghostwriters to draft or edit autobiographies, magazine articles, or other written material.

Well, OK this is a start to understanding what a ghostwriter is.

What are Ghost Writers and What Do Ghost Writers Do?
Ghost writers are writers for hire who take money but none of the credit for the work they produce. The original writer, or author, is hiring the ghost as a freelance writer to produce copy writer work for a fee. The author takes all the credit for all the original work produced, including all the original writing produced by the ghost writer. The ghost, gets the money as a "work for hire" job and assumes none of the credit for the ghost writing work.

Sound odd? Sure does to me, but it's a common practice. A ghost is hired primarily as a freelance writer, in order to produce high quality writing so that the writing reads smoothly. A paid writer is often the only source in which to turn to in order to get a well written writing copy. And a ghost is hired to bring this about, either as an on staff writer or as a freelance writer who is paid specifically for the job at hand.

Not only is a ghost writer used for a book they are also well-known for writing lyrics for signers.

Many of the bestseller book lists have been written by ghostwriters, one in mind would be a non-fiction selection – Tom Clancy – ring a bell? He works with ghostwriters. How about James Patterson, really six books in one year – of course he used one. Last but not least the COO of Facebook Sheryl Sandburg, her book Lean In had been wrote by a ghostwriter too. But why?

Artists, presidents, prime ministers, and movie stars all use ghostwriters because they can’t write, don’t want to or plainly have no time.

A ghost writer does not get credit for writing just money. However, a ghostwriter could be called a co-author if their name is mentioned.

Startling enough, the majority of books by celebrity authors have been written by ghostwriters – close to 98%. I wonder if that is ethical. It would depend on how you view the situation. A ghostwriter is sharing someone else’s original thought and not their own but also, ghostwriting is paid for. It’s just like getting up for work and coming home.

I feel that on the flip-side, ghostwriting could appear unethical is when the author doesn't give any input to the article, book or song writing.


Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Reference to a new story


Helping Our Northern Neighbours (HONN) (Belleville, Ontario Chapter)

Helping Our Northern Neighbours Facebook site, opened in August, 2014 by a fellow Canadian in British Columbia. Jennifer Gwilliam is the founder and head Administrator for the main Facebook site. HONN is a dedicated group to helping people in Canada’s north and trying to ensure that no one has to go hungry because they can’t afford food. Through the group Feeding Our Family HONN is becoming educated about the prices that the residents of Canada’s northern territory, Nunavut, are being forced to pay for food and other goods.


While a major change in the system at the governmental level needs to happen, this will take time, and in the meantime HONN would like to do something to help. People in the south decided that they would like to share with our neighbours in the north by sending boxes of food and other items. There are many things we all can do to help enact a change, which are suggest on the Feeding My Family page, but this will take time and the people are hungry NOW.

In light of only four months our main Facebook page has gone viral. A news article hit the Hunnington post about what HONN does and exploded with everyday Canadians wanting to help. In two days of the article hitting the news the Facebook page encountered 3,000 new members, in six days over 10,000!

Overloaded with private messages of outraged people asking to sponsor a family, to our northern neighbours looking to be sponsored were just some of the private messages Jennifer had to deal with. The process of matching donors to families became a large scale challenge, however a successful one.

I am now the Administrator of the Helping Our Northern Neighbours (Belleville, ON Chapter), currently working on my 40th family in Nunavut. I use the one-by-one approach.


For more information on how you can help please visit

So… What is Strategic Messaging?


So… What is Strategic Messaging?









Basically, it’s a method that helps you think strategically about how you’re going to develop the story, drive it straight, and tell it with energy—whether it’s  large or small scaled.

You might not yet realize the importance of a Strategic Messaging, or even know that you need one.  Isn’t that always how it is? You don’t know what you’re missing until you find it?

So what is a Strategic Messaging and what can it do for you, your leaders, or your organization? 

A Strategic Message helps you efficiently capture the core messages for any kind of topic—organizational, key initiatives, timely announcements, department plans, even people—in a strategic message platform such as a movie.  The foundation for all communication relating to a particular topic, your strategic message platform is the blueprint from which you build customized communications, to reach your end audience so they’re getting the information in a way that meets their needs.

In this blog, I will be introducing the Strategic Message behind the movie FernGully.


The film was released in the United States on April 10, 1992 and in Australia on September 17, 1992, and received mixed to positive reviews. The magical inhabitants of a rainforest called FernGully fight to save their home that is threatened by humans with their logging and a polluting force of destruction call Hexxus. The whole of the story is essentially a warning of destruction of the environment by humans and taking too much from it.


In this case the strategic message took a protagonist young male (Zack) 

and ultimately changed his views of the destruction he was causing. Man vs. nature if you will, offers a cautionary tale and plot around what would and is happening to nature, and in the end a valuable message has been delivered. I often wonder how many families or single people re-discovered nature after this movie.




As said by Native Peoples well before us, Nature is not to be exploited only take what you need to survive. Reeling me back in to nature after watching this movie has left an overwhelming optimism that nature always wins!

The movie is dedicated to “Our Children and Our Children’s Children.”













Tuesday, February 3, 2015

What I've learned in Public Relations (PR)

I’m representing! That’s right, I am.


What am I representing? I see this answer as a staircase response as there are so many involved. As a Public Relations Communication Specialist, I represent my peers, professors, college, city, internship organization and my job. As scary as that may sound, it’s actually a breeze to pull off.

The days of going to Walmart in your pajamas are over. On those blistery winter days, you think it’s just milk in and out of Walmart. No, don’t do it. My professor commented about not wearing those warm fuzzy pajamas anymore, she was right. I have had countless interactions with organizations right in the middle of the check-out line and in the milk isle. Thankfully, I took those words of wisdom even though I questioned if it would really happen to me.

The day I crossed paths with an executive director had been the day, I immediately became coherent that whether I was meeting a director or an organizing, answering the phone, or a client, I must conduct myself in a professional way because it reflects me and sometimes the first impression is your only impression.

Even though I am a behind the scene individual, I still need to represent in a clean, orderly fashion. My days of pajamas are long over as each day shopping brings new interactions with organizations I have either dealt with in the past, present or just recognize me through news articles.


Public Relations have ignited a passion which has developed into a career path that I am working hard on with extreme genuine enthusiasm. “I” represent the past graduates and future of the Public Relations Program. Whether I represent a client, organization or myself, I will incorporate everything I have been taught and put my best foot forward. 


Saturday, January 17, 2015

The three great pitches are....

Sorry, but for all those baseball fans this blog is not about that, another time perhaps.
    
The three great pitches I will be talking about are part of an assignment my professor Aaron Bell has asked me to do.
 
Each of the three pitches must be newsworthy.
 
I have chosen the Downtown Belleville Core and what they have to offer.
 

 
Story Idea = Take the Bull by the Horns
 
That's right, head downtown to meet and greet YOUR Belleville Bulls. Visit the guys at selected downtown stores and do not forget to play a game of road hockey with Bullie and Ringo. 
 
 
 
 
 
Media Target = Mix 97 Radio Station
Story Idea = Tantalize your taste buds
 
Pocket change, a spoon and empty bellies are all you need to taste the many soup flavours restaurant owners have in store for you. Come down and taste the multi-cultural samples chefs have in store for you.
 
 
 
 
Media Target = Belleville Magazine
Story Idea = Belleville Ethnic and Waterfront Festival
 
31 years and the ethnic festival is still entertaining over 30,000 visitors near and far. Shop, eat, and enjoy! The festival offers diverse foods, games, crafts, entertainment day and night, and a kids corner.
 
 
 
 



Sunday, December 7, 2014

Outstanding Online Media Kit


Entrepreneur.com









This media kit gets straight to the point and efficiently communicates the unique opportunity on this site. After viewing just a few pages a prospective media buyer has a clear idea of what the site contains, what makes the audience unique / valuable, and how exactly advertisers can get their message to that audience.

The “Entrepreneur At A Glance” page offers a great template for audience statistics that can be applied to sites in just about any niche.

The media kit of Entrepreneur.com is super efficient and beautifully constructed. Only after a quick peek into their media kit, the advertiser would be quick to understand the reader demographics of Entrepreneur.com.