Waiting until the very last minute to contact someone for a service can be a big problem. It doesn’t matter whether the need is for a plumber, a mechanic, or a writer. But in the real world, these things do occur and such was the case with the groom at an elaborate Indian (as in India) wedding ceremony.
The request came in to Ghostwriters Central on Saturday, May 21, 2022. Michael McKown’s iPhone chimed. The text read: “I need your help pretty badly. Please give me a call as soon as possible.” Michael runs the business.
The wedding was to take place the following day. The client needed a groom speech, about five minutes long. Some nine hundred guests would be present. Michael said he would try to help, but explained that this depends upon writer availability. People make plans, even writers make plans. And sometimes they’re not willing to cancel personal plans.
Michael immediately texted wedding writer Kate Jonez. She did not respond right away, so he contacted Brian Ackley instead. Brian does occasional wedding speech writing, as well as a many other kinds of projects. He replied that he is unavailable. “I have a lot of excellent writers on the roster, but the two I use for weddings can’t help, given this super-short deadline,” Michael explained to the client. The groom asked him to find any good writer, even if that person doesn’t specialize in wedding speeches.
“OK,” Michael replied, “I’ll see what I can do.” He texted Edward Barker, who normally does speech, technical and public relations writing. “Ed, would you like to take on a five-minute groom toast? Wedding is tomorrow. Emergency priority.” He added a toothy grin emoji. Barker replied, “Apparently so. But I need to talk to him soon. Also, it’ll be a serious, somber toast. ‘Funny’ takes time and he doesn’t have that.”
Michael notified the client. Ghostwriters Central’s normal fee for a speech of this length is $300. Rush is twice that. The client agreed. Michael immediately billed him, and the client swiftly paid. Once that was out of the way, Michael put them in direct touch with each other. They talked and Edward got to work. He whipped out the first draft, then he and the client brainstormed it, and shortly thereafter the final version was sent to the client.
A project with a deadline like this requires the writer to drop everything to hyper-focus on the client’s needs. One could regard a rush fee as an inconvenience fee, because the writer is greatly inconvenienced. Particularly so with a right-now deadline.
Nothing further was heard from the client after Edward emailed the final draft. Michael and Edward probably thought he was busy memorizing the speech and preparing for the big day, mere hours hence. Ghostwriters Central was able to expeditiously remove one problem. True story.
Founded in 2002, Ghostwriters Central provides ghostwriting services to clients worldwide.
