What Does a Ghostwriter Charge?

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Ghostwriting and content marketing from blogs to books, for speakers and service-based business owners who want to get ahead of their competition online. You can find me at wwwwriteforyoume All right, so this week's episode we're gonna talk about how much does a ghostwriter charge for the services that they offer. So ghostwriting, like any other service, is a service that you can get and write for you. I do provide ghostwriting services, but they're so different on how much each ghostwriter will charge for their service, so before we jump into the actual amount that ghostwriters charge, consider some things first. So first, you need to consider if you have the time or ability to write a book, to doing it on your own, and if you do want to do that on your own, you definitely need to put aside time several times a week, if not every day, to write your book. Since I'm a professional writer and I actually have an easy time writing, I can write a book in a couple weeks. Most people cannot do that, though, and I understand that's because I write every day and I actually have a gift for writing, so for me, writing a book is super easy, but it's not like that for everyone. There's very few people who can do that, and that's why I offer my ghostwriting skills to my clients.

02:20

The first thing you want to consider is what you're clearly what your topic is going to be of your book. Do you want it to be a big book? Do you want it to be a small book? So the average book is 40,000 words, which comes out to about 200 pages, and so that's the average type of book. If you want to have a book that has a spine on it, which means a little side with your title, then you have to have at least 100 pages. Now that doesn't mean you have to have 20,000 words. You can add some pages in there for, like workbook type pages, review, response, all those type of pages in the middle or in different sections or chapters of your book. Maybe you have a review at the end of each chapter on whatever your topic is, and that can expand the pages of your book to become 100 if you don't want to write all 100 pages out.

03:07

And also, the other thing that affects the size of your book is how big your book is and compared to how many words. So if you have 40,000 words but you have an eight by 10 book, it's not gonna be 200 pages, it's gonna be closer to probably 125 or somewhere in that realm. It also depends on the font size, so there's very many different factors, but generally speaking, a regular five by eight size book is going to be about 200 pages or 40,000 words. So that's the first thing you want to consider is how big of a book that you want to make, based on your topic. Is your book going to be nonfiction or fiction? So fiction I do not go straight fiction right now because that's not what I'm experiencing. I only ghostwrite nonfiction. So nonfiction, ghostwriting for me. That's my specialty and I love ghostwriting nonfiction, especially since I get to learn so much while I'm ghostwriting my client's book.

03:57

You also want to consider do you want to do a traditional publisher or do you want to hybrid publish or self-publish? And I have YouTube videos on that. So go check out my channel to find out what the difference is between those three. But I always recommend if this is your first book. You definitely want to self-publish for your first book for several different reasons. One is because a lot of publishers won't even consider you unless you have 10,000 people on your email list, and most of us do not. Secondly, if you self-publish a book first, a publisher will see that you are serious and have published a book, so that levels you up in the publishing world that you've already published a book. And third, a traditional publisher isn't going to get you more books sold. So if your intent is to get more books sold, a traditional publisher isn't necessarily going get you more books sold. So if your intent is to get more books sold, a traditional publisher isn't necessarily going to help you with that.

04:49

The marketing. They want you to do the marketing, and so that's why they're looking for people that have 10,000 names on their email list. That's another thing to consider too. If you want to do a traditional publisher, you will need to pitch and pitch and pitch publishers until you find somebody that is willing to take on your book. So that's another important aspect that you need to know about as well. Your book proposal is going to be between 10 and 20,000 words, so that's something you may want to consider.

05:18

Hiring a ghostwriter for Cost this varies widely, but a In general you can see ghostwriters charge anywhere from $0.10 a word to $0.30 a word, and that can add up pretty fast depending on how many words you have of your book. And then there's also the editing as well, so an editor can charge anywhere from $0.04 a word to $0.10 a word, depending on the editing costs. And, of course, ghostwriters have different price structures as well that you need to consider when you're looking at different ghostwriters for your book. All right, my friends, we're going to take a quick break right here. When we come back, we're going to talk more about what ghostwriters charge and pricing structures, more about pricing structures for ghostwriting.

06:04

Hey, friends and future authors, I know what it's like to sit alone at your desk and to stare at your manuscript and wondering if anybody else out there feels the same as you do, my friend. That is why I created the Publishing for Professionals community, a sanctuary for leaders like you who are crafting books to elevate your thought leadership. Imagine having a professional ecosystem where you can find other professionals who truly understand your struggles and celebrate your victories, a circle which offers genuine support and a place where fellow thought leaders gather. The road to authorship is better traveled together. Come and join an alliance who speaks your language, who recognizes that your book isn't simply just a page with words. It's the process of creating your forever legacy. Join the Publishing for Professionals circle at wwwwriteforyoume and click on community. Use the signup form and register today to gain confidence alongside others who now share your journey towards authorship. All right, so we're back with.

06:58

What does a ghostwriter charge? Some ghostwriters will charge anywhere from 20k to 60k to write a book and that is not what I charge to write a book. For my ghostwriting. What I charge, I have a little bit of a different pricing structure. So typically for a 40,000 word book I charge six grand and that is a good price and most people who are looking to have a book written would expect a ghostwritten book to be about that much. And that's, of course, for the typical like I said earlier, 200 pages, 40,000 words. So if it's more than that or if the book needs more work, then there's going to be a higher price on the book.

07:36

It all depends on what the client is looking for. So I can give a client a project price if they're like here's my content and I just need you to write it out, or here's my content and I just need you to edit it. That's a different price than my coaching packages and I have book coaching and ghostwriting packages because a lot of people what they need besides a ghostwriter, they also need help with writing their book, advice on where to go, how to organize their content. So for that I have three different ghostwriting packages and that's a monthly basis. And for me, for my ghostwriting, I don't have a contract, so it's month by month. But a lot of ghostwriters do have a contract, so you want to look into that as well If a ghostwriter has a contract, what their deposit is going to be and what it's going to cost you to hire that ghostwriter up front.

08:23

One of the things you definitely want to know about paying a ghostwriter is that they may or may not take payments for the book. So some ghostwriters will take payments over time. So if a ghostwriter is charging you 20 grand for a book, they may take that payment over several months, or they may want half upfront and half when the book is finished. So make sure you know the terms of the pricing with the ghostwriter, in addition to just the pricing in and of itself, because the pricing is one thing and then you have the contract and then you have the terms for payment.

08:54

Another thing you want to know about ghostwriting as well is you want to make sure that you are in a really good relationship with your ghostwriter, like you really need to click with them and have really good synced energy, because if you don't have really good energy with your ghostwriter and you don't really enjoy working with them, it's going to be a nightmare for you because your ghostwriter is basically going to be your best friend as long as you're writing on that book together. And I've had some clients who have had great experiences with other ghostwriters in the past and some who have not. So you want to make sure that your ghostwriter who you are, you are decided to work with, you have a really great experience and you really click and you really mesh with each other. So another question that I get is and I have had this asked of me before is would I write a book for royalties? And the short answer is no.

09:46

Anybody who is decent will not write a book for royalties, and this is why Because when you're publishing a book or anybody is publishing a book, there is no guarantee whatsoever, or even you have no idea Like I have no idea how that person is going to market their book if they're going to be consistent with their marketing, because that is going to really drive their sales. I would not, and anybody who is a good ghostwriter would not work for a share of royalties, because you have no idea how much royalties they're going to get. They might make $1,000. And if you get 10% of that, you just got paid $100 for three months of work, and that is not fair to anyone. So if you are talking to a ghostwriter and they'll tell you they'll work for a share of royalties, that's a huge red flag and you do not want to work with that person.

10:30

The other thing that will do, too, is if they feel like they're not making enough money because you're not selling enough books. That can create a lot of friction between you and the other person, and you don't want that. So one of the things that you don't want to do is ask a ghostwriter to work for a share of royalties, because that's really not a good idea unless you are an A-list celebrity and I have not worked with an A-list celebrity yet and always ask them for references. It's never a bad idea to ask them for references, and if it's a new ghostwriter, maybe it's a reference for another client. Maybe they didn't do ghostwriting for them, but they did something else definitely want references to see how well it went with other people. So once you have a great idea of what your book's going to be about, what you want to do your, what your budget is.

11:15

Interview these people. Interview ghostwriters, interview three or four of them. I always recommend people to interview several ghostwriters because you want to find somebody who really clicks with you. And again, if you interview four ghostwriters, you don't like any of them for some other ghostwriters, because you definitely want to make sure that you have a good chemistry between you and the ghostwriter and you definitely don't want to interview them over email. Do it on Zoom or do it on a phone call, where you're live interacting with them, so you can see who is clicking with you, who is not clicking with you. But again, ghostwriting is a process. It's a long process. It takes several months, which is why ghostwriting is such a niche thing to do, and not every writer is a ghostwriter. Some ghostwriters don't like. Some writers don't like to do ghostwriting.

12:02

I'm a writer who loves ghostwriting. That's actually my favorite thing to do. So if you want to connect with me, you have more questions about ghostwriting. Definitely reach out to me on my website, wwwwriteforyoume. Hit me up on my contact form and ask me questions about my ghostwriting services. They're pretty straightforward and easy and I don't have a contract. I work with people month to month because I feel like if we're having a great relationship and a great working relationship with your ghostwriting, on your book or whatever content I'm creating for you, you're going to want to come back again the next month and the next month, and so that's why I don't have a contract as far as, like, you have to stick with me for six or 12 months.

12:42

So, with that, just to review, you don't want to have a ghostwriter that works on royalties, unless you're an A-list celebrity and if you are, you may not be listening to this podcast, which is perfectly fine, and if you are an A-list celebrity, definitely get in touch with me. I would love to write your book and you will want to see if your ghostwriter is going to give you a project price or if they have monthly packages, like I offer, where I have three different monthly packages at three different price points for people to work with me, and I do book coaching as well as ghostwriting. And you also want to find out what other services does your ghostwriter offer? Will they edit your book? So when I do ghostwriting, I do ghostwriting and editing also as well. I also offer book formatting and I also offer book cover design, which I have people on my team that do that as well. I'm basically a one-stop shop for people who want to publish their book, but not all ghostwriters are and you may not want that.

13:32

You may want someone who just writes books and doesn't do editing, book editing or other things. Think about what you want in your ghostwriter and then find out if they have project pricing, what their project pricing is, what the timeline is for your book. Maybe you have to get on a wait list if that ghostwriter is super busy and depending on what time you wanna publish your book, if you wanna publish it super fast, of course that's gonna cost more money because they may have to bump another client. So these are all things to consider your word count, your topic non-fiction fiction, what does that ghostwriter write primarily? And so all of these are things to consider. So make sure you consider all of these things when you're choosing a ghostwriter, because these are all important factors to choose in addition to how much does the ghostwriter charge, because charging you know, of course, spending money is important and you want to be within budget, but you also need to consider these other factors as well as how much you're going to pay, how fast they're going to get the book done and how well you're going to go along with that ghostwriter. All right, my friends, I hope you enjoyed this and this brought some value and information to what you're going to consider when you're thinking about hiring a ghostwriter and how much they charge.

14:41

This is Lynn from Write For you. Providing this, please rate and review, mark on your favorite podcast player and I'll see you next week for another episode. Hey, my friend, thanks for joining me on the Publishing for Professionals podcast. I hope this episode has equipped you with actionable strategies for your publishing journey. Remember, your expertise becomes truly valuable when it's transformed into a professionally published book that represents your unique brand. The insights we've covered today will hopefully give you another piece of your publishing blueprint. If you found today's discussion valuable, make sure to subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts so you get the next episode dropped right into your podcast player. Each week, we tackle another essential aspect designed specifically for busy professionals like you. Remember to start the dream of writing your book today, because your strategies could be the missing piece in someone else's success puzzle tomorrow.

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The information in this podcast is for educational and informational purposes only. The content shared by the host, guest and any affiliates is not intended to substitute any professional or financial advice specific to your situation. Always seek the advice of a qualified professional with any questions you may have. The opinions expressed on the show by the host or guests are of the individuals and do not necessarily reflect the views of Unicorn Publishing Company. Unicorn Publishing Company, the host, guests and affiliates are not responsible or liable for any decisions made by listeners or action taken here to based on the information discussed in this podcast. By listening to this podcast, you acknowledge and agree to release Unicorn Publishing Company, the host, affiliates and guests for any liability.