Celine, over at Pimp Your Work, has the kind of article I love to see: Get your career in the fast lane. Write a book. Seriously. The idea is that writing a book can be a great career move.
In fact, it can. Of course, not everyone can write a book and even many of those that could have absolutely no inclination to do so. Hence ghostwriters.
Shameless self-promo: I ghostwrite, and books like Celine is suggesting is one of the things I do quite well, thank you very much. Of course, I’m not the only ghostwriter in the world.
Do you …read more

As we get to the end of the writing of his book, I’ve got a client who has gotten nervous about changes I’m making. He’s asked me to use track changes so he can see everything. I don’t really mind, except it takes a bit more work… or at least the way were going at it.
He sends one version with the track changes showing the changes he’s made and one with all those changes accepted. I print out the changes accepted version and, as I read and edit in pencil, double check against his version with the changes showing. This …read more

At least four months ago I contracted to ghost a 100-page book with a 45-day deadline on a particular breed of cat. The author’s goal was a book he could sell from his website. Plans included author provided drawings, a foreword by a cat expert as well as generally helpful and fun information for people with this kind of cat or those who were thinking of getting one.
We rocked along quite nicely for awhile. The client likes my writing and was happy with the progress. Then all progress stopped completely. The promised foreword from the expert wasn’t forthcoming and neither …read more

I just got a lesson in how a freelance writing business actually works. Back at the end of 2004 and the beginning of 2005 I put together a ghostwriting proposal for a book. As I recall I had several phone conversations with both the author and his business manager. I know from my client files we developed a brief table of contents and a purpose statement. Then they disappeared.
Disappearing prospective clients aren’t unusual in the ghostwriting business. Over a year, I probably do three or four proposals to get one contract. Often I never know why the almost client dropped …read more

Sometimes a ghostwriting project goes something like this:

The client wants a 100-page ebook
Content is outlined
The client promises both a foreword by a third party and a fairly extensive chapter he will write.
The client also promises a selection of line drawings.
And the client wants the project in 45 days.
The writer agrees, gets an upfront payment and plunges in.
The client informs the writer no foreword will be forthcoming and that he can’t get his chapter written. Sends a very rough draft. Client lets the writer know that the drawings may or may not happen.
Some 40 days in the writer let’s the …read more

Recently a ghostwriting client sent me two emails in response to a draft chapter I’d sent. I’d asked him to explain some of his thinking, and that’s what the emails represented.
I found the first tough going. I copied the body of the email into word and double spaced it to make it easier to read. It’s obviously top of the head stuff so there’s no particular form… broken sentences, and no paragraphs.
But the info there is gold for the book we’re writing. I’ve read it twice, and know roughly where in the chapter the info will go. Now, …read more

It’s interesting reading about your ghostwriting job. I was this close to getting ghostwriting jobs a couple of times, but I think I asked for too much. How would you price a ghostwriting job?
Jason
Hi Jason,
Ghostwriting prices are all over the map. Some people charge by the hour, some by the page and some, like me, use an hourly rate as a basis for a flat fee.
Your hourly rate should be high enough to cover your expenses, including benefits and profit, but low enough to reflect your experience.
Since you lost out on a couple of ghostwriting jobs, you might consider offering …read more