What Does it Cost To Hire a GREAT Ghostwriter

Ghostwriters are a great resource to help you write a book without spending hours typing at a keyboard. If you are a busy entrepreneur or professional and you’re strapped for time, or just not the best with words, hiring a ghostwriter is a great solution to get the first draft of your book done. But, how much does a great Ghostwriter cost to hire?

In this video, Julie Broad founder of Book Launchers explains the range in prices she uncovered when hiring a ghostwriter, and what the difference is in the price points.

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Video transcript:
- If you're thinking of hiring a ghostwriter to write your book, stick around.

I had to laugh because Louis's right. Writing a book is hard work. That's also why I think it's silly that some people equate a book to a business card. A great book is much more than a glorified business card. And done right, I think it's far better than even a degree. It takes time, effort and energy to write a great book and you may be thinking like a smart book CEO, and you're thinking you need to outsource everything related to your book except for your expertise. Sweet! One of the best ways to do that is to hire a great ghostwriter to write your first draft. Want to know more about what a ghost writer does and how to find them?
Watch these videos right here and here.

Today, we're gonna talk costs. When Book Launchers first started, we only helped you write your book. Then we took it from there with our team of editors, interior architects, cover designers and marketing team. But the words were coming from you. Then one of our clients said, "I don't wanna be the one to put the words to my expertise, "that's not a good use of my time. "Find me a writer." my first call was to a great woman who I knew has written at least one Wall Street Journal bestseller. She's a well-known and well-respected writer. As I suspected, she was actually perfect for the job. My client loved her but her price tag of $50.000 to $60.000 was a bit of a budget killer.

So I brought in another writer who was a well-respected sports biography ghostwriter. He couldn't disclose a lot of his clients as many people don't want you to know that they didn't write their own book. And because it wasn't as easy to vet him, I actually expected him to be cheaper than the other one. He came in at $1 per finished word. Most business books are somewhere around 50.000 to 75.000 words, so you can see how $1 a finished word could add up. I negotiated with that ghostwriter about all the things my team would be doing to reduce his workload and got him to 50 cents a word which pretty much put him exactly where the other ghostwriter was after I negotiated with her.

Now, a lot of this does depend on the work the ghostwriter is doing which was in the other video. But you're essentially getting a first draft of a book that still needs editing, design, layout and so on. So, I expanded my search and I started interviewing all kinds of people who had ghostwriting experience. Most of the others came in between $25.000 and $35.000 for a book. The cheapest ghostwriter I found, and they actually were a service, not an actual single writer, was $18.000. When you understand that it will take most ghostwriters up to six months to write your book, the prices make sense. Great ghostwriters dedicate a lot of their life and time to this project. They aren't making a living if they charge much less. And it's not easy being a great ghostwriter, it's a skill to be able to write a book well and to do it in someone else's voice. 'Cause it's not just a matter of putting words to the paper, it's a matter of making sure they would be words that you, the real author of the book, would use. Now, you can hire much cheaper writers. This one, for example. And the writing might even be half decent.

The issue is that it's not your voice and that is so important. It's not your book if it's not your voice. And if someone writes in a totally different style than you would, then you have a mountain of work to do to redo it. Sure, you save money, but you add a whole lot of time, energy and effort to the entire project. Which was the goal of hiring a ghostwriter in the first place was to save your time and energy.

[BookLaunchers]

Book Launchers helps entrepreneurs and professionals self-publish non-fiction books that grow their business. You own 100% of the content, have total creative control, and keep all the royalties. Our publishing team is YOUR publishing team.

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[ezinnenjoku]

I'm a memoir ghostwriter. I write, edit and proofread my client's project - I even throw in a blurb and my rates are nowhere close to what you mentioned. Even though I'm relatively new, I used to think I was charging a lot. Your video makes me feel validated.

[justcarynn]

I'm a ghostwriter but I've been having trouble finding clients. My rate is on the lower end of the spectrum because I'm fairly new (although I've been publishing my own books for a few years now).

[TheRobertralph]

Ok, the video was a bit over the top but I loved it. It had lots of energy, humor, and really good information about ghost writing. Thanks for making it.

[KevinP]

great video. i am an injured soldier with a head injury so it's hard for me sometime to sit and write for long time. i need a ghost writter.

[.colorado]

The cover of a book, in itself, is comparable to a business card. I tried to start writing my book….wayyy harder than I thought, saving up now for a ghost writer.

[rosehoward]

I am the 13th of I5 child, my sister Mary 15 yrs old then me wrote down her memories I copied it, and it is fascinating, my great grandfather in the 17 century was a homesteader. So that’s what my grandparents did and my parents did . ( sister Mary last year at the age of 100 years she never thought about writing a book .

[taniamaxwell]

I am a ghostwriter but I’m trying my best to charge one of my clients fairly..it’s for a 5 book series and I’ll be writing all of them.... I don’t know if I should go per word OR per “project” here

[baeiox]

Hello, I really love your presentation. I am stuck on a book for over 6 years now, all the details are in my head but I have only been halfway through. How can you help?

[josephfortier]

Good video, love the animation. Do you do free consultation.

[carolinelove]

I am just starting out ghostwriting and looking for jobs. I write in multiple genres along with publishing my own work. Would you happen to have any advice on where to start?

[lindiedayo]

I can't afford a ghostwriter but I wish I could work with an external source as a consultant to help me know how to structure the book and what to include and what not to, etc. I'm not sure how to go about doing this. It's something I struggle with general. I want to work with someone to just get an outline and then I'll set about writing and editing myself :( but I dunno what this would be called or how to pursue it.

[lordravencarver]

Working on for boots right now little bit overwhelmed what is a Ghostwriter and how do I get your services

[moriveiyareki]

Do you sell off the electronic copy after ghost writing

[linglee]

Better idea is do a skeleton outline yourself with decent chunk in each section (took me 2 months for a business book) so ghostwriter knows your writing style then just pay for them to bulk those sections or expand. I only paid $3k and my book is selling very well. You do not need to spend a lot if you can actually build the infrastructure of the book yourself.

[loribothwell]

Hello everyone 😀
I'm new to this. I got approached to write a book for a dear client of mine. I wondered how much to charge in monthly payments? Should I include any legal documents. I am a single mom needing work to pay bills and afford food

[victorparker]

Thanks for the info. Now i know why my friend hasn’t got back to about finding a writer for me. Not enough money.

[sandeepchakraborty]

Hi, I have written a ghost story book, & it's on Amazon but its not selling well, I used some keywords they are not doing well, could u suggest me some keywords for my book

[thegbuttaexperiencellc]

Hey Julie. Great info. I've been through editors for many of my books that I've written. Is there a package deal for editing 10 books of more?

[tbeautifulmelodies]

How do fees work? Are fees taken once the book is completed or are there monthly fees?