Don’t Cry if You Can’t Afford a Ghostwriter
What do you do if you can’t afford a ghostwriter but you need a book written?
All right, you just had a great conversation with a ghostwriter. In fact, it was the fourth one that you’ve interviewed. This one, in particular, sounded like he knew what he was talking about in regards to your subject. He was a great guy, talked well, gave all the right answers, and you feel that you can work with him to get your book finished.
But You Can’t Afford a Ghostwriter
If only you had the money. You had no idea when you started the ghostwriting was that expensive. The four quotes that you’ve received rainy where from $15,000-$25,000 just to write your book, plus other expenses to have it edited, proofread, a cover created, and illustrated. Who would’ve known it was so expensive?
At first you were upset, but the last ghostwriter explained it well. Writing a book is not an easy task. Well, it’s not easy if you want a good book… Any moron can spit out a bad book very quickly, get it published, and get horrendous reviews on Amazon. Of course, that’s not what you want. You want your book to sell, and you want to use it to get speaking engagements, attract the media, and establish your credibility. A cheap, low-end ghostwriter on a content mill site such as eLance just wasn’t going to cut it.
You still want your book, in fact you need the book. It’s very important to your strategy for establishing yourself as the best in your industry and to make yourself known to others. But you just don’t have that kind of money sitting around. In other words, you can’t afford a ghostwriter but you need a book.
Do Not Settle for a Cheap Ghostwriter
First of all, don’t settle for a cheap, low-end ghostwriter. Sure, you can find a writer on a content mill who would write your entire book, all 70,000 pages, for just a couple of thousand dollars. But you know that would turn out to be a disaster.
I mean, writing your book is probably one of the most important things you’ve ever done. After all, how many people of actually written and published a book? The quality will directly reflect upon you, and if the book reads poorly, has grammar errors, and doesn’t get your point across, then it’ll just make you look stupid and reduce the quality of your brand.
Work Out a Payment Plan if You Can
One thing you can try is to talk to your ghostwriter and see if you can come up with some kind of payment plan. In fact, most ghostwriters work on an installment basis. You pay a certain amount up front, usually about 25%, as a nonrefundable deposit. After that, payments are made based upon achieving certain milestones.
You could always ask the ghostwriter to schedule these payments based on your ability to pay – in other words, make the project take a little longer. More than likely, the ghostwriter will be happy to have your business on that basis.
Write the Book Yourself
Of course, you can always write the book yourself. That’s always an option. Chances are, however, you’re not a professional writer, which means the book probably would not be of optimum quality.
Additionally, you probably are busy with another job, or running your business. Finding the time to write a book would be difficult. In fact, that’s more than likely one of the main reasons why you sought out the services of a ghostwriter anyway. You just don’t have the time
Hire a Book Coach
One option is to hire a book coach to help you get your book finished. In this case, you’ll have to do much of the writing yourself, what the book coach will be there to give you advice, to help you through plot points (sees if the book is fictional), figure out how to do research, and so on.
If you have the time, this is a great way to get a professional level book without spending a large chunk of money. Generally, a book coach will ask for a payment upfront for certain number of hours. For example, they might ask for 25 hours at $50 an hour as a nonrefundable down payment. You would then use those hours at your own pace to get help as needed about anything related to your book.
One of the advantages of this method, besides the much lower cost, is you will learn the process of writing your book. This will enable you to take on the next book with less help from your coach, and eventually you won’t need your coaches help at all.
The best coaches work themselves out of a job by making you more able to do it yourself.
Do the Research Yourself
If your book is research heavy, you can do the research yourself to save money on the ghostwriting project. Ghostwriters charge for their time which includes Tasks such as writing, researching, interviewing, formatting and so forth.Taking on some of those yourself can reduce your cost.
Conclusions
After you’ve interviewed one or more ghostwriters, and you’ve discovered that the price is higher than you can afford, don’t get discouraged. There are other options even if you can’t afford a ghostwriter. The Writing King can ghostwrite your book, and we can offer you book coaching services as well. Make an appointment today to discuss your requirements and see if we can come up with a solution that works for you.
Richard is the Owner and Senior Writer for The Writing King, a bestselling author, and ghostwriter. He’s written and published 63 books, ghostwritten 40+ books, as well as hundreds of blog articles.
