“How do I know this will pay off?”
It’s the right question to ask before you hire a ghostwriter, and most people answer it badly. They look at the fee, compare it to what the book might earn on Amazon, and decide the numbers don’t work. That holds only if book sales are the only return. They almost never are.
Here’s how to put real numbers on a book before you commit. For the study behind the benchmarks, see what the 2024 Business Book ROI Study found.
What should a ghostwritten book’s ROI be measured against?
Its purpose. A book meant to win consulting clients is measured in clients. A book meant to support a fundraise is measured in the round. A family memoir isn’t measured in dollars at all. Decide first what the book has to do, because that decides which numbers you count.
I tell every client at the start that it’s very unlikely, if not impossible, that they’ll earn back the cost through book sales. The book is a lever. The return comes from pulling it.
Which returns can you estimate in advance?
The ones tied to your existing business. Work through these for a three-to-five-year window:
- ► New clients. How many more clients a year could the book plausibly bring you, and what’s one client worth over the life of the relationship? For many consultants and advisors, one or two clients cover the whole project.
- ► Higher fees. Authors routinely charge more for the same work. Estimate a modest rate increase across your current volume.
- ► Speaking. Paid keynotes, conference slots and panels that open up once you’re the person who wrote the book. The study found a median increase of $30,000 among authors who saw speaking growth.
- ► Workshops and courses. The book’s framework can become paid training. The study’s median increase for workshops was $40,000.
- ► Consulting. The largest category in the study, with a median increase of $50,000 among authors who saw growth.
- ► Bulk sales. Organizations buying copies for teams or events. The study’s median here was $64,000 among authors who had them.
Be conservative. Take your honest estimate and cut it in half. If the project still works at half, it’s a good investment.
Which returns are real but harder to count?
Credibility, mostly. Sixty-eight percent of authors in the study said the book increased their credibility with prospects and clients. That shows up as shorter sales cycles, warmer introductions and prospects who arrive already convinced. It’s hard to put a number on and easy to see.
Career moves count too. I’ve watched clients use a book to raise capital, to be promoted after the CEO read it, and to land speaking invitations they couldn’t get before. One client’s book was the credibility behind a $30 million venture capital raise. A Canadian tech entrepreneur used his to land a TEDx talk and grow his business. Neither outcome was predictable in a spreadsheet. Both paid for the book many times over.
What costs belong in the calculation?
All of them. The ghostwriter’s fee is the biggest, and my current rate is on the ghostwriting services page. Add professional editing and proofreading, cover design, formatting, publishing, and whatever you’ll spend launching and promoting the book. My article on the all-in cost of a ghostwritten book lists each one.
Add your own time as well: a few hours a week of interviews for a month or two, then time to review chapters. It’s far less than writing the book yourself, but it isn’t zero.
How long does a ghostwritten book take to pay off?
Longer than most people expect, and longer than the launch. In the study, median revenue roughly doubled between books that had been out less than six months and books that had been out longer. The returns compound: the book keeps opening doors years after publication, as long as you keep using it. Plan on a three-to-five-year horizon, not a launch-month spike.
What makes the ROI higher?
A plan for using the book. The study found authors with a clear revenue strategy earned a median gross profit of about $96,000, against $28,500 for those without one. Launch publicity helped too: authors with a PR team saw a median gross profit of $55,500. And ghostwritten books were four times as profitable as the rest.
In practice, that means deciding before the book is written how you’ll use it: the prospects who get a copy, the talks it anchors, the workshop it turns into. My article on turning a ghostwritten book into courses and talks covers the most common routes.
What’s a simple way to run the numbers?
Estimate the extra business the book could bring in a year, multiply by three to five years, halve it for caution, then subtract the full cost. If the result is comfortably positive, the book is a sound investment. If it only works on your most optimistic guess, think about a shorter book, an AI-assisted one, or starting with a smaller step.
The Book Discovery Intensive is that smaller step. It produces a book strategy, including how the book should earn its keep, and a sample chapter, before you commit to the full project.
