My Ghostwritten Book Didn’t Sell. Whose Fault Is That?

In my first real conversation with every client, I tell them something most ghostwriters avoid saying: it’s very unlikely, if not impossible, that you’ll earn your money back from book sales. You’ll earn it back by using the book as a lever, the foundation of your marketing.

The clients who hear that and do the work are very happy.

One raised $30 million in venture capital with the book as his credibility. Others landed more consulting contracts by handing it to prospects, went into speaking, built courses, or were promoted after the book reached the CEO. The ones who expect the book to work magic on its own are the ones who call a year later asking why it didn’t sell.

Authors who blame the writer for what is really a launch problem are being unfair, and a ghostwriter who hides behind the launch to excuse a weak manuscript is being just as dishonest. Both happen. You can’t fix the book’s sales until you know which one you’re dealing with.

Why didn’t my ghostwritten book sell?

For the same reasons most books don’t sell: nobody knew it existed, or the people who saw it weren’t the right readers, or the first impression didn’t convince them to click.

Books sell through visibility. A new book competes with millions of others, and the platforms show it to people only when something makes it stand out: sales momentum, reviews, advertising, an author with an audience, press coverage or a strong category fit.

A book launched to a small network, without a plan for reaching strangers, will sell mostly to that network. That’s true of excellent books too.

The other common causes sit around the manuscript: a cover that looks amateur or signals the wrong genre, a title and subtitle that don’t tell buyers what they’ll get, a price out of line with the category, a book listed in categories where its readers never look, or a description that doesn’t sell the book’s promise.

Is my ghostwriter responsible for book sales?

Not for sales. A ghostwriter is responsible for the manuscript: a well-structured, well-written book that delivers its promise in your voice, on the schedule you agreed. That’s what the fee pays for.

Sales depend on decisions and work that mostly happen after the ghostwriter is done: publishing, cover, pricing, positioning, launch and marketing. I deliver the manuscript as a solid draft and I don’t design covers, and I’d be wary of any writer who implied the manuscript alone would carry the sales. Unless yours contracted to run your marketing, the sales numbers belong to the launch.

Still, a ghostwriter who delivered a weak manuscript does share the blame, and I won’t pretend otherwise. If the book is confusing, dull or doesn’t sound like you, readers who start it won’t recommend it, and no marketing fixes that for long.

Is the problem my ghostwritten book or the marketing?

Look at what happens when the right people read it.

If readers who finish the book say it helped them, recommend it to others and leave strong reviews, the writing is doing its job, and the problem is reach. If people who start it stop halfway, or reviews mention that it’s repetitive, confusing or generic, the manuscript is part of the problem.

A few other signals help. If your book page gets visitors who don’t buy, look at the cover, title, description and price. If it gets almost no visitors, look at visibility: categories, keywords, advertising and your own promotion. If it sells well at your talks and poorly online, the book works and the online listing needs attention.

How many copies does a typical ghostwritten book sell?

Fewer than most authors expect. Industry sales figures vary with who’s counting and how. Still, publishing people widely agree that most books, traditionally or self-published, sell modestly, and a large share sell a few hundred copies or less over their lifetime. Bestsellers are the rare exception, and even they rely on heavy marketing.

Those numbers say nothing about you or your story. Set realistic expectations and measure a business book by what it does for your business, because that’s where the money comes back.

Is a ghostwritten book worth it if it doesn’t sell many copies?

For most business authors, yes. The real return on a business book rarely comes from royalties. It comes from what the book does for you: the clients who hire you after reading it, the speaking invitations, the consulting work, the media interviews, the credibility with a prospect who’s comparing you to a competitor, and the book you hand across the table at the end of a meeting.

Anyone who sold you on royalties set you up to feel cheated, whether that was a writer, a publisher or a course promising passive income. Royalties are the wrong yardstick for almost every business book.

That’s why I set the expectation early. The clients who treat the book as a tool in their marketing, and use it every week, are the ones who are glad they wrote it.

A consultant who sells three hundred copies and lands two large engagements because of the book has earned many times its cost. My article on the ROI of a ghostwritten book goes into how that return works. For memoirs written for family, sales were never the point at all.

What can I do now to sell more copies of my ghostwritten book?

A book isn’t finished when it’s launched. You can relaunch it, at any time:

• ► Fix the first impression: a professional cover, a sharper subtitle, a stronger description.
• ► Check the categories and keywords, so the book appears where its readers look.
• ► Get more reviews from people who’ve read it, since reviews drive visibility.
• ► Use the book in your business: hand it to prospects, sell it at talks, bundle it with services.
• ► Pitch yourself as a podcast guest or speaker on the book’s topic.
• ► Try modest, targeted advertising once the book page converts visitors into buyers.
• ► Release an audiobook to reach readers who never buy print.
• ► Turn chapters into articles and posts that point back to the book.

My article on turning your book into courses, talks and posts covers the last item in detail, and what happens after the manuscript covers the publishing steps.

Should I plan the marketing before I hire a ghostwriter?

Yes. Most disappointed authors wish they’d learned this first. Decide before the writing starts who the book is for, how they’ll find it, and what you’ll do in the first ninety days after launch.

Budget for it alongside the writing. It frustrates me when a good book sits unread because the author spent everything on the manuscript and nothing on telling anyone it exists.

A good ghostwriter will ask about this at the start, because the audience shapes the book. If yours doesn’t, bring it up yourself, and think hard about why a writer who took your money never asked who the book was for.

What should you do in the first ninety days after a ghostwritten book launches?

Hand it to every prospect and client you meet. Pitch yourself to podcasts and events on the book’s topic. Fix anything weak in the listing: cover, subtitle, description, categories. Ask the people who’ve read it for reviews. And measure the book by what it does for your business. The Book Discovery Intensive settles the book’s audience and positioning before any writing starts. Most marketing plans succeed or fail right there. My ghostwriting services cover the book itself, and Terry Fossum’s Legacy MasterPath is where I point authors who want the speaking path. So whose fault is it? If the book is good and nobody planned the launch, the fault sits with the plan, and I’d rather you hear that from me now than spend a year blaming a manuscript that was never the problem.

From the author

Sell Your Books
Most books win or lose on marketing. I wrote Sell Your Books after more than a decade in indie publishing, with launches that worked and launches that failed, to help with the part after the writing.

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