So You Want to Hire a Ghostwriter: How to Vet One, What They Won’t Do, and What It Costs
Richard Lowe speaking at Learn & Earn Networking Lunch, Clearwater
TL;DR: What This Conversation Establishes
- A ghostwriter is invisible: you’re the author, you own everything, and it’s work-for-hire, like paying a contractor to build your house.
- Vet for project management, not just writing. Were they on time? Did they run the interview well? You’ll work with this person for months.
- Demand samples. Under NDA they can’t show client work, so they should have books on Amazon, in different styles, proving they can write as different people.
- Insist on a statement of work with the topic, length, payment schedule, and a termination clause. No statement of work, move on.
- Don’t shop on price. A ghostwriter charging far below professional rates is an amateur or desperate, and the book carries your name and face.
What You’ll Learn
- A ghostwriter is invisible: you’re the author, you own everything, and it’s work-for-hire, like paying a contractor to build your house.
- Vet for project management, not just writing. Were they on time? Did they run the interview well? You’ll work with this person for months.
- Demand samples. Under NDA they can’t show client work, so they should have books on Amazon, in different styles, proving they can write as different people.
- Insist on a statement of work with the topic, length, payment schedule, and a termination clause. No statement of work, move on.
- Don’t shop on price. A ghostwriter charging far below professional rates is an amateur or desperate, and the book carries your name and face.
Richard Lowe, The Writing King, gave this live talk at the Learn & Earn Money Secrets & Networking Lunch in Clearwater, a plain-spoken buyer’s guide to hiring a ghostwriter: what one is, why a business owner would want a book, how the deal works, what a ghostwriter won’t do, how to tell a professional from an amateur, and what it should cost. It’s one of his earliest recorded talks, and it still reads as the checklist he’d hand anyone shopping for a ghostwriter.
Richard opens with the question everyone asks: what does a ghostwriter do? He writes the book; you publish it under your name. On every contract he’s signed, he’s invisible, you’re the author, it’s work-for-hire. So why would a business owner want a book? To brand the business. He describes writing a roughly 100-page book that lays out a client’s whole sales process, complete with stories of who succeeded and who failed, so the client can hand it out and instantly look like the authority. That’s the real power: you set the book on the desk, the prospect says “you wrote a book,” and you’re already halfway to the deal. You don’t make your money selling it on Amazon; you make it using the book to sell everything else.
Richard Lowe is The Writing King, a professional ghostwriter and author who has written 113+ books under his own name and ghostwritten 54+ more for clients.
Before writing full time he spent 33 years in enterprise IT, including two decades as Director of Computer Operations at Trader Joe’s.
Quotable moments
I’m invisible. I don’t exist. You’re the author; you’re paying me to write it for you. — Richard LoweShare on X
If a ghostwriter won’t put it in a statement of work, move on. — Richard LoweShare on X
Each paragraph should make you want to read the next one. — Richard LoweShare on X
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Frequently asked questions
How do I know if a ghostwriter is any good?
Demand samples. Because client work is usually under nondisclosure, look for published writing, articles and especially books on Amazon under their own name, and check that the samples read in different voices. No published work, or five samples that all sound identical, are red flags.
What should a statement of work include?
The topic, the length, the number of phases, the payment schedule, and a termination clause. It should describe the project clearly enough that you can say “yes, that’s what I want.” If a ghostwriter won’t produce one, or it’s missing those pieces, walk away.
How much should hiring a ghostwriter cost?
More than you might hope, and that’s the point. A writer charging far below professional rates is usually an amateur or desperate. Richard’s current rate is a dollar a word, which puts a serious book into the tens of thousands. Pay for value, not the lowest price.
What does a ghostwriter not do?
Proofreading, copy editing, formatting, cover design, indexing, graphics, and marketing are all separate jobs handled by other specialists. A ghostwriter writes the manuscript; expecting them to do the rest leads to disappointment.
Related Reading
Your story could be a book
The conversations I have as a guest all circle the same idea: the people doing interesting work usually have a book in them. If that is you, let’s talk about turning your expertise into the book that outlasts the work.
Part of Richard Lowe on Air, his complete run of podcast, radio, and video guest appearances.