How I Became a Writer: The Real Story
I did not set out to be a writer. I set out to understand my grandfather, and the writing followed, more than forty years and 113+ books ago. The path was never a straight line. Here is the real story…
Tag: Becoming a Ghostwriter
Ghostwriting looks like easy money from the outside and rarely is. These posts trace the real path into the career — how Richard went from enterprise IT to 100-plus books, what making a living actually takes, and why certifications do not make a ghostwriter.
Becoming a GhostwriterHow I Ghostwrite a Book From Start to Finish
My ghostwriting career started with my grandfather, a guarded man who said nothing about the war until the right question opened decades of it, the capture, the march through Manila, the four years in a POW camp. That project showed…
Becoming a GhostwriterHow I Handle Rejection as a Ghostwriter: The Business Reality Nobody Talks About
I charge $1 a word, which puts a typical book between $50,000 and $80,000. When prospects hear that, some of them simply disappear. Rejection is part of this business, and almost no one talks honestly about it. Here is how…
Authority Through AuthorshipRichard Lowe: The Writing King: From Book Lover to 54-Book Ghostwriter
The more you read, the more you know, Dr. Seuss told children, and Richard Lowe built a whole career on the line. From a kid haunting libraries to a 20-year tech career at Trader Joe's to 54+ ghostwritten books and…
Author BusinessMaking a Living as a Self-Published Author: What It Actually Takes
For two decades I ran computer operations at Trader Joe's, came home drained, and had nothing left for the writing I wanted to do. I had the skills and the ideas but not the bandwidth. Making a living from self-publishing…
Becoming a GhostwriterFrom $1,000 Ghostwriting Gigs to $50,000 Books [Interview]
I once wrote 25,000 words for $1,000 at a ghostwriting shop. Now a single book project runs $50,000 or more. In this interview I walk through exactly how that shift happened, from the confidence to raise rates to the business…
Becoming a GhostwriterGhostwriting Is Not Easy Money: Why Certifications Do Not Make Ghostwriters
Right now someone is watching a webinar promising a six-figure ghostwriting career, run by a presenter who got rich selling courses, not writing books, and the certification costs thousands. After 54+ client books and 113+ of my own, I can…
Authority Through Authorship$15,000 in His First Month of Blogging. Richard Lowe’s Journey [Interview]
One month after my blog went live, it landed me a $15,000 ghostwriting project, and that was the moment I understood what a blog could do for a service business. This interview, updated for current pricing, tells the full story…
Becoming a GhostwriterFrom Trader Joe’s to Ghostwriter: Richard Lowe’s Story
In late 2013 I walked away from twenty years as Director of Computer Operations at Trader Joe's, overworked and trading my health for a job that had stopped giving back. I had savings and a dream I had carried since…
Becoming a GhostwriterHow I Became a Ghostwriter: From a WWII Diary to 54+ Books
At seventeen, my grandfather handed me his World War II diary and asked me to turn it into a book. He had served on the USS Panay and survived being marched through Manila as a prisoner. That first project became…
Becoming a Ghostwriter6 Remarkable Aspects of a Ghostwriter’s Life
Yesterday a client stood up at an event and thanked me publicly for his book, and I got tears in my eyes, because in 54+ projects the clients who have done that fit on one hand. The recognition is rare…
Becoming a GhostwriterFair Compensation for Writers: Never Work for Free
Getting paid to write is harder than it should be, but hard is not impossible. The writers who earn well are rarely the most talented, they are the ones who treat writing as a business. Here is what that actually…