When you go to the bookstore and see the shelves full of books by best-selling authors, you can be sure that many of those books were written by ghostwriters.
From self-help books to memoirs to novels and how-to books, ghostwriters are involved in writing a wide variety of books, e-books, and other published material.
When you're ready to write and publish your book, you may think about hiring a ghostwriter.
Why? There are several reasons.
-- You don't have the time to write a book.
Writing a book, such as a novel, autobiography, nonfiction instructive book, e-book, or self-help book, is a painstaking process.
While many proficient best-selling authors seem to be able to crank out books as if they were operating an assembly line (and many of them have help from unseen teams of ghostwriters), writing a book can take months.
Many busy businesspeople and celebrities with a story to tell just don't have the time.
-- You have a story to tell, but you're not a very good writer and you need professional help.
Writing is a highly specialized skill and good books are written by people with years of experience.
A good ghostwriter can help you to tell your story in a way that will entertain and captivate your readers.
-- You need a partner with specialized skills.
Perhaps you want to hire someone to write an e-book about how to grow a small business through Internet marketing.
A trained writer who also has a background in business can help you to create an effective book.
Hiring a Ghostwriter So how do you hire a ghostwriter? Where do you start? You can look on book jacket covers.
You can browse the Internet.
Or you can go to an online marketplace such as Elance and post your project.
Once you have a few candidates in mind, here's what you need to keep in mind.
1.
Check their credentials.
You want to hire a pro.
Don't just accept their word that they are a "best-selling author.
" Check to see if they have any books listed online at Amazon or Barnes & Noble.
Ask to see work samples.
A reputable ghostwriter will be happy to provide samples or links to published work.
2.
Make sure your ghostwriter is qualified.
Many unqualified beginners say that they can write a book.
But many don't have a thorough knowledge of English grammar and word usage.
How often have you looked at a book or e-book and put it down after a few minutes? Chances are the writer was unskilled and the text was full of basic errors.
3.
Find someone with whom you can easily communicate.
The ghostwriter should be like any other service provider: responsive and able to provide a high level of customer service.
If you can't communicate with them easily, find someone else.
4.
Writing is a back-and-forth process.
Your ghostwriter should send you drafts on a regular basis and you should provide comments and guidance.
Don't wait until the book is finished to read it! How Much Should You Pay a Ghostwriter? You hire a ghostwriter based on the total word count of the book.
Not the page count, because the amount of text on a page can vary considerably depending upon the font size and spacing.
Go by the word count.
Here are some typical word counts: E-book - 5,000 to 40,000 words.
Nonfiction book - 20,000 to 80,000 words.
Novella - 15,000 to 40,000 words.
Short novel - 40,000 to 60,000 words Novel - above 60,000 words.
Biography or memoir - above 60,000 words.
Generally, prices for good ghostwriters start at ten cents per word.
For example, for a 50,000-word book on how to start a law firm, you would expect to pay at least $5,000.
Of course you can pay much less.
But the eternal rule is this: you get what you pay for.
If you need an e-book to serve as SEO fodder on your website then you might be able to cut corners.
But if you want your book to be taken seriously, you should remember that in the United States as many as 300,000 books are published every year.
And that's not counting e-books that exist only in cyberspace.
To stand out in this very crowded marketplace, your book needs to be professional quality.
It's your name on the cover.
With the advent of publishing on demand (POD) and other digital technologies, the book you market under your name could be sold worldwide for years to come.
Just like any other product or service, poor quality writing will reflect badly on you and your business.
Professional writing will enhance your reputation and make your book competitive.
To save money, or if you are a confident writer, an alternative is to write the book yourself and then hire an editor to help you polish it.
Editing takes less time than writing; you might find that a good editor will help you polish your 50,000-word book for less than one thousand dollars.
If you have a story to tell or a business to promote, hire a ghostwriter and become a published author.
The public will never know, and you'll have a book of which you can be proud.
From self-help books to memoirs to novels and how-to books, ghostwriters are involved in writing a wide variety of books, e-books, and other published material.
When you're ready to write and publish your book, you may think about hiring a ghostwriter.
Why? There are several reasons.
-- You don't have the time to write a book.
Writing a book, such as a novel, autobiography, nonfiction instructive book, e-book, or self-help book, is a painstaking process.
While many proficient best-selling authors seem to be able to crank out books as if they were operating an assembly line (and many of them have help from unseen teams of ghostwriters), writing a book can take months.
Many busy businesspeople and celebrities with a story to tell just don't have the time.
-- You have a story to tell, but you're not a very good writer and you need professional help.
Writing is a highly specialized skill and good books are written by people with years of experience.
A good ghostwriter can help you to tell your story in a way that will entertain and captivate your readers.
-- You need a partner with specialized skills.
Perhaps you want to hire someone to write an e-book about how to grow a small business through Internet marketing.
A trained writer who also has a background in business can help you to create an effective book.
Hiring a Ghostwriter So how do you hire a ghostwriter? Where do you start? You can look on book jacket covers.
You can browse the Internet.
Or you can go to an online marketplace such as Elance and post your project.
Once you have a few candidates in mind, here's what you need to keep in mind.
1.
Check their credentials.
You want to hire a pro.
Don't just accept their word that they are a "best-selling author.
" Check to see if they have any books listed online at Amazon or Barnes & Noble.
Ask to see work samples.
A reputable ghostwriter will be happy to provide samples or links to published work.
2.
Make sure your ghostwriter is qualified.
Many unqualified beginners say that they can write a book.
But many don't have a thorough knowledge of English grammar and word usage.
How often have you looked at a book or e-book and put it down after a few minutes? Chances are the writer was unskilled and the text was full of basic errors.
3.
Find someone with whom you can easily communicate.
The ghostwriter should be like any other service provider: responsive and able to provide a high level of customer service.
If you can't communicate with them easily, find someone else.
4.
Writing is a back-and-forth process.
Your ghostwriter should send you drafts on a regular basis and you should provide comments and guidance.
Don't wait until the book is finished to read it! How Much Should You Pay a Ghostwriter? You hire a ghostwriter based on the total word count of the book.
Not the page count, because the amount of text on a page can vary considerably depending upon the font size and spacing.
Go by the word count.
Here are some typical word counts: E-book - 5,000 to 40,000 words.
Nonfiction book - 20,000 to 80,000 words.
Novella - 15,000 to 40,000 words.
Short novel - 40,000 to 60,000 words Novel - above 60,000 words.
Biography or memoir - above 60,000 words.
Generally, prices for good ghostwriters start at ten cents per word.
For example, for a 50,000-word book on how to start a law firm, you would expect to pay at least $5,000.
Of course you can pay much less.
But the eternal rule is this: you get what you pay for.
If you need an e-book to serve as SEO fodder on your website then you might be able to cut corners.
But if you want your book to be taken seriously, you should remember that in the United States as many as 300,000 books are published every year.
And that's not counting e-books that exist only in cyberspace.
To stand out in this very crowded marketplace, your book needs to be professional quality.
It's your name on the cover.
With the advent of publishing on demand (POD) and other digital technologies, the book you market under your name could be sold worldwide for years to come.
Just like any other product or service, poor quality writing will reflect badly on you and your business.
Professional writing will enhance your reputation and make your book competitive.
To save money, or if you are a confident writer, an alternative is to write the book yourself and then hire an editor to help you polish it.
Editing takes less time than writing; you might find that a good editor will help you polish your 50,000-word book for less than one thousand dollars.
If you have a story to tell or a business to promote, hire a ghostwriter and become a published author.
The public will never know, and you'll have a book of which you can be proud.