Can You Make Money in Ghostwriting?

If you love stories and writing stories, why not publish a book? There are so many aspiring writers who want to get published but unfortunately ended up writing stories for someone else. The worse thing is, they didn’t do it for the love of their craft – but for easy cash, without getting any credit from it. That is ghostwriting.

But, can you really make money from ghostwriting? Let’s find out.

Make Money Ghostwriting

My reference of ghostwriting is from Roman Polanski’s movie The Ghost Writer. So I thought, ghostwriting is typically used for celebrity or politician’s memoirs.

Everyone can use a ghostwriter — from independent authors using Kindle Direct Publishing to popular bloggers using WordPress. I might use a ghostwriter if this blog becomes really popular. But for now, you’re stuck with me.

Ghostwriting is a common practice of writing someone else’s book or blog post without you getting any credit for it – at all. Instead of credit, you would be paid a sizable amount of money to write either a part or entire book or blog post. As a ghostwriter, your name won’t be mentioned anywhere in the book – not even in the acknowledgement section of the book.

There are various reasons why people choose to hire ghostwriters. Although it is widely accepted that famous people will use ghostwriters but it is actually beyond that. These days, because of the popularity of Kindle Direct Publishing, most professionals use this as a marketing tool to reach out to potential customers – by publishing a book. Thus, as busy as they can be with their chosen professions, they seek out the help of ghostwriters to get the book written in a timely, well-written and edited manner.

How Much Do Ghost Writers Get Paid?

Do ghostwriters make a lot of money? This is not really answerable by yes or no, as there are so many factors to consider. Is the writer writing a fiction or non-fiction? Does the book require a lot of research? Is it a serial project?

There are two main questions to know how much ghostwriters will make:

• How long the project is?
• How experienced the writer is?

Longer projects will definitely cost more than shorter ones. Book projects, depending on how many words, will take time to complete – from outlining, writing, proofreading and editing. If it is a non-fiction book, research must be considered too.

More experienced writers will generally charge more as compared to novice writers. This is acceptable in any given skill, especially with output that requires great creativity and art – a photographer who’s been taking pictures for 5 years is a lot costly than an aspiring photographer who just recently bought a Nikon D850.

iWriter, a ghostwriting service, is charging different pricing to their customers according to the length of the article and experience of the writer. This is really good as it offers the customer options and what they can afford.

According to Writer’s Digest, experienced and established ghostwriters were averaging somewhere between $15,000–25,000 for books of 50,000–75,000 words, fiction or non-fiction. That’s a lot of words and a lot of money too.

But of course, you also need to be honest with yourself, if you’re experienced enough to charge higher or lower to your clients. You can claim that you’re a topnotch writer, which should be backed up by sample works you’ve done in the past. Do you have previous projects that were very successful, or maybe not? In short, you have to prove yourself before people hire you for your ghostwriting service.

Why not publish your own book to showcase your talent? This is definitely possible. You don’t have to look for mainstream publishers to get published these days. The publishing industry has evolved because of Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing. I actually published two fiction novels under a pen name in KDP. It was one of the fun experiences I did.

Having your published book will be easier for you to market yourself as a writer or ghostwriter.

How to Become a Ghostwriter

Whilst studying Literature at the university becomes handy, you don’t really need a degree to become a ghostwriter. The biggest requirement, of course, to become a ghostwriter, is that you’re good at writing.

If writing is your passion and you are passionate about your written work, no question that you will make money as a ghostwriter. But, it doesn’t end there that you are simply good at writing. To be successful is another whole level.

Do you have great content creation skills? As a ghostwriter, you need to learn how to create quality content. You should be able to master and know the content frameworks, solid headlines and keeping your readers emotionally captivated by your writing.

Do you use writing software? Well, at least you have a computer to begin with your writing. Microsoft Word is a very popular tool in writing. But there are also writing software like Scrivener or bibisco equally popularly used in writing novels.

You will also doubtlessly need access to the internet, and it certainly wouldn’t hurt to put your own website together either.

Ghostwriting Jobs Online

Most of the ghostwriting services look for ghostwriters that you can apply to. But the best place is to look for freelance ghostwriting sites like Freelancer and Upwork. You can start to build your portfolio in there which will become visible to prospective clients who use the platform in outsourcing their work.

You can also check Freedom with Writing which advertises jobs for freelance writers. This will cut your time-wasting on some scams online when looking for your writing gig.

Fiverr is another marketplace you can look at. This becomes really popular because as low as five bucks, you can get any service you like (just don’t expect too much on its quality).

If you keep looking, there are tons you can apply to if ghostwriting is side hustle you want to pursue.

Ghostwriting as a Side Hustle

Surely, ghostwriting is a good side hustle. But it would be challenging if you’re not a writer or in the process of trying to put an entire book together for the first time. You may also find it overwhelming if haven’t had much practice writing in any given genre that you will ghostwrite in.

You need to always remember that getting into ghostwriting is always about money. Don’t be so melodramatic that you’ll not be given any credit if let say it became really famous once published. You don’t have any right to call a press conference and whistleblow that you’ve actually written the material and Gwyneth Palthrow is a fraud. Just an example.

Ghostwriting, however, is a good training ground if writing is your passion and at the same time making money on the side. Make use of your ghostwriting experience to launch yourself into prospective writing gigs and towards a lucrative writing career.

Once you launched your career as a ghostwriter and established a relationship with your clients, the side hustle could turn to a full-time profession, which you enjoy and passionate about.

My Personal View About Making Money from Ghostwriting

Personally, I won’t be able to make money from ghostwriting because I’m not a writer. Ghostwriting is definitely a good side hustle and even a full time for those who love to write stories and very creative in creating characters and scenarios.

I would, however, use a ghostwriter to write blog posts and if I want to publish a book in the future. Most of the successful blogs today use a ghostwriter because maybe they want to move to another project. Blame Tim Ferriss’ 4-Hour Work Week – who suggested outsourcing work pretty much everything.

As aforementioned, when you ghostwrite for someone, it is their book or their post. They can publish the material as is – or maybe change something, it’s purely up to them. If you feel uncomfortable with this idea of selling your craft without taking giving you credit, this side hustle is not for you. But if you are after with the money and you are not bothered with other people taking your creativity for their own merit, then go ahead and try this side hustle.

My Final Opinion Of Ghostwriting

I personally will not dive into ghostwriting, as I’m not a writer and learning or starting to write just to make it a side hustle is not practical. There are definitely a lot of ways to make money online, but you have to be cautious as most of them still just trading your time for money.

By far, starting your own affiliate website is still the best way of making money passively. With a minimum amount of invested capital and time, you’ll be able to achieve being you’re own boss. Your website is always available online, 24/7 and can be accessed anywhere.

Doing affiliate marketing successfully isn’t easy, but signing up with Wealthy Affiliate for free will give you a thorough understanding of it.

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