Make Money as a Ghostwriter
Excerpted from the book, Portable Writing, by Kay Kennedy

One of the more financially rewarding writing assignments that I’ve discovered is ghostwriting. This is a huge field loaded with opportunities if you’re ready to step into it. You don’t have to be an expert on anything, nor do you have to “know someone.” You can choose to specialize in articles or you might want to seek out individuals who want a book written. Articles are the easiest to start with and tend to pay better for the amount of work done.

Ghostwritten articles
If your interest is in writing articles for publication, consider approaching professional and business clients who might need a ghostwriter. Ghostwriting pays really well, and corporate clients generally will pay more than small business owners for articles. And they pay well even if they’re not personally receiving any payment from the publication. Sometimes their only goal is to share important information they have about a particular subject, or it could be only for recognition and prestige. They hire you because they can’t write well enough for publication, or they don’t have time, or because you charge less by the hour than they receive for their position.

The greatest benefit to you as a ghostwriter is that the pay is generally higher than you would ever receive from a magazine or trade journal for the same type and length of article.

The best way to get started in this lucrative field is to first, research an interesting topic in any industry you wish, write an article and submit it to an industry trade magazine. After it is published, you’ll have a sample with which to approach corporate prospects and show what you can do, and this sample will prove that your articles can and do get published. This is your “foot in the door” to write for corporate bigwigs. Hiring you will be cheaper than paying for advertising in the magazine they want the article submitted to.

If a magazine charges $10,000 for a full-page ad and you only charge $4,000 to write an article for them, the corporation will save $6,000 plus receive bigger coverage (possibly several pages) and better publicity from a published article with the byline of one of their top executives. These figures are only examples, but are relative to the amounts charged for advertising and the amount you could make, depending on the length of the article.

Of course, you always want to have a signed contract before proceeding with any work. The contract should state what the article will be about, number of words, how many rewrites or corrections you will provide, completion date, and your fee. You should collect one-half of the total fee in advance, but state that final payment is due upon completion and approval by your client. Do not agree to wait for payment until after the article is published because the newspaper or magazine may decide to hold it for several months for a special issue.

The biggest reward for a client from published articles is credibility and establishment as an expert in his field. Remember that this type of client pool can include not only corporate executives, but also medical doctors or people with advanced scientific and education degrees.

Your marketing presentation to your prospect should include a brief biography about yourself, plus writing samples and a brochure that outlines what services you can provide, including ghostwriting articles and/or books. It will also be helpful to provide a list of former clients you’ve written for, with their permission, after you gain experience.

Who gets the byline?
Realize that your name will not appear on ghostwritten articles unless your client agrees to share the byline, so you can’t use copies to find more business. They’ve paid for the byline, and most expect to get both the credit and privacy.

If they agree to let their name be used as a reference and they’re contacted, it’s up to them to volunteer or withhold information about the types of writing you have done for them. You should never reveal that you’ve ghostwritten articles without their prior permission.

Your own articles that are published in trade magazines may be the only ones you can use to generate new business, so keep publishing on your own to build credibility and to have a supply of up-to-date samples to show prospective clients. Mail copies to your list of prospects each time a new article is published to keep yourself in their thoughts. Eventually prospects will see how articles written by you, but with their byline, will benefit them.

The payment you receive for a ghostwritten article will often depend on whether you place the article or your client does. One of my clients developed a working relationship with a magazine editor and could place almost any article he wanted to propose. I was assured of having continuing writing assignments from this client with virtually no work except for producing the article, so I could afford to charge him less than clients who needed my help placing articles.

Typically, though, I would propose an article to a trade magazine in my client’s name, then proceed to research and write the article, although the client would usually supply the research material. I wrote articles about taxes, small business record keeping, and financial planning for accounting and finance clients. I wrote about investments for a client who was a stockbroker. By the way, that was a field that I knew absolutely nothing about in advance! And I wrote a variety of articles for other clients.

Clients usually hire ghostwriters who have marketed their services to them. Corporate and business executives don’t normally ask their friends or colleagues for referrals because they don’t want their peers to know they are using a ghostwriter. So don’t be shy about getting your name and information out to prospective clients so they’ll know what you can do, and how well you can do it.

The really rewarding part of ghostwriting articles is that some of your more successful clients may want help writing a technical book or an autobiography about themselves. Naturally, you will land on their short-list of writers to help them produce a full-length book. I’ll cover ghostwriting books in next month’s newsletter and tell about one former acquaintance who made an excellent living doing only ghostwriting.