Choosing the best ghostwriter

Choosing a ghostwriter is a process fraught with worry. You’re about to put your most cherished ideas — and the business goals that depend on your book — in the hands of a stranger. As with any other hiring process, there’s no set guide on how to do it. And what makes it even more challenging is that this is almost certainly the first time you’ve ever done this.

Start with an agency or a recommendation

The best choice for you is almost certainly not whichever ghostwriter has gamed the search engines to appear near the top of Google searches. Here are some better methods:

1. Start with an agency. The agency I work with on some of my projects, Gotham Ghostwriters, is a great choice here, but there are other good ones as well. An agency will take note of your specific needs and offer up several good writers for you to choose from. They’ll also take a fee, which increases the cost of the project, but if they can find you the right writer that’s well worth it.
2. Get a recommendation from your agent, publisher, or publicist. If you’ve already secured these sorts of partners on your writing project, they likely know plenty of ghostwriters and can recommend some who were successful in other projects they worked on.
3. Get a recommendation from your author friends. If you know other authors who worked on books like yours and used a ghost, they’ll be able to give you a clear description of how well their ghostwriter worked out. But be aware of differences in specialization; a ghostwriter who helped your friend write a memoir may be a poor choice to ghostwrite your big idea book.
4. Interview a ghost who worked on a book you admired. Take note of names on the cover or in the acknowledgments of a well-written book. If the collaborator’s name appears on the cover with the word “and” or “with,” that’s probably the ghostwriter. Search their name and you’ll find out if they work regularly as a ghostwriter or writing collaborator. Even if you don’t know the author personally, you might want to reach out and ask about their collaboration relationship. If you can get a response from the writer, they’ll tell you exactly what work the ghostwriter did and what the relationship was like. (Sometimes the author won’t acknowledge the ghostwriter’s contribution, but you may be able to find out about it with a web search.)

How to evaluate writers

Which ghostwriter is best depends on what’s important to you; every project is different. I recommend evaluating potential candidates on these criteria:

• Experience in your genre. How many books have they ghostwritten that are similar to what you plan (for example, business books, or motivational books)? A ghostwriter with a successful track record is more likely to give you a satisfactory experience than a rookie.
• Knowledge of your subject material. If you’re writing about medical topics or personal finance, for example, you’ll want a writer who’s familiar with your field. But don’t obsess about this; an excellent writer with moderate knowledge of your area of expertise is probably better than a deep expert with middling writing skill.
• Writing chops — and wit. Do you need a great writer? What writing skills impress you? Is the person you hope to hire a fantastic storyteller? Evaluate these qualities by examining what they’ve written before, not based on what they tell you in an interview.
• Collaborative skills. This is a partnership; you won’t want to work with someone who is weak at collaborating. And know what you need. If you’re a control freak, you’ll want a ghostwriter who won’t fight you about who’s in charge. If you’re a senior executive and work with a team of skilled professionals within your company, you’d be better off with a writer who has experience in corporate settings. If you need a lot of reassurance, choose a writer who’s strong on empathy.
• Problem-solving and ideation abilities. All writing collaborations are problem-solving exercises. But know which problems you need to solve. Do you need help nailing down the idea? Do you want someone with expertise on structuring content? Do you have all your chapters laid out, and just want someone to write to your specifications? All of these are problem-solving exercises; some require excellent analytical and idea development skills, while others are more writing focused.
• Publishing experience. The arcane world of publishing is intimidating and confusing. An experienced ghostwriter can guide you through it. In my experience, authors rarely hire ghostwriters for this ability, but almost always need it.
• Price. As you might imagine, a ghostwriter who fits all these criteria is likely to be expensive.
• Availability. When do you need the writer? And how long will the project take? You might choose a different ghost if you need somebody to finish the book in the next four months, for example.

As you might imagine, there are many tradeoffs here. You won’t find an affordable, experienced, highly collaborative subject matter expert who’s a devastatingly witty writer and is available now. So decide which of these criteria are most important to you and which you’ll be willing to compromise on.

The qualification you should skip: the New York Times bestselling ghostwriter

I cannot understand why authors would prefer a ghostwriter who’s written one or more books on the New York Times bestseller list — even though that’s a qualification that appears on many of their lists of desired criteria. Consider for a moment how a book gets on that list. It’s a book that likely has some of these qualities:

• The author is prominent (not the ghostwriter, the author).
• The book had an excellent marketing and promotion program.
• The book was on a topic that captured the public’s imagination.
• The author paid to manipulate the book onto the list with a distributed buying program.
• The timing was lucky (for example, a book on tariffs that just happened to come out in the spring of 2025).
• The writing is compelling and fantastic.

The ghostwriter contributes only to the last of these criteria. All the rest are the responsibility of the author, or fate. So why are you prioritizing hiring a ghostwriter for happening to work for an author who is prominent, rich, and lucky with a good marketing plan?

If you do choose this quality, you’ll pay a whole lot extra for it. And such writers are often booked up, so they have limited availability.

(For the record, I have cowritten one bestselling book and none of the books I’ve ghostwritten were New York Times bestsellers.)

Be smart

Know which criteria matter to you.

Interview several writers. Ask about process.

Read what they’ve written. Does it sound like you? Are you impressed with it?

Then choose wisely. Listen to your gut instinct. But objectively evaluate the qualities that matter to you, too, because you’re about to put lots of your time, money, and prestige on the line.