Your first ghostwriting job

Is your plan to be a book ghostwriter realistic? It could be, if:

• You already ghostwrite articles and you believe you’re ready to draft a whole book.
• You edit books or coach authors and want to take the step from editing to ghostwriting.
• Or, you have written your own books and want to write for others.

Now one of the people in your network may be ready to hire you to write a book — or you may be ready to work with a ghostwriting agency that will bring you opportunities.

Your first ghostwritten book make all the difference

If you just jump at the first opportunity that comes your way, you may regret it. That first book could be the gateway to a whole ghostwriting career, or it could be a disastrous time-sink that brings you months of misery.

Let’s think strategically. What should your first ghostwritten book accomplish?

• It should be an experience you can learn from.
• The process should be a template for future books.
• It should generate a book you can be proud of and use as a qualification for future jobs.
• It should generate a referenceable client.

So don’t worry so much about how much you get paid — a $120,000 fee for a book you’d be ashamed of will not create a foundation for a successful career. Instead, ask these questions:

• Is this really a book? If there’s enough material for a full book and the promise of an actual buying audience, then the project has a good chance to succeed. If not, you’ll be wasting your time and what you create won’t be useful to prove your worth to potential future clients.
• Is there a path to publication? Your ghostwriting job is worthless if the book is never published. Ideally, you’d like to work with a client who already has a publishing contract lined up. If not, but the client has the ideas and marketing platform to make a successful book, you could work on a proposal. If the client has already lined up a hybrid publisher (or is willing to pay for one), that’s another solid path to publication. But avoid projects for which the publication path is ill-defined or doubtful.
• Do you like the client? You’re about to spend a lot of hours on this person’s story. Do you admire them? If the client is an asshole, you will be very sad for the bulk of your time. If they’re an intellectual lightweight, you’ll have very little to work with. If they don’t believe writing is a valuable activity worth compensating, they’ll disrespect your work. Choosing the right client is at least as important as choosing the right project.
• Do you believe in the project? Some stories are absolutely worth telling. You might be attracted to a book on overcoming addiction, on valuing human work, or on how to start thinking about investing. If you hate the story, you’ll hate the project and do a poor job. I once turned down ghostwriting work from an author who believed in exploiting the hell out of everyone who worked with them; that was a story I’d never want to write.
• Does the author think AI can write a book? There are increasing numbers of clients who think this way. Even if they hire a human ghostwriter, they’re not going to value that writer’s talents and contribution. If a potential clients feels this way, politely decline and know that you just escaped a nascent disaster.
• Do you want to write more books like this? Your first ghostwriting job establishes you as a specialist. If it’s a memoir, you’ll be qualified to write more memoirs. If it’s about tech, you’ll get more tech book opportunities. If it’s a big idea, you’ll attract clients with big ideas. You’re not just picking a book project, you’re telling the world what you’re good at. Be certain that’s something you’d like to spend more time on in the future.
• Can you get credit? If your work on a book has to be a secret, it will be difficult to use it to get more work. On your tenth ghostwritten book, you might be willing to work for higher pay and no credit. But on your first ghostwritten book, you’ll want to be able to send excerpts to future clients, point to the book page on Amazon, and get the client to act as a reference. That’s how you start building a career as a ghostwriter.
• Can you live on what you’re getting paid? You’re unlikely to get a six-figure payday on your first ghostwriting gig. But it’s going to take hundreds of hours of your time. Figure out your financial needs and use that to set a minimum level of compensation. If you’re in a position to survive on other funds — for example, if your spouse has a good income, or you are willing to live on investment proceeds for most of year — you might take a job at a reduced rate. But it would have to generate a book you could use to establish your credentials and build your reputation.

Your first book ghostwriting experience is going to be difficult

You will be learning everything at once: how to work with demanding clients, how to manage a big writing project, how to deal with other reviewers, and, basically, how ghostwriting works.

That’s hard, but it’s worth doing — assuming the book and the client are right.

So choose that first project wisely. Make it the first step in a long and exciting journey, not a painful stumble into soul-sucking quicksand.