Hello Fellow Readers & Knowledge Seekers,

Well, we have come to the final lesson in the Ghostwriting Made Easy Crash Course. I hope you’ve enjoyed your lessons and learned a lot about what it’s like to run a ghostwriting business. In this final lesson we are going to talk about the importance of charging what your worth.

One of the biggest reasons why many people decide to become a ghostwriter is to enjoy the freedom that comes along with self-employment, while doing what they love to earn a living. With the extra added bonus of getting away from working a full time job, it can be a dream come true. So why would you want to tie yourself to your computer twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week if you don’t have to?

I see many talented writers setting their hourly rates so low that they have to take on way to many jobs in order to make ends meet. It’s an all too common trap that’s easy to fall into, especially when you’re first getting started. The theory is sound. Price low in hopes of attracting new clients, but what happens when you’re overworked and underpaid? You burnout fast.

Where’s the fun in that?

Did you know that full time ghostwriters can easily gross $30,000 a year or more? In fact, I’ve met a few established ones that are earning well into six figures. Until now we haven’t really discussed the potential for earning, because how much you make depends on you, what you charge and your income goals.

Fortunately, running this type of business has a pretty low overhead, so you won’t have a lot of expenses, but you still have to figure those into the equation. Knowing what to charge can be confusing. But it’s important to take time to figure it out before you start taking on clients, so you don’t undercharge for your services.

There are a few options:

Charge by the project

For example, if you are going to write a book you could set a base rate package of $5,000, which includes a certain amount of pages, research hours and revisions. Then include optional upgrades along with provisions for extra time spent.

Charge by the hour

Many writers prefer to sell their services in blocks of time. A well-qualified writer can charge anywhere from $20 to $60 and hour depending on the type of project they are hired to complete. 

Charge by the word

You will see this pricing strategy used a lot on sites like Fiverr. This is where you have a set price for a certain amount of words. For example, you could charge $5.00 for a 250 word blog post. That works out to two cents a word. I know that doesn’t sound like much, but it can add up quickly, especially if you’re a pretty fast writer.

If you’re struggling to figure out what to charge you can get a pretty good idea by taking a look at what your local minimum wage is, because that is the very least you should be charging.

Look at what others charge. It never hurts to do a little competitor research. Many ghostwriters will post their service fees on their websites. You can use them as a basis for deciding what your own rates should be.

You can also compare it to what you are currently making at your job. Just be sure to factor in holidays, medical insurance, retirement benefits, because as your own employer you will be responsible for those.

Aside from the time you’ll spend writing, you also need to figure in the time you’re going to spend managing your business, marketing and looking for new clients, because those things will require your attention and you need to be sure you’re charging enough to compensate yourself.

Lastly, think about how much you want to work. Since this is your business, you can set your own hours. If you plan on putting in a full forty hour week then your rates can be a little lower. But if you only want to work three days a week then you’ll have to charge more to meet your income goals.

Here is a quick example:

Let’s say you want to make $35,000 a year and you plan to work 46 weeks out of the year, that means you’ll need to earn $760 a week to make your income goals. If you break that down by a 40 hour work week then that works out to about $19 per hour.

Now, if you’re planning to work less than you will have to charge accordingly, but hopefully that gives you a good idea of how to break down your hourly rates and figure out what you will need to charge in order to become a highly sought after and well paid ghostwriter.

As we close this final lesson, I would like to thank you again for joining me for this short course. I sincerely hope that you’ve learned a lot about what it’s like to run a ghostwriting business. Even though the lessons have come to an end you can still feel free to contact me if you have any questions. I’m more than happy to help.

Until then,

Don Dousharm (Book Shop Digital) admin@bookshopdigital.com

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