Ghostwriter - Remuneration and Credit

Remuneration and Credit

Ghostwriters will often spend from several months to a full year researching, writing, and editing nonfiction works for a client, and they are paid either per page, with a flat fee, or a percentage of the royalties of the sales, or some combination thereof. Some ghostwriters charge for articles “$4 per word and more depending on the complexity" of the article. Literary agent Madeleine Morel states that the average ghostwriter's advance for work for major publishers is "between $30,000 and $100,000". In 2001, the New York Times stated that the fee that the ghostwriter for Hillary Clinton's memoirs will receive is probably about $500,000" of her book's $8 million advance, which "is near the top of flat fees paid to collaborators."

According to Ghostwriters Ink, a professional ghostwriting service, this flat fee is usually closer to an average of $12,000 to $28,000 per book. By hiring the ghostwriter for this negotiated price, the clients ultimately keep all advances and post-publishing royalties and profits for themselves.

However, certain other websites suggest that this could be considered on the low side and that $16,000 to $50,000 is a more precise range. Manhattan Literary, a ghost writing service specializing in book writing, concurs with these higher prices and also gives a specific reason for the wide range: that these fees per book are determined in part by whether or not the client provides a draft of the text. If so, a 250 page book would start at $18,000. With no draft or no previous attempt at writing the text (extensive sketches), $28,000 is a more likely starting price.

Similarly, there are some ghostwriting services that charge per page for the entire project so the prospective client can know the final cost upfront. This option can be helpful for clients that have a specific page count to achieve for their book.

Some ghostwriters charge 40-50c per word (i.e. a 200 page book would cost $24,000 to $30,000). In Canada, The Writers' Union has established a minimum fee schedule for ghostwriting. The total minimum fee for a 200-300 page book is $40,000, paid at various stages of the drafting of the book. Research fees are an extra charge on top of this minimum fee. In Germany the average fee for a confidential ghostwriting service is about $100.00 per page.

There is a recent trend of outsourcing ghostwriting jobs to offshore locations like India and the Philippines, to save up to 80%. Outsourced ghostwriters whose quality levels are almost the same as the US, UK or Canadian ghostwriters, complete 200-page books for fees ranging between $3000 and $5000, or $12–$18 per page. This sharp price cut in ghostwriters' fees is encouraging more outsourcing, however, the premium typically paid for such outsourcing is a book that is not likely to be published.

Sometimes the ghostwriter will receive partial credit on a book, signified by the phrase "with..." or "as told to..." on the cover. Credit for the ghostwriter may also be provided as a "thanks" in a foreword or introduction. For nonfiction books, the ghostwriter may be credited as a "contributor" or a "research assistant". In other cases, the ghostwriter receives no official credit for writing a book or article; in cases where the credited author or the publisher or both wish to conceal the ghostwriter's role, the ghostwriter may be asked to sign a nondisclosure contract that forbids him or her from revealing his or her ghostwriting role.