Writing guide
How to price ghostwriting jobs
Ghost rates sit above bylined rates: the invisibility premium, per-project quoting, and the three clauses that protect you.
Ghostwriting is writing that carries someone else's name, and it has one pricing rule people keep getting wrong: ghost work should pay MORE than your bylined rate, not less.
Why the rate goes up. A byline markets you while you sleep; ghostwriting pays once and builds nothing you can show. Price the invisibility - a defensible approach is 20 to 50 percent above your same-piece bylined rate. If a client says the credit is the payment, they are describing exposure, not a fee.
Quote the project, not the word. Ghost jobs sprawl - vague briefs, extra voices, one more pass. A per-project quote with revisions capped at two rounds keeps the sprawl on the client's side of the fence.
Price the input. Interviews, transcripts, voice-matching: hours a bylined piece never asks for. Name them in the quote (includes two 30-minute interviews) so the client sees what the number buys.
The clauses that protect you. A portfolio clause (can you show redacted work?), a revision cap, and payment tied to the writing, not the publication. The rate calculator turns your target income into the baseline the ghost premium sits on.
Page reviewed 27 September 2026 · re-checked at every desk sweep