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.