You CAN ghost for anyone you want. But, in my experience when I worked on the other side of the table, for a non-fiction publisher, when there was a good proposal by an expert in the field for an idea, most of the time, we hunted down the ghostwriter. It was someone whose work we knew (even if it wasn't book-length before) or came highly recommended by either other ghostwriters we knew, or other publishers who were familiar with the material. There was a vetting process, both on the quality of the writing, and if the house thought the ghost could both capture the expert's voice and work within the house style. $30K was the LOW end of the scale, especially if there were no royalties involved. If the byline read "with" or "told to" or "and" and the ghost's name was included, that usually meant royalties were also included, and that was a different type of contract, based on what we thought we could sell based on 7K, 12K and 25K copies.

As a writer, in many of my initial conversations to ghost, if it was with the individual, I wasn't convinced that, contract or no contract with the individual, I'd ever get paid because there was no publishing contract in place, and, often, frankly, I didn't think the premise was strong enough to sell a book. And, most of the time, because the publishing contract is not in place and it's a "maybe someday" sale, the person hiring you wants to defer costs. I've yet to be that excited about a project to do so.

I don't really like ghosting anything for more than a speech — it's too complicated to get into in a comment, but I have a whole list of reasons why I don't like it, unless it's for an established pseudonym a la the Nancy Drew books or something — so, in order to convince me to put aside my own work and do it, the upfront money has to be HIGH. Or it's not worth it, on any level, to me.

For fiction, I wouldn't contract with an individual. I can write and sell my fiction under my own pseudonyms — why would I do it for an individual? I'd do it for a book packager on an established series that I thought would be fun to participate in. That's a very personal view.

Delena, I started by ghosting articles for corporate and business clients. It's a great way to show your ability to work with clients and interpret their requirements.

Great point, Anne! I've not ghosted too much, so I appreciate your wisdom here.

So, could we then say that low paying jobs also tend to be lousy in the way they are presented?

How do you establish yourself as that kind of professional when you know you can do the work and meet the quality, but you don't have the history of being published as a ghostwriter?

I've tried in the past, but it seems you can't *get* in the ghostwriting business if you haven't ghostwritten in the past. It seems a little circular. How can it be done?

Delena

The first job ad makes me think of the homework mills. You do all the work and I'll put my name on it. If it's accepted, I'll get all the credit and all the revenue it brings! You get (possibly)$3,000 and a swift kick in the pants.

The few posts I found online were decent – not great. Nowhere near superb in terms of payment, but the relationships are still strong. However, I've had the opposite result, too. Lousy pay, lousy experience, nasty client. I'd much rather do it your way – if ghosting larger works interested me any longer.

Cathy, great questions. Devon, guest post? Pretty please?

Paula, I can't say beyond my own experience, but I didn't enjoy ghosting the larger works. I may have kept wondering why the heck I hadn't written my own books – and there I was writing someone else's.

Perhaps a future post (or guest post – hint, hint, Devon) offering tips on breaking into ghostwriting?

For example, one topic is techie and has to do with corporate wellness programs. One author has had previous books published. The other one has not.I thought my contract in the 2nd scenario would be with the author.

I'm totally ignorant on the subject, so just curious on your thoughts.