In my last post, I explained what ghostwriting is, how I got sucked into the ghostwriting world, and when I fell in love with it. Today we’re going to talk about something that a lot of people are curious about: ghostwriting pricing.
So, why is ghostwriting so expensive?
First, let’s talk about what prices qualify as expensive. You can’t begin to understand how many times I’ve heard people say “Ten thousand dollars for a book! That’s totally unreachable for people.” But if you pay $10,000 for a ghostwriter, you’re going to get a book from a newbie. That’s just the truth.
When I tell people that I charge $50,000 to write their book, create their high-ticket offer, and help them build a publishing imprint for their business, I get one of two responses.
The first one is, “That’s a lot of money!”
The second one is “That’s so cheap for everything you’re doing. Why aren’t you charging $100,000?”
These two extremely different responses are why it’s important to get in front of the right audience. I’m not going to get more into that now because that topic deserves its own article.
You see, the weird combination of my learned skills and my 15 years of experience has created a unique operating system in my brain that only some people have. Very few people can be effective ghostwriters.
But I also know that for medium businesses, $50,000 could wreck them. So, I took my business model a step further. Literary Symmetry does something that no other ghostwriting firm does. I geeked out on offer creation for an entire year so I could help my clients create a high-ticket offer that we can promote through their book. Because when your offer costs $25,000 and you’ve spent 150 pages helping your ideal clients understand why you’re the one to help them, you can get a return on your investment of $50,000 pretty quickly.
The truth is, I have been one of those ghostwriters in the secret recesses of the universe behind some huge industry titans whose names I can’t share with you. I’ve worked for ghostwriting firms that charge their clients up to $250,000 for a book. And they don’t even know how to make money back for their clients.
But business owners don’t usually just want a status piece, meaning that they aren’t okay with a $250,000 trip to nowhere. But some of the titans I secretly work for don’t understand this. Or, they just don’t care.
So I’m here, in my tiny firm, biding my time because I know my system is infinitely better. And I know my prices are actually way lower.
Next time you look at a $10,000 price tag and wonder how that can be considered cheap, remember that when you hire someone with a super specialized skill, you have to pay not just for the product, but all the time and money they invested in acquiring that skill.
That’s why I charge over $350 per hour and feel great about it. Because if you had to go through what I did and spend what I spent to become a professional writer, it would take at least 15 years, over $100,000, and several buckets filled with tears.
Are you ready to learn more about how Literary Symmetry can help you communicate clearly with confidence to grow and scale your business? Awesome! Head here for two amazing, complimentary resources.
