Professional Ghostwriter vs. Freelance Writer

Are you a doctor who wants to write a book, but you’ve decided you need a ghostwriter to help you organize your manuscript and get the writing done?

Maybe you’ve started your book, but don’t have the time to devote to it that’s needed… Or you’re not confident of  your writing skills…Or you don’t really know the process involved in created a full-length manuscript. Or  you find yourself constantly second-guessing yourself and rewriting what you’ve already written… (These are all real and valid reasons why other doctors have hired professional ghostwriters to help them get their books written.)

Are you starting to look around to get a feel for who’s who and what’s what – and you’re beginning to realize that finding the right ghostwriter for your project is more complicated than you thought?

Perhaps you’ve got questions about the difference between a professional ghostwriter and a freelance ghostwriter or writer?

If that’s the case, then I hope you’ll find this article both interesting and informative, because I’m going to give you my definitions of the terms, and talk about the differences, and also walk you through the process of finding the right ghostwriter for your book.

In this corner, we have the professional ghostwriters… And in that corner, we have freelance writers… Which one is right for you?

It doesn’t need to come to a knockdown, dragged-out fight to figure it out, or even to decide when you need a freelance writer and when you want the services of a professional ghostwriter.

My definition of “freelance writers”

A freelance  writer is a writer for hire… And like other professions, there are many different rungs on the ladder of success and professionalism.  So when you’re talking about a freelance writer, you may be talking about someone who is just starting out, all the way up to someone who is a professional, published writer with vast experience and expertise.

Freelance writers may write articles, blog posts, special reports, white papers and other marketing or sales materials. They may or may not have had any professional writing training. And they’re often what you might call a commodity product – because many freelance writers today – especially those who are just starting out and trying to find clients – are often caught in a bidding war for projects.  You can go to freelance writing for hire sites such as ‘elance’, ‘guru.com’, ‘rent-a-coder’, and ‘o-desk’ to see what I mean.  Basically, these sites are set up for providers (that’s the writer) to bid on projects listed by clients (that’s you).

In other words, if you go to one of those sites, create an account and write out a project description – sometimes within minutes you’ll have a gaggle of freelance writers bidding on your project – often for pennies on the dollar.

More often than not these days, you’ll find the freelancers who respond and bid on your project are from developing countries, and English may or may not be their first language. They also maybe be just starting out and have very little or no experience writing.  (They’ve bought into the idea that anyone can be a writer, and that writing is a lucrative field to go into and an easy ‘online business’ to start.)  And by the way, I’m not knocking this – as a business owner, I have some fabulous outsourcers who work with me on Website design, transcription, promotion and VA work and I couldn’t imagine running my business without them – they’re valued members of my team, who allow me to focus on the writing side of my business and working with my clients.  After all, everyone has to start somewhere, and there is definitely a market for this type of freelance writer’s work.  But writing articles or blog posts, or even special reports is very different from writing an entire book…

Now, let’s talk about Professional ghostwriters…

My Definition of a ‘Professional Ghostwriter’

A professional ghostwriter is someone who has moved beyond the bottom rung of the ‘freelance’ stage. although they still work for themselves, may be the owner of their own business or work as part of a team of different writers and as such, do not become your employee. (This is important for tax and IRS purposes).

Probably one of the biggest differences between many freelance writers and professional ghostwriters is that professional ghostwriters have set fees, and provide professional services designed to help their clients achieve their goals and protect their rights – including nondisclosure and confidentiality agreements.  The work they do is EXCLUSIVE to you – you receive all copyrights to the work, and you have the security of knowing it won’t be repurposed, sold again or rewritten for other clients at a later date.

In addition to being excellent writers, professional ghostwriters also have real writing experience under their belts, either being published authors themselves, or having written manuscripts for clients that were then published. And most of the time, when we’re talking about professional ghostwriters, they write books. (Although you can find professional ghostwriters who specialize in other areas such as copywriting and writing marketing or promotional materials, such as speeches or video scripts for their clients’ companies.)

Another difference between a professional ghostwriter and a freelance writer

A good professional ghostwriter may only accept a limited number of clients a year, in order to be able to focus on the project at hand, and give it the full attention it deserves. And because their services are highly prized, you may need to plan ahead in order to hire the one you want, because chances are, they’re booked  ahead.  (For myself, my policy is to only work on one ghostwriting project at a time, and depending on my clients’ needs, type of book and the project scope, I only accept two or three ghostwriting projects a year.)

Freelance writers on the other hand, may accept 3 or more clients at a time, and attempt to work on all the projects at the same time.  For many of these writers, their main concern is getting you to sign a contract, and start paying them. (So obviously, an important question to ask prospective ghostwriters is how many projects they work on at one time.  If this is an issue for you and you’re concerned about the quality of the work being done, you might want to make sure that they are only writing your book during the term of your contract.)

Another way you can tell you’re dealing with a professional ghostwriter and not a freelancer is that most professionals will specialize – either in the type of writing they do, or in a particular niche or genre of books. So for example, you might find a professional ghostwriter who only writes fiction novels for their clients, or only writes science fiction or romance or thrillers. Or you might find professional ghostwriters who only write non-fiction, or specialize in the health and wellness markets, or self-help, or business-to-business. However, this doesn’t mean they don’t have the skills to write other types of books – most professional ghostwriters have the ability to write about many different topics and in different genres.  They simply choose the ones they prefer and enjoy the most.  So if you find a professional ghostwriter whose work you admire but your book project is in a different genre, by all means get in touch with them and ask them if they take on your type of project.

A professional ghostwriter is usually invisible – their client is the one whose name will be listed as author, although not always. in some cases, the ghostwriter is acknowledged for their work, either through a ‘as told to’ or ‘with’ listed either on the cover or in the acknowledgments somewhere. (This happens more often when the ghostwriter is considered a celebrity in their own right or is hired by the publisher, because it’s felt that the marketability of the book may be enhanced by having the writer’s name on the book as well as the author.) In some cases, it depends on the genre of the book as well and the ethics involved.

And these days, especially for celebrities, politicians and business moguls, it’s become something of a status symbol to openly acknowledge that they used the services of a professional ghostwriter for their book, because it shows that they were too busy to write it themselves – and could afford to hire a ghost.

If you’d like to know more about how to find, hire and work with a ghostwriter, please check out my squidoo page.  And if you have any other questions, please feel free to contact me.


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