The Perils of Underpricing

As the executive director of the Association of Ghostwriters, I receive phone calls on a regular basis from people who are either considering membership or who are hunting for a ghostwriter to assist with their project.

On many occasions, I end up having to educate the caller regarding the role of the ghostwriter and how publishing works. That is, there aren't many ghostwriters willing to work without some kind of up front payment; most would-be authors expect ghostwriters to split the millions in royalties that are sure to be forthcoming once the book is drafted, edited, and released. Or to provide article-writing services for pennies per word.

Last week, I received a call from a professional looking for someone to do some ghostblogging. She had placed job postings in the hopes of finding someone locally and was surprised by the low fees writers were quoting her. Instead of going with the lowest cost provider, as so many clients often do, she decided to call the AOG for other options.

The problem with the quote she received was that it was so low that she suspected the writer to be an amateur. She couldn't imagine a successful writer being able to write enough blog posts to sustain themselves long-term at the fee quoted. So she continued to look for a writer who would quote a fair fee, but not bargain basement.

I think there's a lesson in there for writers everywhere. There are clients who understand the amount of work required to produce high quality writing, and they expect to pay for it. So low balling a bid to try and win a particular project may end up costing you the project. Better to be realistic.