The Golden Pencil: The Freelance Writer’s Resource

Putting Together Ghostwriting Proposals

by Anne Wayman on May 31st, 2007

Several weeks ago a potential ghostwriting client called. We chatted about the book he wants to have written and I asked him to provide some information. It took some time, but yesterday everything I’d asked for and more arrived.

I spent some time going through his material, decided that this is a project I’d really like to do and began to write the proposal for him.

I’m always amazed at how long it takes to create a ghostwriting proposal. Sure, I’ve got some boiler plate, but the real guts of the proposal take some serious thinking.

First of all, there’s what I call “The Method.” It’s here I describe in considerable detail how the client will get the information he wants in his book into my head so I can write. In this case, he doesn’t want to do any writing so it will be taped interviews. The whole business of getting the tapes transcribed has to be addressed, as does the number of revisions for each chapter, and the book as a whole.

Then there’s a price. Sure, I know my hourly rate… but I also know there’s really no way to tell in advance exactly how long it will take to write a particular book. Some ghosts charge by the word or the page, but although I do double check my thinking with an estimated word count, I find I want to work out a flat fee. So do most of my clients.

When I work out a price on ghostwriting a book I usually start with some number in mind. Then, because I know my first notion is almost always too low, estimate the number of words. That gives me some sense of the number of hours, and sure enough, I need to increase the amount. I fiddle with numbers, remember that the final edit of the book also takes considerable time, and add some more. Some place in this process I’ll actually get quiet and check in with Spirit – sometimes more than once.

Finally I land on a price, set up a payment schedule and put that into my proposal. Then I print it out, go away for at least an hour or two, and come back and read it out loud to myself. I make the corrections and if any of them are major, may print again and read it out loud.

When I’m reasonably sure I’ve got it right, I send it off. And then I move right on to the next project.

Write well and often,

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POSTED IN: Business of Freelance Writing, Ghostwriting