Not All Ghostwriters Are Equal

Having already spent more than $30,000, he decided he’d had enough.

“I’ll just finish it myself.”

Years later, the manuscript was still sitting in a drawer.

“I just don’t have the time,” he admitted.

So I offered to take a look. And what I found surprised me. Today, Scribe Media operates under new ownership. It advertises the Scribe Professional ghostwriting package, $56,000, and Scribe Elite ghostwriting package, $135,000. My assessment is based on my own professional review of this one client’s manuscript from the former company. It is not a review of every Scribe project or of its current team. The new company describes the transition in its company history.

Those are serious investments. But here’s what I discovered when I reviewed my client’s expensive manuscript.

A $30,000 manuscript, but where was the actual writing?

The ghostwriter had faithfully recorded what my client had told them. His stories, experiences, opinions and expertise. But that was essentially it. There was no real narrative structure. No deeper themes connecting his experiences. No clear journey for the reader. His entire personal story had been crammed into an enormously long introduction. Worse, the book was written almost entirely from the author’s perspective, rather than the reader’s.

My client sells a particular product, and already in chapter two, the manuscript practically said:

“By now, you’re probably ready to buy my product.”

Really? The reader had barely started reading! And the author’s personal story came across as rather self-congratulatory. Look at me. Look what I’ve achieved. Look how successful I am. Which is a shame, because he actually has a fascinating story, valuable expertise and a message worth sharing. The raw material was there. What was missing was someone who could turn that material into a book people would actually want to read.

Same stories. Completely different book.

I didn’t need to interview him all over again or invent new content. I worked with the material that was already there. First, I took his personal story out of the introduction and gave it a proper place in the book. Then I changed the way that story was told. Instead of presenting him as a successful expert from page one, I allowed readers to discover the person behind the expertise. His struggles, mistakes, doubts and growth.

Suddenly, he became relatable. Readers could connect with him, recognize themselves in his experiences and understand how he had developed into the authority he is today. Next, I identified the underlying themes and reorganized the content into a logical structure. Rather than immediately presenting solutions and products, the book now takes readers on a journey. First, they understand why the subject matters.

Then they recognize how it relates to their own lives or businesses. Next, they discover what they can do about it. And only when they have gained real value from the book are they introduced to the author’s products as a possible next step. Same information. Same stories. Same expertise. But a completely different reading experience.

And a much more effective book. That’s the difference between recording someone’s words and understanding what their book needs to accomplish.

Another ghostwriter. Another expensive disappointment.

A different client once asked me to review the first chapters of a book he had commissioned from another ghostwriter. He had paid her $10,000. What I received was basically a transcript of his conversations. And here’s the thing about people telling their stories. They don’t tell them in a logical order. They jump from childhood to last Tuesday, from a business success to a painful experience twenty years earlier, and suddenly remember something that happened in between.

That’s perfectly normal. When I interview someone, I actually encourage them to talk freely. I want their memories, spontaneous connections, emotions and unexpected insights. But that’s raw material. It’s the ghostwriter’s job to make sense of it. This ghostwriter had simply written everything down in the order he had told it. The result had no clear beginning, middle or end.

My client decided to write off the $10,000 and start again with me. Together, we developed a proper structure and turned his experiences into a coherent book.

A beautifully edited book can still be a bad book

This brings me to something many aspiring authors don’t realize. There are different levels of editing, and they solve completely different problems. Developmental editing looks at the big picture. Is this the right book? Does it have a clear message? Is the structure logical? Does each chapter contribute to the overall purpose? And most importantly, does the book deliver what the back cover promises?

Line editing focuses on how the story is written. Does the text flow? Is the writing engaging? Are sentences clear? Does the author’s voice come through? Copy editing and proofreading deal with the technical details. Grammar, spelling, punctuation, consistency and correctness. All of these are important. But imagine hiring an excellent proofreader to work on a manuscript that has no logical structure, doesn’t engage the reader and never delivers on its promise.

Congratulations. You now have a perfectly spelled bad book. That’s why I always start with the big picture. In my Reverse Writing method, we start with the back cover. Before writing the book, we define what it promises, who it is for and what the reader should gain from it. Only then do we determine the structure and decide what content belongs in the book.

And only after that do we start writing.

The three levels of ghostwriting

I see a similar distinction in ghostwriting.

Sometimes the book is only part of the value

I once had a conversation with an entrepreneur who was in the middle of a major business pivot. We started discussing his book idea. As usual, I began with the back cover. Who is this book for? What problem does it solve? What transformation does it promise? Why should readers trust him? And what should happen after they finish reading?

As we explored these questions, something interesting happened. We weren’t just defining his book. We were clarifying his new business strategy. His positioning became sharper. His value proposition became clearer. And he started seeing opportunities he hadn’t considered before. At one point, he said something along the lines of:

“Just the consulting alone would make this worthwhile. And at the end, I’ll have a book as well!”

Exactly. But this added value isn’t limited to business books. When I ghostwrite someone’s autobiography or personal story, something equally interesting often happens. Our conversations can become a form of processing, almost like therapy. As people tell me about their lives, we explore experiences they may not have thought about for years. We look for patterns, turning points and lessons. We connect events that seemed unrelated at the time.

And because I’m looking at their story from the outside, I can offer a helicopter view that is often difficult to achieve when you’re in the middle of your own life. Together, we discover which experiences really mattered, how they shaped the person they became and what meaning they want to give them now. Sometimes that means seeing a painful experience in a different light. Sometimes it’s recognizing personal growth they hadn’t noticed before. And sometimes it’s deciding what they want to leave behind, what they want to carry forward and what they want to share with others.

The process of telling their story can be surprisingly insightful, emotional and even healing. So whether we’re working on a business book or a personal memoir, the value often goes far beyond the finished manuscript. A book can help you clarify your thinking, understand your past, redefine your future or discover a message you didn’t even realize you had.

And sometimes, the process of creating that book changes you just as much as the book itself.

And what about the hidden costs?

Here’s another example. Someone I know wrote his own book and then paid $8,000 to have it edited, formatted and prepared for publication on Amazon. That’s a substantial amount of money for work that happens after the manuscript is finished. And it’s something many aspiring authors forget to ask about when comparing ghostwriting services. What exactly is included?

Are you paying for interviews and a first draft? Or will you receive a complete manuscript, professionally edited and ready for publication? Will you need to hire additional people for formatting, cover design or publishing support? In my ghostwriting packages, editing, formatting and preparation for Amazon publication are included. Because I don’t want my clients to end up with an expensive Word document sitting in a drawer.

I want them to have a finished book.

So, how much should a ghostwriter cost?

Professional ghostwriting can cost anywhere from several thousand dollars to well over $100,000, depending on the scope, experience and services included. For example, Scribe Media, formerly Book in a Box, advertises the Scribe Professional ghostwriting package, $56,000, and Scribe Elite ghostwriting package, $135,000. But comparing prices without comparing deliverables makes very little sense.

A $10,000 ghostwriter who delivers a transcript may be more expensive in the long run than someone who charges considerably more and delivers a book that actually works. And a $60,000 ghostwriter isn’t necessarily better than someone charging less. The real question isn’t simply: How much does it cost to write my book? It’s: What will this book do for me, my readers and my business?

And what kind of expertise do I need to make that happen? I’ve written more than 30 books myself and helped hundreds of other authors develop theirs. I’ve also delivered more than 1,000 keynote speeches, built businesses and worked with entrepreneurs across different industries. That experience influences the way I approach ghostwriting. I don’t just listen to what you say.

I look for what you mean, what makes your story unique, what your readers need to hear and how your book can help you achieve your bigger goals. Sometimes that means challenging your assumptions. Sometimes it means telling you that the story you’re most excited about isn’t the story your reader needs first. And sometimes it means discovering that the book you thought you wanted to write isn’t actually the book you need.

How to choose a ghostwriter

Don’t just hire someone who can write.

Hire someone who understands what makes a book work. Someone who can see the bigger picture. Someone who can turn your knowledge and experiences into something meaningful for your readers. And someone who understands what you want your book to achieve.

Because anyone can write down what you say. The real skill is knowing what to do with it.

Not all ghostwriters are equal. And neither are the books they produce.