Ghostwriting happens throughout the publishing world, but as readers—and even writers—we aren’t always aware of it. It used to be that ghostwriting was limited to celebrity, sport-personality or political figure biographies and autobiographies, but today ghostwriting offers freelance writers more and more opportunities to get paid to write. Any person—or business, for that matter—with a story to tell might enlist the services of a ghost writer to get that story told.

How Ghostwriting Works
When you’re a ghostwriter, you contract with a client to put their story in writing for them, whether in book or article form or other relevant media like newsletters or blog posts. Individuals and companies generally hire ghostwriters because they lack on or more of the following: time, writing talent and the knowledge around how best to organize, structure and present the information they want to share. With few exceptions, the finished product appears as though it was written or produced by the client and no attribution is given to the ghostwriter.

Advantages of Ghostwriting
For some writers, attribution is as important to them as the writing process, especially at the beginning of a freelance writing career—the more published clips you have to promote yourself, the more writing jobs may come your way. But for other writers, the lack of attribution is less rewarding than the experience of helping to bring another person’s message or story to light. Further, that lack of attribution excuses the ghostwriter from actively participating in the post-publication promotion process, thus allowing them to keep their focus on writing, whether it’s their own work or work for another client.

But perhaps the greatest advantage of ghostwriting is having complete access to the best resource for the project: your client. Whether you choose to interview your client or just take their story in, asking questions when they occur to you, you’ll spend less time researching and more time writing, which means, depending on your own productivity, you could conceivably take on more freelance ghostwriting jobs than traditional writing assignments (and earn more money, more quickly).

What Ghostwriting Pays
Fees for ghostwriters vary by the scope of the project as well as the ghostwriter’s experience.

Ghostwriting a personal memoir may fall at one end of the spectrum while getting paid to write online—for a personal or corporate Web site, for example—may all at the other. When you’re setting your freelance ghostwriting rates, you’ll also need to take into account the timeframe the projects needs to be completed in as well as any other services your client might need (e.g., some clients may contract you to get involved with the publishing process, if you’re willing to take that on).

The Writer’s Market suggests ghostwriters charge a minimum of $5,000 for ghostwritten books, but upward to $20,000 isn’t uncommon. The exact fee you’ll negotiate should take book’s length into account, as well as how long you need—or the client requires—you take to complete the work (a good rule of thumb is that a 120,000-word book takes between 4 and 6 months to write).

If you’re ghostwriting on the Web, opportunities for steady work abound, but the pay rate is significantly lower. For blog posts you can expect to receive between $5 and $10 for each post; articles can range from a few dollars for up to 500 words to $20 per article of more. The more experience you have of course, the more room you have to negotiate your fee. The key is to charge enough that you’re not devaluing your work, but not so much that you price yourself out of the market.

Where to Find Ghostwriting Gigs
If you’ve been a freelance writer for any length of time, you’re probably familiar with some or all of the freelance job sites like Elance or Guru, to find leads. These sites, as well as other sites that include job listings, like Craigslist, generally feature listings for ghostwriters although the job posting titles themselves may not state that specifically. In other words, finding freelance ghostwriting gigs follows the same process as finding other freelance writing gigs.

You can also leverage your own Web site, blog or social networking pages you maintain to promote your freelance ghostwriting skills. Be sure to include sample content on your site or as part of your profile, and if you don’t have content you’ve been paid for yet to display, make some up (just be sure it’s relevant to the kind of writing you do and subject areas in which you have knowledge or expertise). When you’re just starting out as a ghostwriter, you’ll have to take some low-paying jobs to start with, but given enough time, effort and satisfied clients, you’ll be able to build a solid portfolio, respectable client base and a decent income.