{"id":234,"date":"2009-01-12T15:00:54","date_gmt":"2009-01-12T20:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lisatener.com\/blog\/?p=234"},"modified":"2024-09-30T09:01:00","modified_gmt":"2024-09-30T13:01:00","slug":"more-ghostwriting-advice-10-things-you-need-to-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jodieburdette.net\/lisatener\/2009\/01\/more-ghostwriting-advice-10-things-you-need-to-know\/","title":{"rendered":"More Ghostwriting Advice: 10 Things You Need to Know"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Yesterday, Jeannie shared in this writing blog that she’d been asked to ghostwrite<\/strong> a memoir and asked some advice about what to charge and what she might negotiate. Ghostwriting is a great way to write books and get paid right away. But it’s also easy <\/strong>to get burned <\/strong>when ghostwriting a book. Here are 10 things you need to know<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Almost all my points revolve around good communication<\/strong> and setting clear expectations <\/strong>from the get-go. Discuss everything you can think of ahead of time and you are much more likely to have a mutually satisfying experience.<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. Discuss whether your name will be on the book as an author<\/strong>. Will it say “with” or “and?”\u00a0 Sometimes you can negotiate a higher fee if your name is not on it. Be sure to ask if they will still provide a reference for you. If they are not comfortable crediting you as ghostwriter, would they call you “editor,”\u00a0 “book coach” or “consultant?” Would they provide a testimonial for marketing purposes if they are happy with your work?<\/p>\n

2. Set a time line.<\/strong> If either of you is not able to keep to the schedule, make it clear by setting a new time line.<\/p>\n

3. Get paid a significant amount up front <\/strong>(such as one third). Then get paid in additional increments so that you are less likely to find yourself in the situation that a client has run out of money and is unable to pay you for a significant amount of work.<\/p>\n

4. Clarify any late fees up front<\/strong> and what is considered a “late payment.”<\/p>\n

5. Clarify how much research you will do<\/strong> and how much data or information the client will provide.<\/p>\n

6. Make sure your contract or agreement spells out how many revisions <\/strong>you will do.<\/p>\n

7. Specify who will be the sole provider of revision requests<\/strong>. Ideally, you want to incorporate feedback from one person only<\/strong>. If several people offer changes and edits at the same time, you could find yourself doing much more work, and having an inferior product while you try to satisfy everyone.<\/p>\n

8. Include a “kill fee.”<\/strong> Should the client decide to terminate the project, there should be a kill fee in the agreement for that.<\/p>\n

9. Interview the person,<\/strong> even if you know them. Make sure you understand <\/strong>their goals<\/strong>, vision <\/strong>and expectation<\/strong>. What do they expect you to do and what will they do? Listen to your gut instincts–is this someone who will be easy to work with<\/strong>? If you get a funny feeling in your gut, pay attention<\/strong>. If it feels great, trust yourself<\/strong>, but still get references <\/strong>or try to talk with other people they’ve worked with in the past.<\/p>\n

10. It’s a good idea to hire an entertainment lawyer<\/strong> to write or review the contract or agreement–but make sure you get glowing references <\/strong>from people who actually had the attorney draw up or review a ghostwriting contract.<\/p>\n

Of course, none of the above should be considered legal advice–just practical experience from someone in the field. Consult an entertainment lawyer for your specific situation.<\/p>\n

Have any questions about ghostwriting or other writing projects? Ask away and I will do my best to answer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday, Jeannie shared in this writing blog that she’d been asked to ghostwrite a memoir and asked some advice about what to charge and what she might negotiate. Ghostwriting is a great way to write books and get paid right away. But it’s also easy to get burned when ghostwriting a book. Here are 10…  Read more<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10,11,1678,1,22,26,27],"tags":[763,764,765,766,767,768,1677,769,770,771,772,773,774,775,1682],"class_list":{"0":"post-234","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-getting-published","7":"category-ghostwriting","8":"category-how-to-write-a-book","9":"category-more","10":"category-write-a-memoir","11":"category-writing-blogs","12":"category-writing-challenges","13":"tag-author-credit","14":"tag-author-name","15":"tag-book-writing-time-line","16":"tag-collaborative-writing","17":"tag-entertainment-lawyer","18":"tag-ghostwrite-a-memoir","19":"tag-ghostwriting","20":"tag-ghostwriting-agreement","21":"tag-ghostwriting-contract","22":"tag-ghostwriting-fees","23":"tag-ghostwriting-research","24":"tag-ghostwriting-revisions","25":"tag-kill-fee","26":"tag-late-fees","27":"tag-writing","28":"entry"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jodieburdette.net\/lisatener\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jodieburdette.net\/lisatener\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jodieburdette.net\/lisatener\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jodieburdette.net\/lisatener\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jodieburdette.net\/lisatener\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=234"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jodieburdette.net\/lisatener\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":279483,"href":"https:\/\/jodieburdette.net\/lisatener\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234\/revisions\/279483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jodieburdette.net\/lisatener\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jodieburdette.net\/lisatener\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jodieburdette.net\/lisatener\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}