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You can and should request writing samples, as well as having a detailed written exchange with any potential writer. Writers write – you should get fairly fast, fairly literate replies to any questions you may have.

You can also start to gauge whether you and the writer will have a personality fit, from the interactions about the samples and other early discussions.

About the writing samples themselves, chances are that the writer will not have “just” what you are asking him or her to do, as a sample. What you are looking for in a sample is a sense of the person’s skills and style.

Ask these questions when you review writing samples:

· Does the writing make sense?
· Does the writing get the point across?
· Does the level of vocabulary in the writing match your style, preferences?
· Are there obvious mistakes in the writing?
· Does the writing style, tone, pacing, organization, “feel” and quality match the subject matter and intended audience or purpose?
· Are the intended audience or purpose obvious?

Also don’t be afraid to ask for specific context for the sample, which can make all the difference in whether it reads well or doesn’t read well at all. Who was it for? When? Why?

We once saw a proposal document that was as dry as burned toast. When we asked what it was for – it was the introduction to a proposal that was accepted, for about $10 million! Since we wanted a proposal writer, the fact that it worked was far important than whether it was fun reading for a lay person.

Most writers will have some sort of references, but we’re cynical enough to suggest you rely more on the writing you see and your own “gut” about the person than on any references unless the references are people you already know and trust. We would say the same in a fulltime hiring situation.

If a ghostwriter or for that matter any potential vendor or employee had no references at all we’d be a little nervous, but we also have found that some of the worst contractors we’ve ever seen have great references, and some of the best can have very few.

When it comes to judging personality – just Use the Force! As you would in any other situation.

You want it cheap. Well of course, everyone wants everything cheap – but also of course as a general rule you will get what you pay for in a ghostwriter as in most anything else in business and in life.

Copywriting – of which ghostwriting is a specialized sub-category – has no “standard” pricing models. Freelance copywriting had a traditional model of print articles for things like newspapers and magazines, which would generally be on a price per word basis. The old rule for decades was 0.10 per word. Like gas prices the rates are going up a little. The more recent standard is closer to 25 cents.

If you needed a 350 word article for a local magazine, at 10 cents a word that’s almost nothing – $35 – and at a quarter a word it’s still not much – $87.50.

If instead you needed a 100 page e-book, at 400 words per page, 25 cents per word, you’re at $10,000 – when in fact the going price for a 100 page e-book by a domestic writer on a non-specialty topic with quality is probably closer to $2,000 – 2,500.

The problem with the per-word model is first, it encourages overall length which is not necessarily a good thing. Second, it encourages use of more words per sentence, per paragraph and per page. Also not necessarily good. Third and most important, on smaller projects it is a waste of time for the writer and on bigger projects it will get too expensive for you!

Some writers will work on a per-page basis and for shorter projects this may well make economic sense for you. Expect to pay around $25-75 per page for a good US, UK or Canadian writer. You can find offshore resources who will charge $1 per page. But remember what we said about getting what you pay for…

Many writers will offer to work on hourly rates. You can find offshore rates as low as $5 per hour. Domestically, in most markets writing rates are $25-45 per hour in 2005. In some metro areas, or for specialized expertise, you can expect to pay far more – medical and technical writers can easily charge $75-100 per hour, legal writers even more. Whether it’s worth it depends on the nature of your project.

A better approach in many cases than per word, per page, or per hour is a project model, where you define what you want, and the writer agrees to do it for a set fee.

We’ll have more to say about pricing a little later. For now, we’re just touching on pricing as a decision-making element in choosing a writer.

You certainly can choose on price – but we recommend choosing on fit, quality and value as long as the price is affordable and makes sense for your business.