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Writing is not like building a fence or mowing a yard. These things are done when they’re done, and more or less of objective quality.

Whether a piece of writing is “finished” and whether it is “good” are both subjective questions, and unless you and your writing resource have exactly the same point of view, there is a great deal of tension possible on these issues.

Part of the way to control for the tension and to avoid it, is to be very clear about what you want from the writer. If you are absolutely insistent on a certain length, a certain number of words, the inclusion of particular material, the exclusion of particular material, say so.

If on the other hand you are flexible in some areas, such as word count or page length, number of chapters, or other items, also say so. Many writers are quite literal, and others are more interpretive, personality wise. If you say “around” 50 pages, many writers will give you 50 – but some will give you 36 and others 84.

Imitation may be flattery but it also comes in degrees. If, as is often the case, you are interested in a book or article that “resembles” a certain established style, be as clear as you can about how specifically you mean that. A good writer can copy any tone/voice as well as more obvious things like organization of ideas and chapters and a general style. If by “I want it like Hemingway” you mean male-oriented, terse sentences, light on details, clarify this. If by “I want it like Hemingway” you really want it to read like Hemingway, down to pacing and vocabulary, say so.

Also allow your writer to express his or her point of view, which, if you are working with a seasoned professional, most ghostwriters will certainly have. The earlier you seek his opinion, the better off you and the project will be. If for example you want a 200 page book on a marketing topic, and your current favorite ghostwriter thinks the subject would be handled better with a 125 page book, consider why she thinks this, then decide if you want to rethink the length, or rethink your writing resource for the project.

Before having the above conversations, the pricing discussion will in many situations have been theoretical, particularly if it started off as a discussion about word counts, page counts, and so on.

If you’re going that way, you can skip this discussion for now. If instead you are, or would prefer, to work on a project basis as we suggest, you should come to a final meeting of the minds on price only when you have done the following:

· Discussed with the writer the exact style and purpose of the piece, and agree
· Discussed with the writer the exact length, or approximate length, you want
· Discussed with the writer any and all special requirements or exclusions
· Agreed upon a timeframe for the work

Consider that most writers will want more money to work faster.

Like any professional, the writer is juggling projects, and if she is good, she will have a number of things already happening when your project comes up (so always ask about availability early in your negotiations). If you have flexibility on time, you may be able to save some money – many writers we know will provide a discount for work you don’t need finished for a month or two, as well as charge a premium for work you want finished faster.

When you agree on a project price also agree on payment terms and tollgates and put it all in writing, either the Work For Hire agreement itself or another agreement. Again, if you are not comfortable with making the agreements, consult with your attorney about them.

There are a million ways to agree to reconcile contractor work but most writing deals operate one of three ways:

Payment in Halves or Thirds

This is the most common, traditional approach. Few skilled writers will start work for nothing, they will require a deposit, usually half on small to medium projects or a third on larger ones. In most cases this deposit will be nonrefundable unless the writer does little or no work, or misrepresented her qualifications for the work at hand.

The first payment is to start the project. The second payment is on completion if there are only two. The second payment is on some agreed-upon event – such as finishing X chapters – with the third payment on completion.

Payment In Advance

Some writers, for certain types of work, will request prepayment. The fact is that a lot of buyers of freelance services skip out on second and third payments – regardless of the quality of the work – and many writers are leery of this. Whether to agree to prepay is a matter of your cash flow and philosophy, and should take into account what you “read” about the writer. Do they seem likely to try and run off with your money? If not, go ahead and prepay but use a regulated payment system such as PayPal to do it. We don’t recommend prepaying with a check, or certainly, cash.

Payment on Completion

Fully shifting the risk to the writer, in this case, particularly for small ongoing work – such as a certain number of news articles per week – can make sense. If there is regular production and everyone knows what to expect, the writer can write, and on acceptance of each piece, gets paid. Some writers are willing to accept a single completion payment on short term projects, or those with very small budgets, such as $100 or $200.

However you agree to pay, please do remember to pay, and to pay in a timely fashion. Writers are generally self-employed so unlike corporate vendors who have terms like Net 30 or Net 45 and can carry some accounts receivable, ghostwriters appreciate when you pay fast – and will ultimately resent it if you don’t.

So far we’ve covered why you might use a ghostwriter, how to find them, how to think about selecting one, and how to handle the contract and payment issues.

For the successful writing project, this leaves one essential element: The collaborative style of the project and how to ensure you get the best writing work for your money, especially considering, with a ghostwriter, your name will generally be appearing on the finished product. In other words, getting the project finished!

While the ghostwriter will do most of the work, there are a few things you can and should do to help make for a successful project:

· Do agree to specific review periods on longer projects, either in time increments like every two weeks, or in volume increments like every 10 pages of work.
· Do carefully and promptly review the material, ideally marking it up either in a software program that “tracks changes” or by hand with a pencil or red pen. In publishing this is called “red lining” and unless you have complete trust in your writer’s talents, you’ll want to be hands-on at least in the beginning.
· Do be somewhat considerate of the writer’s ego when criticizing the work. Some writers are lawyers or consultants by background and will tend to be fairly tough. But others are “softer” more creative personalities, and the reason to be gentle is not so much to be nice for their sake, but because upsetting your ghostwriter will generally cause more problems including delays! Find a nice way to express your concerns.
· Do stay open to the writer’s ideas as the project evolves. Ideas are more valuable than writing, per se, and in a good ghostwriter you can often get the most value from what he thinks about how to structure your piece as from the wordsmithing itself.
· Don’t change the scope or terms or the project midstream. If the work you have hired the writer to do is not necessary any longer, say so, and come to some kind of agreement to end the project early – and perhaps, and perhaps not, to work on something else.
· Don’t ask the writer to make tiny changes you can easily make yourself, such as a single word.