Do ghostwriters make money?

The simple answer is YES.

In fact, I believe everyone can make at least $10,000 per month as a ghostwriter.

Because when I say “everyone” I don’t just mean writers looking to diversify their income (although, they should definitely be making $10,000 per month ghostwriting). No, I mean everyone should use ghostwriting as a vehicle to earn money AND perfect a certain set of skills that’ll help them grow in so many other areas of their life.

(And we’re always seeing wins like this inside our Premium Ghostwriting Academy).

So, before we dive into how to reach your first $10,000 month, let’s take a look at 3 reasons why ghostwriting is the perfect skill accelerator.

Reason #1: You master the art of sales.

Anyone skilled in sales will tell you the key to selling anything isn’t to actually “sell.”

It’s to educate.

Because if you see sales as “selling,” you have to do a lot of persuading to get the other person to take action. But if you approach sales as education, and the person becomes aware of a problem they now feel is important to solve, they will persuade themselves. They will be thankful you've helped them spot a problem in their business (and ask you to solve it for them).

Think of this education as making friends at scale—and you can take this skill to any area of your life where you want to “persuade” someone to your way of thinking.

And if you want to make $10,000 per month as a ghostwriter, you’re going to have to learn how to sell.

Reason #2: You master the art of white-glove experience.

To be a Premium Ghostwriter, you need to deliver a premium-level service (and this is one of the many reasons why clients will pay you well for your work).

The reason freelancers struggle to build solid businesses for themselves is because they think they are just being paid to complete a “task.” And that’s such a flawed way of looking at the opportunity in front of you. Instead, I strongly encourage you to view each and every ghostwriting client you land as the opportunity to make an extremely powerful friend.

The people and companies you will be ghostwriting for have the power to change your life—and I’m not exaggerating.

• The more people you befriend…
• The more relationships you build…
• The more referrals you are going to get…
• The more opportunities are going to fall in your lap…
• The more “relationship equity” you’re going to stack…
• The more money you’re going to make…
• And you and your business will become even more defensible.

And this skill won’t just help you in your business, but in all other areas of your life (and future businesses, too).

So, how do build these relationships?

Simple—you work as hard as you can to “delight” each and every client.

Reason #3: You get paid to learn from experts AND practice your writing skills.

Ghostwriting is a life hack for getting paid to learn from experts.

• CEOs
• Founders
• Nutritionists
• Yoga teachers
• Sales consultants

Anyone who has some kind of expertise (and wants to share it to earn money or status) needs a ghostwriter.

Our very first client at my ghostwriting agency was the founder of a company that brokered multimillion-dollar deals between celebrities and big brands. He once put us on hold halfway through our first content call because “Warren” was on the other line—as in Warren Buffet.

For 30 minutes, in our first discovery call, we got to ask this guy any question we wanted. He would usually charge brands $50,000+ for an hour of consulting. Instead, at the end of the call, we sent him the invoice.

But you’re also practicing an insanely valuable skill: writing.

English is the new programming language.

In a world where information is infinite, friction is near-zero, and communication is global, the bottleneck to creation is no longer:

• Informational
• Technological
• Or cross-continental

It’s clarity of one's own thoughts.

So, use ghostwriting as a way for you to improve your writing skills AND improve your clarity of thinking—and get paid in the process!

Alright, now we’ve covered the reasons why you should use ghostwriting to accelerate your professional skills, let’s get started on landing your first high-paying client.

5 Steps To Landing Your First High-Paying Ghostwriting Client

First, let’s talk about the numbers.

If you want to make $10,000/month as a ghostwriter, you have to learn how to land 2 x $5k projects every month (or maintain with retainers). This is way easier than other ways to monetize as a writer (like selling digital products).

So, how do you land these high-paying clients?

Step 1: Identify Your Ideal Clients (Finding Your “Who”)

There are two parts to finding your “Who”:

1. Identify Your Information Advantage. This is unique for everyone and comes down to your own life experience:
   • If you worked as a teacher for 10 years, you should probably consider ghostwriting in the “education” industry.
   • If you have racked up more than 10,000 hours playing video games, you should probably consider ghostwriting in the “gaming” industry.
   • If you have a dozen food allergies and know a ton about eating healthy, you should probably consider ghostwriting in the “health & wellness” industry.
2. Find people in your Information Advantage who need help scaling their message online. Now, this should be nearly everyone in your Information Advantage niche. Every individual and business these days needs to either a) create a digital presence or b) scale their digital presence.

Now, if you’re looking to find your first client, think about who in your network (again, consult your Information Advantage) either:

1. Needs help educating and getting their message out to their customers.
2. Or knows someone who needs help educating and getting their message out to their customers.

It’s that simple!

Step 2: Identify Your Service (Finding Your “What” & “Why”)

Now you have your target client in mind, think about what they need help with:

• If they’re struggling to build an audience and get their message out on social media, then they need X or LinkedIn or IG posts writing for them.
• If they’re struggling to get traction on their YouTube channel, then they need someone to write YouTube scripts for them.
• If they’ve got a terrible (or even no) opt-in for their newsletter, they they need help with an Educational Email Course.
• If they have a newsletter that’s irregular or poorly written, then they need help writing their weekly (or monthly) newsletter.

This becomes your “What.”

If you’re already proficient in one of these areas, then double down on that. But it doesn’t really matter which one of these you choose. The most important part isn’t the “What” but the “Why.” For you to successfully pitch (and sell) someone on your services you need to explain WHY people should care about your services.

Because there are two “narratives” the client needs to understand (and be able to clearly & viscerally imagine) in order to believe what you want to sell them will work for them:

• Specific Problem → Reason Why → Consequence of Problem → Ultimate Negative Outcome
• Specific Solution → Reason Why → Benefit of Solution → Ultimate Positive Outcome

This is the single most important part of pitching ANYTHING.

This is your “Why.”

Then, you can create your Irresistible Offer:

• Solving 1 specific problem (The Why)
• For 1 specific person (The Who)
• In 1 specific way (The What)

Then, once you have this nailed, Practice in Public by building your own asset so you have proof your service works:

Alright, now let’s get you a client!

Step 3: Free Work: The Shortcut To Paid Work

The quickest way to land a paying client is to do Free Work, first.

Doing something for free for a client lowers the barrier to entry. They’re more likely to say “yes” to working with you. Then you can use this opportunity to a) practice your ghostwriting skills and b) overdeliver for the client (more on this in a moment).

But not all clients will accept free work.

I bet you get pushed free stuff all the time walking down the street: samples, comedy nights, music gigs, etc. Now, why don’t you accept these? Because the person hasn’t clearly communicated the offer to you and the Ultimate Positive Outcome of what they’re trying to give you.

So, master the two narratives we spoke about in Step 2 to land your first deal (it’s perfect practice for your first paid client, too).

Offering to work for free makes it easier to seal the deal but you still need to know how to communicate your Irresistible Offer to your client. Taking the money out of the equation takes the pressure off for both you and your client.

Right, now you’ve got a client, let’s overdeliver!

Step 4: Overdeliver for your client

Now you have an opportunity to prove yourself.

Overdeliver for your client. Give them an unforgettable experience. Act as if you’re getting paid for the work.

Here are some ideas:

• If you’re writing Twitter threads, write some short-form tweets based on those threads and deliver those for free (you’ve just given your client extra content!).
• If you’re writing an Educational Email Course, write a 3-day FOMO sequence to sell their subscriber on product or service.
• If you’re writing a newsletter, curate those newsletters into a lead magnet asset they could use in a viral drop.
• Etc., etc.

The idea here is to give a white-glove service so you can carry out the next and final step.

Step 5: Upsell your existing client & get referrals

By this point, your client should be loving your work and the services you offer.

Now is the time to strike:

1. Upsell. Find out what other problems they need solving in their business. Ideally, you’d future pace this during the initial project so the client has some idea of the next problem they need to solve (and how you can help them).
2. Referrals. Ask if you could be connected with 3-5 other people they know who might need your services as a ghostwriter. People are more likely to say “Yes” to your project if you’ve been introduced by someone they already know and trust.

And boom, that’s it!

You’ve just created a pipeline of work for yourself. And, if you’re able to price and position your service so that you can charge $5,000 per project (or on a monthly retainer), there’s no reason why you can’t hit $10,000/month as a writer.

So, what are you waiting for?

Get started!

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