fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #3309 ]

⌈ Secret Post #3309 ⌋

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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I'm a low- to mid-list author and unlikely to make a liveable income from just writing any time soon. A packager's been advertising for ghost writers recently, paying a flat sum of £3k for a £60k book in my genre. I get accepted by publishers so I'd likely be accepted as a ghost writer.

I'm so broke right now it's really tempting but I don't know how resentful I'd be if the ghost-written book went on to be much more successful than I am writing under my own pen name. But I'm also not likely to earn £3k that quickly writing as myself. It'd probably take years of continuing to build my backlist to see that kind of success.

So... thoughts?

You gotta do what you gotta do to survive. If you are lucky, you become a famous author one day and a bunch of nerds rummage thru your past trying to find the books you ghost wrote.

This. Bills got to be paid.

Having trouble paying your bills because you don't have a job? Try fucking some more gorillas and see if they'll give you any money for it this time (they wouldn't even if they had any). But maybe you'll get ghetto-famous, too bad you'll be living in a cardboard box because you can't pay your bills with monkey semen.

You are really committed to your kinks, nonny. I admire that.

Too much Ajax in the meth this week, huh?

Now you're just getting repetitive.

If you think you might be resentful, read up on other ghost writers' experiences first and how they dealt with the fact that they wouldn't be getting credit (or not much, anyway, I think most books will list them under acknowledgements).

I think that'd be hard, tbh. That's a rather wide range... where 60K might be worth it to be a ghost writing, 3K is pretty insulting for the work you'd have to do. And I believe that as a work for hire, you wouldn't be getting any royalties for that work even if it became the next Harry Potter.

Have you thought about self publishing? I know it's not the solution for everyone, but if you already have some following and a name, it could be a way to get a bigger cut for your work.

I don't have the skills to self-publish and vastly prefer the security (an advance, proper editors, proper cover designers, followers of the publisher, a marketing department) of a publisher. So my publisher more than earns their cut for me.

I'm really not a fan of self-publishing in general. While there are some people who do it very well I think too many people think it's a shortcut to success. Or that publishers are evil gatekeepers who reject their work out of spite, rather than because it's simply not well-written enough.

Fair enough, though you can outsource a great deal of that work. Then it'd be your name out there, your backlist growing, and your royalty checks.

10 years ago, I would've agreed with you about self publishing, but things are quite different now. I have a friend who pulling down 3-4K a month self publishing and she knows others who are earning much, much more. I'll grant you it's still not for everyone and it's not a short cut or a guaranteed payday. But dismissing it based on outdated misconceptions about how it works is cutting your nose off to spite your face.

I know exactly how it works. I don't have the skills (in marketing and promo) or the money (to pay outsourced professionals) to do it successfully. None of my notions about self-publishing are outdated. I don't have the means or the required aptitudes to do it successfully.

I see I touched a nerve and I apologize. I think you're awfully quick to dismiss it as a viable option, especially since you're willing to consider getting peanuts for ghostwriting. But you do you.

I'm sorry. I misread your comment and thought you were being shitty but upon rereading you really weren't. And I see how my comment came across as overly negative towards self-publishing, which I really have no issue with beyond not wanting to do it myself. I'm dirt poor and ill and stressed out but that's no reason to take it out on anyone else.

Apology accepted, and my sympathies. I know what it's like to be hard up and stressed out. It takes a toll on one's creativity, too. Good luck and I hope you can find a way to get more money out of your writing!

If they pay 3K its because they know it's worth at least 20 times that.

Dude, ghostwriting is a GOOD gig. Like, not the most satisfying, but often it leaves room for creativity and it's one of the best paid job for writers. There's no shame in it. I'd say, do it? Just keep you eyes on what you really want, and don't let it be an excuse to drop your own writing.

nayrt but have you done it? It's something I've thought about doing but all I've seen are weird ads on elance and similar sites that seem like they don't offer much money, and I'm not sure how to start building a portfolio.

I haven't ghost written a book. I've written things for other people without credit though (website contents and stories for an audio guide to be more specific. Also voice-overs.)

I'm not sure how i'd do it through a website, though, since my stuff is usually through people I know personally.

Damn. That seems similar to what a lot of ghostwriters are saying on their blog and I... don't really know anyone.

Sell out or starve. It's your choice. Personally, I'd rather sell out.

Check very carefully. It could be a scam. Ask around at various writer's forums, ask your agent or editor, that kind of thing.

As an unpublished writer, I'd say go for it because if nothing else, you could make valuable connections through your work.

I'm also a pro writer, and I've ghosted. No shame in it. We're writers, OP. We can't afford pride. We can barely afford alcohol.

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