One of the harder decisions you’ll face when starting a ghostwriting business is what to charge for your services. You don’t want to under-charge and find you’re working for peanuts. You don’t want to over-charge and price yourself out of the good jobs that come your way. How do you make the right choice? Well, here are a few good tips:
Give It Time
You may not pick the right price right from the start. If you are willing to experiment with your pricing to see what would be the best fit then you’ll be much more willing to start with a price right away. The thing is if you don’t set your price you can’t get clients (because they won’t know what to pay you) but if you set your prices and tell your new clients that they’re getting in at your ‘introductory’ rate then you have the opportunity to grow and then when you raise the rates they won’t be surprised.
Consider The Services
Different ghostwriting services are going to demand different rates. For example, ghostwriters for authors can demand tens of thousands of dollars per book – and get it – in many cases. If you try to get the same payment for an online ebook then you’re going to be laughed out of a project. Online work is easier to find and there are lots of providers so you’ll have to know what the services you are looking to provide generally go for. Then set your price accordingly.
Decide Your Place
In every industry there is a low end, a medium and a high-end price range. Decide from the beginning where you want to be. Generally people expect low-end pricing to mean a lower-quality product and they are often willing to accept a lower standard to get a good deal. Alternatively people who seek out high-end services know they will be paying a premium for the kind of care and attention to detail they can’t get for cheap, so they’re willing to pay for it. How you position your services and your prices depends greatly on where in this range you want to fall. Make that decision first and you’ll have a much easier time deciding on your rates.
Consider What’s Involved
If you are ghostwriting on topics that you know like the back of your hand then you won’t have as much research and development time as you would if you the topic is new or foreign to you. You need to also figure this out before you quote your clients a rate. Obviously the more research and time required to write your content, the more you should charge for completion.
There will always be people who shop by price and who seek out the best bargain. Do you want to serve these people or do you want to work with the clients who see the massive value you can bring to the table? Ask yourself this question and then go through the points above to pick a starting point and then move ahead from there.