How to hire a ghostwriter · 11 min read
How to hire a ghostwriter without getting burned
Twelve filters, applied in order. The vetting process working agents use, adapted for authors who do not have an agent.
Most authors hiring a ghostwriter for the first time get burned. Not catastrophically — usually just by a writer who can technically string sentences together but cannot hold a voice across 80,000 words, or by a contract that quietly removes their rights. Both are preventable with a structured vetting process.
This is the vetting process working agents use, adapted for authors who do not have an agent.
Filter 1: do they have a bibliography?
Before any other question, ask for a bibliography. Specifically: three books they have written or co-written that are publicly available, ideally with traditional-publisher imprints. Open Amazon. Look at the actual books. Read the first chapter of one on the “Look Inside” feature.
A ghostwriter who cannot share three books they have shipped is not a senior ghost. They may be a competent writer in another form; they are not ready to write yours.
Filter 2: do they have category fit?
A memoir writer does not write your business book. A fantasy ghost does not edit your picture book. Ask: which of your three bibliography books most resembles my project?
If they cannot point to a category match, they will be learning your category on your manuscript. Some writers can do this well. Most cannot. Default to a writer with at least one published book in your specific category.
Filter 3: can they produce a voice sample?
A voice sample is 1,500 to 2,000 words written from a real section of your outline, in your voice, before you sign the full contract. Any senior ghostwriter will offer one. Most charge for it ($250–$1,500). The fee is refundable against the full engagement if you go ahead.
If a ghostwriter will not produce a voice sample, or insists on doing it only after the full deposit is paid, walk.
Filter 4: will they sign a mutual NDA before any work?
Mutual NDA before the discovery call, before the brief is read, before any team member sees your manuscript. Either they use yours, or you use theirs. Either way, mutual.
A ghostwriter who balks at NDA is not a serious commercial operator. Walk.
Filter 5: who owns the work?
The contract should assign all rights in the manuscript to you, in perpetuity, worldwide, in every format and language, on payment of the first invoice. No retained rights. No royalty share. No long license.
Read the IP clause. If anything other than “all rights to you, day one” appears, the writer is not in a clean work-for-hire arrangement. Walk.
Filter 6: is attribution permanent on the writer side?
The writer’s contract — usually with their agency or studio — should include a permanent non-attribution and confidentiality clause that survives termination and the company. They cannot list your project on their portfolio. They cannot mention it on a podcast. They cannot tell a journalist who asks.
If the writer can disclose your project later, your confidentiality is a wish, not a contract.
Filter 7: what is the revision scope?
Defined. In writing. Two structural revisions plus unlimited line-level revisions inside the project timeline is the standard senior arrangement. “Unlimited revisions” without timeline boundary usually means the writer decides when they are done.
Filter 8: what is the payment structure?
Three or four milestone payments tied to deliverables. Not 50% upfront and 50% at delivery. Not 100% upfront. A typical structure: 33% at signing, 33% at outline approval, 34% at manuscript delivery. For longer projects, split the second installment into two.
More detail in the paying-a-ghostwriter cluster post.
Filter 9: what is the refund policy?
Eligibility-first, written in plain language. Refund window before voice sample, refund window before chapter four, refund-limited-to-undelivered-chapters window after. A refund policy that leads with exclusions is designed to deny refunds.
Filter 10: who is your single point of contact?
A senior person, not a sales rep, not a rotating account manager. The same person reads your brief, joins the discovery call, owns the schedule, and ships the manuscript. If the studio cannot name a single owner, the work will be passed between handlers and quality will suffer.
Filter 11: how does the studio handle AI?
Three honest answers exist. AI for transcription, research aggregation, and grammar utility passes: fine. AI for first-draft prose: not fine; the manuscript will read generic. Studio refuses to answer: walk.
Filter 12: do they turn down work?
A senior studio turns down most inbound. If a ghostwriter or studio says yes to every brief they hear, they are saying yes to bad fits too. Ask: what kind of project would you turn down? An honest answer is a vote of confidence in their selection bar.
Apply the filters in order
Filters one through four are walk-or-stay filters. If a writer fails any of them, end the conversation. Filters five through twelve are signed-or-not-signed filters; if a writer fails one of them, you have a contract negotiation to run before signing.
Most ghostwriting horror stories trace to skipping filter three (voice sample) or filter five (rights). Those two alone catch the majority of bad engagements.