How A $10,000 Ghostwriting Client Knocked On My Doorstep
Simple lessons for landing high-paying clients
Heads up. It’s my 4th year as a writer and I make multiple 5-figures (in dollars) writing every year, but I have never had just one client want to pay me as much as $10,000 for a single project. Usually, I do a series of jobs to hit that amount in a year.
But, there I was just chilling sometime in January 2024 when a prospective client reached out to me from LinkedIn asking to engage my ghostwriting services for his memoir.
For the first time in my life as a writer, I was having a 10k grand conversation for a single project. But back up a little, there is a background story to this breakthrough.
The Rebranding
Early this year I decided to rebrand myself with the title — ghostwriter.
Who is a ghostwriter?
According to Wikipedia, a ghostwriter is a person hired to write literary or journalistic works, speeches, or other texts that are putatively credited to another person as the author.
Remove the ghost from the appellation and what you have left is a writer.
Remember I have been writing for over three years. And most of my work was written with other people taking credit, but I have never branded or called myself a ghostwriter. Instead, I had preferred to be known as an SEO Web/Blog Writer.
Why does this matter?
In the writing food chain, when it comes to rating, ghostwriters are at the top of the pecking order, followed by copywriters, and then all other kinds of writers. Ghostwriters and copywriters tend to charge more for their services because of the perceived worth of their work and the return it brings to the business.
Hence, just by the tweak of my appellation, my perceived value had increased giving room for my pricing to skyrocket.
Something else worked for me
Another reason the client considered me for the job was because last year I authored two books, one of which is a memoir about how I transitioned from corporate (9–5) to freelancing.
My book — Damn You Boss. I Quit
Hence, I had a solid portfolio to present as my credentials for this gig. This helped position me as one qualified for the job.
How did this client find me?
Before ending the clarity call with this client, like I always do, I asked him how he found me and his response was that he found me through Google.
So, this client said he typed a query (can’t remember the exact query) on Google looking for a ghostwriter, and one of the profiles that popped up was mine. So he clicked and he landed on my LinkedIn profile. Checked me out and was impressed so he reached out to me.
This underscores the power of having a strong digital footprint and being present on platforms that your target audience uses.
Want to learn how to build a solid brand on LinkedIn or Medium, check out the materials below.
Wrapping Up
In this article I have tried to show you the power of:
- Branding and positioning
- Building a strong portfolio
- Online visibility
Make those little tweaks in your writing business and you might just be on your way to having multiple high-paying gigs.
Related article: “Beginner’s Guide to Building a Successful Ghostwriting Career”
Need help on how to build a profitable writing business and the lifestyle of your choice? Hop on a free 15-minute clarity call with me.
I hope this helps you. If it did, clap me a thousand times (joking, a few tens would do), leave me a comment (it will encourage me a lot), click the follow button and subscribe to get email notifications.
