By Alison Schwartz, president, Gotham Ghostwriters
Hiring a ghostwriter means finding a skilled and experienced writer, vetting them against your project’s needs, negotiating a collaboration agreement, and developing a working relationship that can last 12 to 18 months. Done right, it produces a book that carries your voice, your ideas, and your name — without requiring 300+ hours of your time. Gotham Ghostwriters is among the world’s most established ghostwriting agencies, with 18 years in business, a network of 4,000+ vetted professional writers, and more than 1,000 successful book collaborations completed for executives, entrepreneurs, thought leaders, and public figures. This guide distills everything we’ve learned about how an executive should hire a ghostwriter into a practical, step-by-step resource for an executive ready to hire a ghostwriter.
What Is a Ghostwriter, and Should You Hire One?
A ghostwriter is someone you pay to write for you — books, articles, speeches, whatever you need — while your name goes on the final product. And no, that’s not cheating. U.S. presidents have done it. Fortune 500 CEOs do it routinely. It’s just smart.
The Andy Awards is an annual program that recognizes books written by CEOs, elected officials, and other high-profile figures, as well as their collaborators. Both author and ghostwriter must submit to win and agree to share the award. The 2025 Andy Award winners show the breadth and scope of collaboration.
The process involves deep intellectual engagement from the named author. While someone else does the writing, the ideas, stories, and voice belong entirely to you — a skilled ghostwriter’s job is to surface and shape them. Most executives don’t hire a ghostwriter because they can’t write. They hire one because they can’t afford the cognitive drain of writing alone. There’s a difference.
If you’ve been saying you’ll write a book for a year or longer, if your schedule leaves no room for a 300-hour writing project, or if you have high-value ideas and limited time to articulate them, a ghostwriter is almost certainly the right choice. You’re in good company. “Some literary agents estimate more than half of non-fiction titles nominally written by well-known people were not completely ‘written’ by those people,” according to a Fortune article on ghostwriting.Other sources estimate it at over 70 percent.
The data makes a compelling case. According to the Business Book ROI Study, a comprehensive survey of 350 nonfiction authors co-commissioned by Gotham Ghostwriters, ghostwritten books generated four times the profit of non-ghostwritten books. The satisfaction rate among authors who used ghostwriters was 96% — the highest of any service category in the study, surpassing copy editors, PR agencies, developmental editors, and book coaches. And among authors with books out six months or more, 18% reported more than $250,000 in total revenue attributable to their book — with the majority of that coming not from book sales, but from speaking engagements, consulting, and new business generated by the book’s credibility. For executives weighing the cost of hiring a ghostwriter against the potential return, these numbers make a strong case in favor of working with a ghostwriter.
How Do I Find a Ghostwriter?
You have three ways to find a ghostwriter: go through a specialized agency, search a freelance marketplace, or ask around in your professional network.
Each one comes with its own catch.
Agency vs. Freelancer: Which Is Right for You?
If this is a six-figure CEO memoir, do not start on Fiverr. You’re not hiring a logo designer. You’re choosing a long-term intellectual partner. Here are two options worth knowing about:
Ghostwriting Agencies do the legwork upfront — every writer is pre-screened before joining the network, you get matched to candidates based on your subject matter and what you’re actually trying to accomplish, and if something goes sideways, there’s someone to call. You’re paying for structure and accountability. It also brings institutional accountability. For executives working on high-stakes projects, such as a CEO memoir, a business leadership book for a major publisher, an agency is without doubt the lower-risk, higher-quality option. If you’ve decided to go the agency route, and want a framework to choose one, see The Best Ghostwriting Agencies: How to Choose One.
Freelance Marketplaces like Fiverr or Upwork throw open the doors — you’ll find writers at every price point, experience level, and skill level imaginable. The catch is that sorting through all of it is your problem.
Referrals are a solid path — if a peer has worked with someone and can vouch for them. Just don’t skip the homework. Still check their work in your genre before committing.
What Is the Step-by-Step Process for Hiring a Ghostwriter?
Figure out what you want to create. Find writers who’ve done something like it. Look at their samples. Cut the list down. Have a few conversations to see if you click. Talk through the scope, set expectations, land on terms, and get it all in writing.
Here’s what that actually looks like.
Step 1: Pin Down the Project Before You Start Looking
Before you reach out to anyone, figure out four things: what you’re making (memoir, business book, speech, articles), who it’s for and where it’s going (self-published, traditional publisher, internal use), a realistic timeline, and what you’re willing to spend. The sharper your brief, the smoother every conversation after it.
Step 2: Build a Shortlist
If you’re going through an agency like Gotham Ghostwriters, they will work with you to develop a project brief and then they will do the matching. You’ll typically land three to six pre-vetted candidates to consider. If you’re searching independently, review writing samples and published work in your genre — a ghostwriter who specializes in political memoir may not be the right fit for a business strategy book.
We’ve seen founders hire a brilliant magazine writer for a technical business book — and spend six months undoing confusion. Choose a ghostwriter with demonstrated experience in your specific genre and subject matter, who also has writing chops.
Step 3: Conduct Interviews
Schedule a call, or even an in-person conversation, with each candidate before making a decision. You’re sizing up three things at once: whether they can do the work, whether you can stand talking to them, and whether you trust them. You’re going to tell this person things you haven’t told your board, your spouse, or your PR team. As we often tell new clients, working with a ghostwriter is a lot like getting married for a moment. You need to trust this person. Trust means feeling confident that your stories, ideas, and sensitive material will be handled with discretion, care, and judgment — and that they truly understand your voice before putting pen to paper.
Questions worth asking in every interview:
- What books have you ghostwritten in my genre? Can I see samples or speak with past clients?
- How do you approach capturing a client’s authentic voice?
- How do you typically work?
- What do you need from me to succeed?
- If we disagree on direction, how would you handle it?
Step 4: Review Writing Samples
Ask for samples that match what you’re planning to make. If you want to take it a step further, pay for a short trial piece — a chapter, a few pages — to see how the collaboration actually feels. And in case you’re wondering, seasoned ghostwriters don’t work on spec.
Step 5: Agree on Terms
Once you’ve found the right person, work out the details. Fee, payment schedule, timeline, scope, confidentiality, and what happens if either side needs to walk away. All of those details should be figured out before work begins.
How Much Does a Ghostwriter Cost?
For a full-length nonfiction book, ghostwriting fees typically run anywhere from $40,000 to $300,000, depending on the writer’s experience and the complexity of the project. Here’s how Gotham Ghostwriters breaks it down, drawing on more than 18 years of brokering these collaborations:
Entry-Level ($30,000–$60,000): A solid professional writer with book-length experience. A good fit for straightforward memoirs, business how-to guides, and first-time authors aiming for self-publishing or a small press.
Mid-Market ($75,000–$150,000): A credentialed writer with major-publisher credits and expertise in your category. Right for executives building a business book for a trade publisher, or memoir writers with a complex, high-profile story to tell.
Elite ($180,000–$300,000+): A collaborator with multiple New York Times bestsellers and the range to produce ambitious, Malcolm Gladwell- or Thomas Friedman-caliber work. This tier is for CEOs, public figures, and thought leaders going after major-publisher deals and real bestseller potential.
Book proposal fees, for authors pursuing a traditional publisher, typically run $15,000–$25,000 separately — or can be bundled with the full manuscript fee at a discount.
For a full guide to ghostwriting fees, check out our What Does It Cost to Hire a Ghostwriter?
Pay structures are fairly standardized: most ghostwriters split fees into two, three, or four installments, with a meaningful portion paid upfront to secure their time. Monthly retainer arrangements are also common for longer projects. Do not work with any writer who requests the full fee upfront — this is a significant red flag.
A note on royalty deals: the overwhelming majority of experienced ghostwriters will not accept a “profit split” in lieu of a guaranteed fee. Any writer who agrees to work for royalties alone is telling you something about where they stand professionally — and it’s not good. Another word of warning: ghostwriting scams are prevalent. As we tell first-time authors, it takes an investment to collaborate with an experienced writer. If any agency promises to deliver a ghostwritten book for $3,000, it’s a scam.
How Do I Find a Ghostwriter for a CEO Memoir?
To find a ghostwriter for a CEO memoir, you need a writer with specific experience in narrative business biography, the ability to handle sensitive corporate history, and the professional standing to work at a high level — typically found through a specialized agency or strong professional referral.
CEO memoirs are among the most complex ghostwriting projects. They require a writer who can handle personal narrative and business history. You’ll be giving the ghost access to sensitive information, and the person has to be able to conduct deep research across decades of corporate activity, as well as produce prose compelling enough for a major trade publisher.
Former Coach CEO Lew Frankfort’s collaboration with star ghostwriter Joanne Gordon — resulting in Bag Man: The Story Behind the Improbable Rise of Coach, published by Harvard Business Review Press — illustrates what great CEO memoir collaboration looks like. Their 18-month collaboration involved more than 75 interviews with key players from Frankfort’s career, and an iterative drafting process. As Frankfort put it: “There’s no doubt it’s my story, but Joanne brought it to life in a way that I could not do on my own.”
What to look for in a ghostwriter for a CEO memoir:
- Demonstrated experience with business biography or executive memoir — ask for titles and check them
- Comfort with corporate research and access to sensitive institutional history
- A track record with major publishers if your goal is traditional publication
- Personal chemistry that will last for 12–18 months of intense collaboration
- The professional standing to command serious respect from your publisher and publicist
What Are the Criteria for Vetting a Ghostwriter?
Vet a ghostwriter on five criteria: relevant genre experience, sample quality, verifiable references, process clarity, and personal chemistry.
When Gotham Ghostwriters evaluates writers for our network of 4,000+, we use a rigorous screening process. Here’s what you should evaluate on your own:
1. Genre and subject-matter experience. Has the writer produced books in your specific category? A versatile literary collaborator is not automatically the right person for a highly technical business book or a political memoir. Ask for titles and read them.
2. Sample quality. Request writing samples that relate to your project type. In the samples consider voice range — how does the person portray another’s thoughts and sound like a real person, not generic content.
3. References. A reputable ghostwriter should be able to provide at least one or two past clients willing to speak on their behalf, even if confidentiality limits what they can share. Ask about the working relationship, responsiveness, and how conflicts were handled.
4. Process clarity. A professional ghostwriter should be able to walk you through their process clearly — how they capture your voice, how they structure interviews, how they handle revision cycles. Vague or evasive answers here are a red flag.
5. Personal chemistry. This is critical. You will share your most private stories, unresolved fears, and career low points with this person. At the 2025 Gathering of the Ghosts, a conference on the business of ghostwriting that represents a serious collection of writing talent, editors, agents, and publishers, Regina Brooks, founder and president of Serendipity Literary Agency reminded the room that ghostwriters and authors need synergy—a shared understanding of the book’s underlying why. “An editor can’t fix that,” she said.
Will My Ghostwriter Use AI?
Many professional ghostwriters use AI as a research and brainstorming tool — but not to write your book.
We recommend every author query their prospective ghostwriter about how and if they use AI. According to AI and the Writing Profession, the first large-scale survey of professional writers on AI commissioned by Gotham Ghostwriters, 68% of book ghostwriters use AI tools in their work — but their use is concentrated in research, brainstorming, and summarizing source material, not generating text for publication. Only 7% of all writing professionals use AI to produce content that is published without significant editing. The writing itself — the voice, the structure, the judgment calls — stays human. According to Gotham CEO Dan Gerstein, AI slop will drive up the demand for quality professional writing.
When you’re evaluating someone, ask directly how they use AI in their process. A professional will give you a straight, specific answer. If they hedge, or can’t tell you where the AI stops and their own craft begins, pay attention to that. For a detailed framework on appropriate and inappropriate uses of AI in ghostwriting, see our AI guidelines for collaboration.
How Does Confidentiality Work With a Ghostwriter?
Expect confidentiality in ghostwriting. Most collaboration agreements include it by default, and professional ghostwriters consider discretion a core professional obligation.
A solid collaboration agreement includes clear confidentiality language covering your story, information about your company or organization, and your identity. This is standard. Bear in mind that most professional writers won’t agree to permanent, absolute silence. You can protect your identity and sensitive information, but most reputable ghostwriters will want to acknowledge that the project existed on their resume and in conversations with prospective clients, so they can credentialize themselves. Otherwise, it could hurt the ability to find work in the future. But the client/author can determine if the writer is allowed to list the collaboration on public-facing resources, such as LinkedIn or their website.
For most clients, standard confidentiality is entirely sufficient. If absolute confidentiality is a hard requirement. For instance, if your role or company makes any public acknowledgment of a ghostwriter untenable, address it early in the process, understand that it may increase your cost, and work with an attorney to draft appropriate language.
How Do Business Books and Memoirs Differ as Ghostwriting Projects?
Business books are built around ideas and frameworks; memoirs run on narrative, emotional truth, and the willingness to go somewhere personal. Both need a ghostwriter — just not the same one. We’ve seen examples of bad fits that are as diverse as writers themselves.
Understanding the distinction helps you find the right match.
Business Books — leadership books, strategy guides, thought leadership titles — are primarily argument-driven. The ghostwriter’s job is to articulate your ideas with clarity, authority, and structural logic. The best business book ghostwriters often come from business journalism or have direct experience writing in your sector.
Memoirs are provocative true stories. They are rich in fact, have a plot, and scenes that fill in the narrative. The people in a memoir are typically called characters. CEOs looking back on their careers often write memoirs. One example would be Matriarch by Tina Knowles with Kevin Carr O’Leary. Ghostwriters who write memoirs have to be gifted storytellers, able to pace tension, know how much to reveal and when, and build actual scenes out of raw interviews.
Many projects are hybrids — the CEO memoir that is also a business book, the entrepreneur’s story that doubles as a leadership framework. For projects that blend both, look for someone with a track record in each — or consider a collaborator who can handle the research-heavy sections while your ghostwriter focuses on the narrative.
Frequently Asked Questions About Hiring a Ghostwriter
Is it ethical to hire a ghostwriter?
Yes. In an aptly titled article “Ghostwriters Come Out of the Shadows,” here’s how Publishers Weekly answers the question: “Ghostwriting, or ‘collaborating’ as it’s now called, is nothing new. For as long as celebrities have been writing books, others have quietly helped them do it.” The list of famous people using ghostwriters is long and growing and includes U.S. presidents, Nobel laureates, Fortune 1000 CEOs, and bestselling authors.
Will people know I used a ghostwriter?
Only if you tell them. Confidentiality is standard in all professional ghostwriting agreements and whether you give cover credit, title page credit, or even list the writer in the acknowledgements is your decision. That said, writers should be able to list the project on their private resume after the book has been published.
How long does it take to write a book with a ghostwriter?
The median author spends 10 months writing their book, according to our Business Book ROI Study. A book for a major publisher, with additional complexity, may take longer. Novels will take longer as well.
Can a ghostwriter help me get a book deal?
An experienced ghostwriter can write a strong book proposal — the document agents use to pitch publishers — and many of Gotham’s writers have real relationships in the industry. But landing a traditional deal also comes down to your platform, the strength of your concept, and what the market looks like right now. No ghostwriter can promise you a deal. A great proposal, though, puts you in a much better position than a weak one.
Why Work With Gotham Ghostwriters?
Gotham Ghostwriters has been in business for 18 years and has built a network of more than 4,000 vetted professional writers covering every genre, subject, and format. We’ve brokered more than 1000 successful book collaborations for executives, entrepreneurs, celebrities, and thought leaders.
Our matching process starts from one premise: the right ghostwriter isn’t just the most talented writer available — it’s the writer with the right experience, the right chemistry, and the right commitment for your specific project. We don’t hand you a list and wish you luck. We find the fit.
We work on CEO memoirs, business books, leadership titles, self-help guides, political memoirs, and more. Our writers have been published by Harvard Business Review Press, Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, and every major trade house.
Alison Schwartz is the President of Gotham Ghostwriters, where she leads the client experience, including new author initiatives around marketing, thought leadership development, and other complementary services necessary for a successful book launch.
If you’re ready to start the conversation, contact us at gothamghostwriters.com.