Professional ghostwriting services, priced in plain numbers.
Most ghostwriting services make you book a call to get a price. This page gives you the price, who writes the book, who edits and designs it, who runs the project, how writer pairing works, and when a freelancer is the better hire.
Scribe Professional gives you a Scribe writer, an editor, a designer and a publishing manager for $4,667 a month, $56,000 total.
Four things a vendor search will not show you: who writes it, who edits and runs it, what it costs in full, and when you should hire a freelancer instead.
Who writes it. A Scribe writer, chosen by you. After pairing questions about your voice and working style, three senior Scribe writers are hand-selected and you interview all three. Many have been with Scribe five to ten years, with traditional publishing credits and MFAs. Gui Costin wrote two books with Scribe this way; his ghostwriter interviewed him about the lessons he had learned in fifteen years of leadership.
Who edits, designs and runs it. A publishing manager is assigned on day one and runs the project through launch. An executive editor and a quality check sit behind your writer. Cover design runs three to five proofs, market tested. Jim Sholler retired from Fidelity, wrote his manuscript with a Scribe editor beside him, and went from retirement to published book in nine months.
What it costs, in full. Scribe Professional is $4,667 a month for 12 payments, $56,000 total, with a $1,000 deposit at signing that comes off the first payment. If you have already written the manuscript, Scribe Publishing is $4,833 a month for 6 payments, $29,000 total. Dr. Richard Harris took that path with White Coat, Heavy Soul; his verdict was five stars, and he would do it again.
When a freelancer is the better hire. If you want to run the project yourself, choose your own editor and designer, and pay for the writing alone, a freelance ghostwriter is the right call and usually costs less. Scribe is the wrong choice if you have no business, practice or platform to feed the book into, or if you need it in under nine months.
What will a list of ghostwriting companies not tell you?
Ask any company to name the person who will write your book. At Scribe the answer is a name you chose, after interviewing three hand-selected senior writers about your voice and how you like to work.
After the draft come title and subtitle, a cover with three to five proofs, interior layout, audiobook, ISBNs, copyright registration and distribution to Amazon, Audible, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, Google Play and Kobo. Ask who does each.
Chad Willardson's book returned more than three times its cost to his advisory firm in new-client revenue within ten months, his figure. Harris Nydick calls his book the best business card his firm has ever had.
Jim Sholler on working with Scribe Media after twenty-seven years at Fidelity.
What did hiring a ghostwriting company return for them?
Every number below comes from a published success story on scribemedia.com, and each one links to the page it came from.
These are the best documented results among authors who told us. Every one of them had a business or a stage the book could feed. Most authors do not track a number, and a book without a business behind it should not be bought for a financial return.
Gui Costin, founder and CEO of Dakota, published his first book with Forbes, then wrote The Dakota Way and Be Kind with a Scribe ghostwriter who interviewed him about fifteen years of sales and leadership lessons. He calls the two books the single best thing he has done for the business and its people.
He wrote the manuscript himself and hired Scribe to edit, design and publish it. He already has ideas for the next one.
Read the story →New clients came from five regions after Stress-Free Money, and the book returned more than three times its cost.
Read the story →Prospects arrive at calls having already read Common Financial Sense. He carried the idea for ten years before writing it.
Read the story →Five Obsessions of Elite Organizations is, in his words, his firm's best lead magnet. Prospects read it before the first call.
Read the story →He wanted a book he trusted enough to hand his clients, so he wrote Retiring Right with Scribe Media.
Read the story →The Game Changing Attorney made him the attorney other attorneys call. One reader on a flight became a six-figure client.
Read the story →You would be in good company
From first-time authors to number-one bestsellers, these are books our teams helped create.
Questions people ask before hiring a ghostwriting company
Yes, and you should, anywhere you shop. At Scribe you answer pairing questions about your voice and how you like to work. The project then goes to our senior writers, three are hand-selected for you, and you interview all three before choosing one. Many have been with Scribe 5 to 10 years and carry traditional publishing credits or an MFA. If the fit is wrong once work begins, we re-pair you.
No. Your writer is one of the 3 senior writers you interviewed. Behind that writer sit a publishing manager, assigned on day one and with you through launch, an executive editor, and a quality check on the finished book. Every book is custom and you have direct access to the team. Ask any company you are comparing to name each of those people, and what happens to the project if one of them leaves.
That is the job. Your writer builds the book from about twenty hours of recorded interviews, ten sessions of two hours, in your words and your stories. You see preview pages after the first interviews and again at the midpoint, and nothing proceeds until you approve the voice. The full draft is then revised in four sections, line by line, until every line is approved. Your total time is about 50 hours.
A freelancer can be the right hire, and if price is the deciding factor, take that path. The difference is what the number covers. A freelance quote usually covers the manuscript. Scribe Professional, $4,667 a month for 12 payments, $56,000 total, covers the writer, editing, cover and interior design, audiobook production, ISBNs, worldwide distribution, launch support and the publishing manager who runs all of it. With a freelancer you hire and manage each of those yourself.
Ask this of every company you are comparing, and ask to see the agreement before you sign. At Scribe the price is one price, paid monthly, with a $1,000 deposit at signing that comes off the first payment. Ask us what could cost more and what happens if you stop, and we will show you the agreement before you sign. You should expect the same plain answer from anyone else you are considering.
You do. Scribe is fee for service: you keep 100% of the rights and 100% of the royalties, and we take no share of either. You can quote the book, repurpose it, write a sequel or build a course from it without asking anyone. Get this in writing from any company you consider. Ownership is also what lets the book keep working for you: Dr. Laura Brown's book is still bringing her patients five years on.
When Scribe is the wrong choice
We would rather say this here than on a call.
- You want to sell copies as the business. A ghostwriting company cannot make that math work for you, and neither can we.
- You have no business, practice or platform to feed the book into, and this is personal money. A $56,000 book needs somewhere to go to work.
- You need the finished book in under nine months. Our process runs nine to twelve months by design.
The real numbers, before you talk to anyone
Every package is one price, paid monthly, with a $1,000 deposit at signing that comes off the first payment. You own every right and every dollar of royalties. The monthly figure and the total are both here, before any call.
You have written the manuscript. Editing, cover, interior, audiobook and global distribution are handled for you.
You talk, a Scribe writer turns about twenty hours of interviews into your book (about 50 hours of your time in total), and it is published under your name.
A premier ghostwriter and a dedicated team, built to the standard of a major-house book: twenty in-depth interviews, research, ten revision calls, and a $25,000 launch budget.
Five coaching calls over four to six weeks produce your North Star, table of contents and chapter roadmap. You keep all of it. If you continue into Professional or Elite, the entire $5,000 comes off your book.
See whether Scribe is the right hire
A fifteen-minute call. We tell you the price, $4,667 a month and $56,000 total for Professional, and whether you fit, and we will say so if you do not. Replies come during business hours, usually the same day.
How to hire a ghostwriting company without regretting it
Every ghostwriting company sells the same promise: your book, in your voice, without your hours. The promise is easy to make and hard to keep, so the way to choose is to ask about mechanics. Who exactly will write it, and can you talk to that person before money changes hands? Who edits the writer? Who runs the calendar? What is the total, paid how, and what could make it larger? Who owns the finished book? A company that answers all seven questions plainly is telling you something about how it will treat you for the next nine to twelve months.
Here is how Scribe answers them. A Scribe writer, one of three senior writers you interviewed, writes the book from about twenty hours of recorded conversation with you. A publishing manager runs the project through launch, with an executive editor and a quality check behind the writer. Professional is $4,667 a month for 12 payments, $56,000 total, and you keep every right and every royalty. Gui Costin chose that arrangement twice, for The Dakota Way and Be Kind. Adam Skolnick, a top ghostwriter, chose Scribe for his own novel. Jake Falcon, who runs a billion-dollar advisory firm, hands a copy of Retiring Right to every first-meeting prospect.
Scribe is not the right hire for everyone who searches this phrase. If you want to sell copies as the business, if there is no business, practice or platform for the book to feed, or if you need it in under nine months, a freelancer or a self-publishing route serves you better, and we will say so. If you do have a business the book can feed, the next step is a fifteen-minute call. We tell you the price and whether you fit, and we will say so if you do not. Bring the seven questions. We would rather answer them now than after you sign.