How I make money ghostwriting on Upwork

You can make money as a ghostwriter on Upwork. I'd like to share my experiences to help you on your journey to becoming a successful freelance writer.

I've been a freelance ghostwriter on the platform for six years. I love it. I inhabit the spirit world as a side hustle to my day job and being a ghost pays me well. There's no mystery to it, follow some simple steps and you can make money this way as well. Everything you are about to read is based on my own personal experiences.

So, hopefully that's enough of a hook for you to read more.

Let's crack on.

Who's talking to you 

I've had my biggest success on Upwork in the last three years and have built a good relationship with three specific clients, who keep my diary full with repeat work. I've written around 20 novels of 60k word length in that time.

I just wanted to give you an idea why I believe I've got some knowledge to impart. I'm no ghostwriting Gandalf. I'm just a middle-aged, neurodiverse, part-time writer who's found my own way to make ghostwriting profitable, and I want to share what I've learned.

Still there?

Ok. So, hopefully you've got an idea that I might know a bit about what I'm talking about. I want to tell you how I did it and give you examples that you can follow. Dead simple.

First though, the pitfalls. These are all mistakes I made and if I'd had a blog like this to steer me clear I'd have been glad of it.

Don't Do It

1. Don't waste time "paying your dues"

Your instinct when approaching your very first client will be to pitch the lowest possible bid even if its actually paying you next to nothing. I started out accepting a job for $50 USD to write a short novella of 30k words. That was about 30 hours of work for…you do the maths. Very little. But I told myself I was "paying my dues", building relationships with my clients, honing my craft. Ha!

One client disappeared after two jobs of paying peanuts. Another vanished after one project. The clients who offer exploitation type fees are not going to stick around. They don't care about rewarding quality, they only care about their bottom line. So, what's the point of accepting it?

Every time a freelance writer on Upwork takes a sub-minimum wage fee it encourages clients to keep paying those shamefully low fees. You undercut all your fellow writers. 

2. Avoid vanity publishers

What's a Vanity publisher?

Its an amateur individual who knows nothing about the industry and just wants to put a book out with their name on it. They will be bragging all over their social media about the progress they're making with their latest book and loving everyone thinking of them as an author.

They're not

Writing for people like that won't help your craft, they don't know enough to give you a professional critique and don't pay for editors or beta readers. You might even end up doing hours of rewriting for free because they didn't give you enough direction at the beginning.

I always ask a new client if they are in the industry or are a self published author. Both gives some assurance that you're dealing with professionals

How do you spot the vanity publishers? 

- They will be offering miniscule fees for full length novels such $100 for 100k words. 

- They might refer to the size of the book they want you to write in terms of the number of pages rather than word count, which is meaningless given that number of pages can vary depending on format, font size etc.

- They will say they have a detailed outline and want a writer to turn it into a "bestseller" for them. The key there is they are not looking to put in the work to turn the book you write into a bestseller (such as through marketing, investing in editors, cover art etc.). Instead they think that you will go away and come back with the next Harry Potter or Da Vinci Code which they will put onto Kindle and will instantly sell.

3. Don't waste time with grammar and spelling tests

If you're a native of the language and you can provide a sample of your writing, that tells your client all they need to know. I failed the grammar test Upwork provide when I took it because I don't know the rules of grammar. I then wasted a lot of time trying to pass it so I could put that fact on my Upwork profile. 

I can't tell you when to use its or it's or what the function of ; is or even : or , . Makes no difference because I can construct a story, develop characters and basically…tell a ripping yarn. Not being able to pass a grammar test doesn't stop me being a successful paid writer. Also, I've never been asked by a client to prove my grasp of the technicalities of grammar. Ever.

Ok so lots of negatives there, lets take a moment to get into a positive headspace.

You know some of the mistakes I made, what about the things I've gotten right?

Do It

1. Value your work

When you're bidding for a job do so based on what your time is worth. Obviously, you need to be realistic if you have no experience or haven't had enough clients to build up a Top Rated status (achieved when you receive positive feedback from clients consistently, time after time). Clients will pay for someone with a proven track record. But that doesn't mean you should accept less than a fair wage.

- Work out a realistic figure for how many words you can write an hour. 

- Add some extra time on for flex (say 25%)

- Add another 25% for editing. 

- Then work out a figure that gives you a decent hourly rate of pay. 

- From there you can decide what to bid and where your red line is.

2. Be ready to walk away

If the client's budget is less than your red line and they won't budge even after they've seen samples of your work, then walk away. If they won't pay you a fair price then they are not worth having as clients. There are plenty of people hiring on Upwork, you will get another so just don't devalue yourself, or make it harder for other writers trying to get a fair pay by undercutting them. 

3. Have a range of samples ready.

So, I'm talking to the fiction ghostwriters here and assuming that, like me, you're a merc. I have written romance, SF, fantasy, detective thriller, historical…whatever sells. And I've written samples across a range of genres so clients have something to look at to get an idea how good I am.

Invest the time at the start to have at least two samples on your profile in two different genres. It pays off and saves time in the long run. Also, if you've been working as a ghostwriter you can't share your previous work with new clients, because you don't own that work and in a lot of cases will have signed an NDA.

So having samples is important. Think of it like a market stall. Make the samples seem like extracts from larger works, even if you've just made them up on the spot.

4. Research your client

If they say they're a publishing house they'll have a website or a social media presence. You're looking for the professionals, not cowboys. Because the professionals will be hiring other professionals such as editors and beta readers and their feedback (provided to you free of charge) is going to help you improve your writing.

5. Read, read, read, read.

Nothing inspires or teaches me more than reading what others have written. If you don't read, you can't write. If you get a gig with an e-publisher then check out their other books. Plenty of them are on Kindle Unlimited, giving you a chance to read what other writers are doing for them. If you're better than those others then happy days, instant ego boost.

If you don't feel you're as good as those others, then deconstruct their books and learn how to do what they do. 

Research the genres that are currently trending, see whats at the top of Amazon's beseller lists, then take the top authors and read them. If you want to make money writing on Upwork you need to do some market research and make yourself a competent writer in a trending genre.

6. Talk

Communicate with your client. Especially if you think you're going to miss a deadline. In my experience, clients factor in time for writers being late and as long as you're up front about it, they're fine. The clients who are the most strict about deadlines are the amateurs who don't know enough to allow some flex in their scheduling. And you don't want to work for someone who treats you like a machine, right?

So, that's my tuppence worth on this subject. Hope at least one person has found it useful. Like I said, it's based on my own experience, yours may differ.

Good luck out there