Repeat after me:
Nobody wants a f$cking word document.
Louder this time:
NOBODY WANTS A F$CKING WORD DOCUMENT!!!
Yet what do you see all day long in your inbox, on podcasts, and in your newsfeed?
“Niche down…Specialize…Be the absolute best at one thing…”
Feels right, doesn’t it? A client brings you their book project, you expertly ghostwrite the manuscript, line edit the thing to triple-checked perfection, and cash your check.
What’s wrong with that picture?
It’s deeply unfair.
Not to you—to your client.
Think about it. The client pays you $25,000, $50,000, even $75,000 for a Word document. Not a published book. Not a revenue-generating product. Not a brand-building, credibility-establishing, door-opening asset for their business. A Word document.
Maybe you don’t see a problem with this. After all, you have “experience.” “Expertise.” “Skills.” But what does all that give your client? A manuscript. One that sits in their inbox collecting digital spiderwebs. It’s not selling copies. It’s not creating opportunities. Not doing jabberwocky for your client. Meanwhile, you wish them the best of luck and head off to look for the next author.
Put yourself in your author’s shoes. How do you feel? You’ve forked over the cost of a brand-new Tesla and you have nothing beyond a .docx file to show for it.
Maybe this is why most authors you’ve talked to “already have a budget in mind” when you first talk to them…and it’s an entire decimal point off your rates.
You: “To ghostwrite a 50,000 word manuscript, my fee is $20,000.”
Client: “Oh. Wow. Um…I was thinking Ghostwriters cost $5,000. Some guy on Upwork was even charging $2,000.”
Why doesn’t the client see your value? Why won’t clients pay you what you’re worth? Could it be because an unpublished Word document isn’t that valuable—on its own?
What if you stopped calling yourself “Ghostwriter” and started calling yourself “Ghostwriter & Publishing Professional”?
What if you could stop hunting for “ideal clients” in a haystack? What if a “cheap” client’s wallet suddenly opened up because you offered them something more tangible? Something that all but guaranteed return on their investment in you?
What if you got on the phone with an author and instead of saying, “Whew, that’s a little pricey,” they said, “Wow, you do all that for me?! Not just write my book but help me market and promote my book so it does something for me? Sign me up!”
Pretty cool, huh? Being an author’s one-stop-shop for everything about their book?
Except you live in reality. You are, after all, a Ghostwriter. Maybe you don’t know how to reformat a book. Or produce an audiobook. Or book an author on Good Morning America.
I have good news. You don’t have to know all those things.
Wait…then who’s doing all this book publishing and marketing stuff? Not me! I want to write books!
Fair enough. Let me introduce you to the wonderful world of dropservicing.
Remember the last thing you ordered on Amazon? Just because you bought that wooden pen set from a highly rated Amazon seller doesn’t mean that seller personally sourced, packaged, and shipped the pens to you. They used a business model called dropshipping—you bought the pens, the seller forwarded your order to a third-party pen wholesaler, and the wholesaler shipped you the pens. Yet the pens’ package matched the brand of the seller’s Amazon store, so you had no idea the pens came from somewhereselse!
What does any of this have to do with going from $5,000 ghostwriting projects to $50,000 big money clients?
By offering your clients more than a Word document, you’re offering them way more value—value worth paying for. Instead of buying a professionally ghostwritten manuscript from you, your clients are literally buying a business from you. How so? Well, they’re buying a book that’s available for sale worldwide, and you’re helping them market the thing behind the scenes. Product, logistics, fulfillment. Yep, that’s a business!
In short, by collaborating with book formatters, freelance book marketers, audiobook producers, et al. (and fitting that into what you charge your author) you 10X your value in your clients’ eyes. All you have to do is act as the project manager, and watch the $$$ roll in.
Feels risky though, right? After all, you can’t guarantee results. It’s your author’s book, not yours. And it’s their audience, not yours.
Dropservicing is the safest business model a Ghostwriter can use. It’s the lowest-risk, highest-reward service you can possibly sell.
Want to know why?
Keep your eyes peeled on your inbox.
This week I’m going to let you know how you can go from pumping out manuscripts to partnering with people you trust to offer a dropservicing package in the ghostwriting world so you can go from charging $2,000 to $20,000, $50,000, or higher for your book without taking on the brunt of the workload.