Ghostwriting is an unregulated market with a very wide quality range and prices spanning two orders of magnitude. Here is how to tell a professional from a content mill before you have paid them.
The seven questions to ask
1. "Can I see work you have done in my genre?"
A professional will have samples, cleared for sharing or written specifically as portfolio pieces. Vagueness here — "our writers have worked with major publishers" without a single example — is the clearest warning sign there is.
2. "Will I speak to the actual writer before I commit?"
The answer must be yes. If a company will not put you in front of the person writing your book, it is usually because they have not assigned one yet, and will allocate whoever is free when you pay.
3. "How many projects will my writer have at once?"
Two or three is normal and fine. Eight is a content mill. A ghostwriter juggling eight books is writing all of them badly.
4. "When does copyright transfer, and how?"
It should transfer to you in writing, on final payment, with no carve-outs. Read the actual clause. Some contracts assign copyright but retain a licence to reuse "methodologies and frameworks" — which can mean your book's core structure appears in someone else's title.
5. "What happens if I do not like the first chapters?"
A professional has a defined answer: a revision process, a voice-correction round, and a point at which you can stop. If the answer is that revisions are charged per round, factor that into the price, because you will need them.
6. "Is the NDA mutual, and when is it signed?"
Before they read your material, not after you have paid a deposit. And mutual, so their obligations to you are as enforceable as yours to them.
7. "Do you use AI to draft?"
Ask it directly and get the answer in writing. Many services now draft with AI and edit lightly, at full human prices. There is nothing wrong with a writer using AI as a research or transcription tool — there is a great deal wrong with paying £8,000 for lightly edited machine output. Put the answer in the contract.
Contract terms you should never agree to
Ongoing royalty percentages. A ghostwriter is paid for writing. A company that also takes 20% of your royalties forever is charging twice for one job.
Full payment upfront. Milestone payments protect both sides. Anyone demanding 100% before writing begins has removed your only leverage.
Copyright retained "until the project concludes" with no definition of conclusion. Ambiguity here is never accidental.
Non-disparagement clauses covering the quality of the work. You are being asked to pre-emptively agree not to complain publicly. Ask why they need it.
What good ghostwriting actually costs
In 2026, a professional ghostwriter working in the UK or US charges £0.12–£0.35 per word for book-length work. For a 60,000-word book that is £7,200–£21,000. Below about £0.06 per word you are almost certainly buying offshore content-mill work or AI drafting.
That is a lot of money, and it should be. It is roughly 250–400 hours of skilled professional work, plus interviews, structural planning and revision.
The single best test
Ask for a paid or free sample of 1,000–1,500 words, written from a short interview, on a section of your actual book. Not a portfolio piece — your book. Nothing else tells you as much: whether they can hold your voice, whether they listened, and whether the prose is any good.
Any ghostwriter confident in their work will agree to this. We do it free, for exactly that reason.