🐈
» Forums » New to Upwork » Ghostwriter vs. Writer?
Page options
b92f4d1b
Community Member

Ghostwriter vs. Writer?

Can you provide guidance on the difference between ghostwriter and writer? In my experience a "ghostwriter" does not receive a credit for the work that is completed. Can you point me towards the specific difference as they relate to process, payments, etc. (if any) ?

 

4 REPLIES 4
alexis-arinze
Community Member


Greg V wrote:

Can you provide guidance on the difference between ghostwriter and writer? In my experience a "ghostwriter" does not receive a credit for the work that is completed. Can you point me towards the specific difference as they relate to process, payments, etc. (if any) ?


There's only one big difference. Ghostwriters, like you said, do NOT recieve credit for the work. Some clients that you ghostwrite for may sometimes quote you in the acknowldments page of a book, but they don't have to. Writers are typically people that write for themselves and do subsequently recieve credit. 

 

As for ghostwriting pay, it varies on the word count of the project. (Meaning you should recieve more money for lengthier projects & vice-versa.) However, generally speaking, an agreed-upon and one-time fee is paid for this type of gig. With writers who write for themselves, since they're the sole owner, they continuously profit from royalties/earnings of book sales. (While ghostwriters are not entitled to anything but that one-time fee.)

 

Lastly, in regards to the process, there's no real difference between ghostwriting and writing. It's all the same. You would just have to sign a contract that relenquishes your rights in a ghostwriting gig.

JoanneP
Moderator
Moderator

Hi Greg,

 

You can post a job and hire a freelancer to help you complete your project. Please post a job as explained in here, verify your payment method, review the proposals you receive, hire a freelancer to complete this work for you and process the payment as explained in these two articles: Hourly Contracts and Fixed-Price Contracts

 

You can also opt for getting assistance from our dedicated team, helping new client post their jobs, and invite the best talent for their specific project. I'd also strongly advise you to review the client resources we created made available here. If you need further assistance, please let us know. Thank you.

~ Joanne
Upwork

I am a client.

I can hire a writer on Upwork to write an article for me.

All rights to the article then belong to me.

I can remove the writer's name from the article and put my name on the article.

It does not matter if I ever referred to the freelancer as a ghostwriter or not.

If the freelancer does not want that to happen, the freelancer would need to proactively negotiate an alternative contract with the client. Upwork's default contract states all IP rights belong to the client who pays for the work.

colettelewis
Community Member


Greg V wrote:

Can you provide guidance on the difference between ghostwriter and writer? In my experience a "ghostwriter" does not receive a credit for the work that is completed. Can you point me towards the specific difference as they relate to process, payments, etc. (if any) ?

 


_______________________________

Greg, 

 

Preston is right as far as Upwork is concerned, unless the freelancer and client come to a different agreement about credit or bylines. Ghostwriting jobs here seem to me to be for longer works - fiction, autobiography or ebooks etc. Away from online job platforms,  whether you "ghost" or not, depends entirely on what you agree with your client.  

 

Rates vastly differ whether you write  indedpendently or on a job platform such as Upwork, and depend on experience, qualifications for specialist subjects, genre, and length. For an excellent price guideline have a look here: https://www.the-efa.org/rates/ This is not cut in stone. There are times when pay is consonant with what the market (there are various markets) can bear. 

Latest Articles
Featured Topics
Learning Paths