A book ghostwriter charges 33 to 50 cents a word for a full-length nonfiction book, the median range in the Editorial Freelancers Association's 2026 rate chart. For a 60,000-word book, that is $19,800 to $30,000. Memoirs run higher, at 50 cents to $1.00 a word, or $30,000 to $60,000 for the same length. Scribe Media, a firm that publishes its prices, charges $56,000 for an interview-based book of up to 60,000 words and $135,000 for its top tier, with editing, design and publishing included.
By the hour, the EFA's median range for nonfiction book ghostwriting is $85 to $100. On Upwork, the median for ghostwriters is $20 to $45 an hour.
How much does a ghostwriter charge for a book?
$19,800 to $30,000 for a 60,000-word nonfiction book, at the EFA's 2026 median range of 33 to 50 cents a word. The chart comes from a survey of the association's members run from November 2025 to mid-January 2026, with over 1,100 respondents. The EFA says it "neither sets rates nor advises members on what rates or rate types to use."
| Type of book | Per word (EFA median range) | Per hour (EFA median range) | 60,000 words at the per-word range |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nonfiction, full-length | 33 to 50 cents | $85 to $100 | $19,800 to $30,000 |
| Memoir | 50 cents to $1.00 | $80 to $100 | $30,000 to $60,000 |
| Fiction, full-length | 25 to 50 cents | $80 to $100 | $15,000 to $30,000 |
| Nonfiction, short-form | 27.5 to 50 cents | $70 to $75 | Not a book-length category |
Ghostwriting rows of the EFA's 2026 Rate Chart (the-efa.org/rates), read on 22 October 2026. The 60,000-word column is our arithmetic.
We use 60,000 words because it is the word limit on both of Scribe Media's ghostwriting packages, so the figures compare like with like. A shorter book costs proportionally less at a per-word rate.
A ghostwriter turns an expert's knowledge into a book. The Course Architect walkthrough shows how to turn the same knowledge into a course, step by step.
How much do ghostwriting firms charge?
$56,000 to $135,000 at Scribe Media, the firm we found that publishes its prices. Scribe Professional, where a writer interviews you and writes the book, is $56,000, paid as 12 monthly payments of $4,667, for up to 60,000 words. Scribe Elite, with an "Elite ghostwriter matched to you", is $135,000, paid as 15 monthly payments of $9,000.
| Scribe Media package | Total | Paid as | What the writer does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scribe Professional | $56,000 | 12 × $4,667 | "We interview you and write your book." Up to 60,000 words |
| Scribe Elite | $135,000 | 15 × $9,000 | Elite ghostwriter, dedicated project manager. Up to 60,000 words |
| Guided Author | $44,000 | 15 × $2,933 | A writing coach; you write the book yourself |
| Scribe Compass | $5,000 | One payment | Defines the book and its outline; applied in full toward Professional or Elite |
From scribemedia.com/pricing, 22 October 2026. The page prints no date.
The firm's price is not only the writing. Scribe says every package "includes professional editing, cover design, interior layout, publishing, and distribution". At $56,000 for 60,000 words, the whole package works out at about 93 cents a word, against the EFA's 33 to 50 cents for the writing alone.
How much do ghostwriters charge per hour?
$85 to $100 an hour is the EFA's 2026 median range for full-length nonfiction ghostwriting, and $80 to $100 for memoir and fiction. On Upwork, the median is far lower: $20 to $45 an hour for ghostwriters and $18 to $40 an hour for book writers, on historical contracts worldwide.
The gap is the market each one measures. Upwork's figures include writers everywhere and every kind of job called ghostwriting, from blog posts to books. The EFA's are its own members' reported rates for each category. For context, the BLS median wage for employed writers and authors was $36.98 an hour in May 2025.
For a whole book, a total price is easier for both sides than an open-ended hourly bill. Hourly rates matter more for the work around the book: an outline, an edit, a book proposal, or a client who keeps changing direction.
Why does memoir cost more than other books?
50 cents to $1.00 a word for memoir, against 33 to 50 cents for other nonfiction, in the EFA's 2026 chart. On a 60,000-word book, the gap is $10,200 to $30,000. The chart does not say why, so what follows is our reading of the work, not a finding.
A memoir is someone's life in their own voice. The writer has to draw out stories the client may never have told, get the voice right enough that the people who know the client recognise it, and handle the parts that are painful to say. A business book built around a method usually asks less of the interviews. The same voice premium shows up in shorter work: the EFA's median for ghostwritten business and marketing copy is 50 cents to $1.00 a word, against 32 to 87.5 cents when the writer is credited, as covered in how much a copywriter charges.
What does a ghostwritten book earn the writer?
$19,800 to $30,000 for a 60,000-word nonfiction book at the EFA median range, and $30,000 to $60,000 for a memoir of the same length. Those figures are fees, not profit: the writer pays their own taxes and covers the months spent interviewing and drafting.
At the EFA's $85 to $100 hourly range, a $30,000 book pays for 300 to 353 hours of work. A writer who finishes in less time earns more per hour, and one who needs more earns less. That is why the scope, meaning the word count, the number of interviews and the rounds of revision, belongs in the contract.
Shorter ghostwriting work follows the same logic at a smaller size. LinkedIn ghostwriting is sold as a monthly retainer for posts in the client's voice, and an expert's knowledge can also become a course rather than a book; see building a course without being the expert and what the platforms cost in Teachable, Kajabi and Thinkific pricing.
The honest hard part
The rate is not the hard part. The hard part is the scope: a 60,000-word book that turns into 80,000, a client who rewrites chapter three four times, an interview schedule that slips by months. At a per-word price, each of those comes out of the writer's pay unless the contract says otherwise.
The second hard part is the range. The same book can cost $19,800 from a writer at the EFA's median, $56,000 from a firm that also publishes it, or much less from a writer on a marketplace. A client choosing between them is choosing how much of the work they want done for them, not just who writes best.
The third is that the published figures are few. The EFA's are survey medians, Scribe is one firm, and Upwork's are worldwide. Of the three ghostwriting firms we tried, only Scribe showed us a price. Treat these as the visible part of the market, not all of it. For audiobooks of a finished book, narration has its own price; see how much a voice-over artist charges.
