I generally charge different prices for some of my projects. There's one price for a bylined piece and a different one for ghostwritten ones.

The ghostwriting rate is always higher than my bylined one, usually around 10–15% more.

Some clients will push back on this because they think since their name is on the work, they should be paying less, not more. And they're mistaken.

Is it because I invest more time, effort, and energy to the ghostwritten projects?

Nope. I invest the same amount into these projects since it’s the project type and end goal that determines all of that (at least for me.)

There are 3 main reasons why freelancers like me charge more for ghostwritten work.

1. Bylined work is passive inbound marketing

Bylined work gets me inbound leads because people can immediately see that it’s me that created it. Many people have reached out to me because they “read my piece on [website with my bylined work]” and would like me to write something similar for them.

It’s easier for a freelancer with bylined work to share samples, direct prospects & leads to their online work, and claim that work as their own. "Yes, I wrote that!" 👉🏽 💻

My online portfolio has links to all of my bylined work. And more gets added to it automatically whenever new work appears with my name on it.

I can send out links to this work via email, social media, or wherever else I please because it’s my name on it. As long as the work exists online, I can link to it and say, “I wrote this.”

Prospects and leads appreciate that because it’s immediate proof of my skills and expertise. They can consume and share the work as they need to as well, in case they need to loop in colleagues before onboarding me for their project.

2. Ghostwritten projects are good, but unclaimable

I have many ghostwriting clients for whom I create blog posts, articles, and eBooks, or repurpose marketing assets for. Most of them are ghostwritten for a member of their team or a “general” author account, so they appear under their byline. They get all the credit while I do all the work (or most of it, in the case of repurposing projects.)

Most clients will not let me “claim” the work as my own because they may be using it to build thought leadership clout and trust online for their own employees. That’s what a previous client of mine use my work for. I used to write online articles for their C-suite, with the articles appearing online under 2 or 3 different names.

I can say I worked for the client, but not that the work appearing online under the exec's names was mine. Most of the time I can't even name the people I've ghostwritten for, just the brand name.

3. Ghostwritten projects are unsharable

Generally speaking, ghostwritten projects are unsharable online, whether on social media or even via email. Though a few have allowed me to share share an excerpt of the ghostwritten project with conditions. I must indicate it was ghostwritten for someone else and I am only allowed to share them via email, not on my public portfolio.

Other times I’ll explain the process for the project and use that as a sample instead. It’s a good way to give a behind-the-scenes look at my working process, which is good because prospects & leads always ask me about it.

But it’s hard to share this process on social media and have it make the same impact as sharing a link to the work itself. I'm not able to share a snippet or anything, since you can search for text so easily online today that I'd be outing myself and my clients if I did that.

Ghostwriting projects will always cost me more

Freelancers charge more for ghostwritten projects because it ends up costing them more over time. They can’t use them to market themselves actively or passively and can’t share them on social media. They don't "do" anything for me, in terms of marketing for my own copywriting business. If I've done my job well, they perform as intended for my clients and help them generate leads, revenues, and more.

Ghostwritten projects are lucrative ones for creative freelancers and an essential part of any company’s work, whether it’s used for marketing, customer service, or customer success.

So if your freelance copywriter charges you more for ghostwritten projects, just pay the rate. You know what value they bring to your business and want to reward them for their skill and expertise, right?