What's a fair price to pay for a 50 page ebook?

It completely depends on the quality. If it's high quality stuff then 4 cents/word isn't all that bad... so for 25,000 words you'd be paying $1000

I won't say that's a steep price. You can probably get the same work done for more like $250, but the end result probably wouldn't be nearly as good.

But, that price is not outrageous if the writer has experience and does good work.

If it told you how to stop World Hunger in one sentence - how much would that be worth?

It's not the Volume - It's the Value.


Is that how long you want it to be...or how long it is?

It also would depend on the subject, and who does the research.

Get samples of their work. If they pad the copy - you're paying for words you don't need.

If they write concisely - it's a different story.

Seems like a very fair price, especially considering all of the work that goes into researching and writing a quality ebook. Sure, you can find people that charge (much) less, but with a project like this, you definitely don't want to cut corners.

Are you telling them you want your book to be a certain length (like 20 or 50 pages), and wondering how many words it will take? If so, ask before you pay; a professional writer will be happy to answer any of your questions. Whenever someone asks me about my ebook rates, I'll tell them how many words (approximately, of course), they can expect to get per page. A quick email to your writer should get everything cleared up, so that everyone's on the same page (pardon the pun )

depending on who wrote and how long the experience of the authors. maybe $ 100.

I haven't actually given her any specs on what length I'm looking for in an ebook. I'm basically looking for whatever length gets the jobs done

I have a site in the careers niche that gets decent traffic. My long range plan was to build a list and also sell my own ebook. For now, I figured I'd offer a giveaway report and start building the list. But I also thought I would have an autoresponder series that would presell a book that is currently available on Clickbank.

So...first things first. Preselling/informative Autoresponder series, or giveaway report first? Or am I thinking about it all wrong?

Thanks,
S.

Great thread.

Writers have to be careful as some clients ask you for a bunch of articles on the same subject that they compile into an ebook.

I'm a professional writer and sometimes I get IMers who whine and cry about prices.

I actually am surprised that you used to be charged by pages instead of words. I've always charged by the word, because the number of pages will be dependent on screenshots, pictures, font size, etc.

If the writer is good, 4 cents a word is pretty cheap.

I don't know why I bother read these threads because
they simply depress me. But it also reminds me why
I don't do ghostwriting anymore.

I just did a search on Google for "ghostwriting fees" and
one page gave this:

My very first ebook I wrote made me over $40,000. So why
would I prostitute my time writing for pennies a word?

The ridiculous kind of fees I here people quote in threads
as these shows how the Internet has practically destroyed
the writing profession.

-Ray Edwards

Quality counts. Not quantity.

If an ebook has only 1 page or half a page for that matter and it can bring me floods of sales then, man! i dont mind paying $100s for it.

Most PDF pages are about 250-400 words. So that would come out around $10-$16 per page, giving you a 50 page book for $500-$800.

my experience with having book outsourced for cheap to moderate prices is that you really should not be expecting a fully ready to go ebook as the result.

as mr. Edwards points out, the going rate for a truly finished, edited, and very professional writing job would be much more.

in the past when i have outsourced content like this, i always expect to get back something that i can put something on the order of 10-30 hours into finishing to be a product i am proud to put my name on.

there are several content writers in the warrior for hire section who have samples of their short reports and prices they charge for them.

i would suggest you spend a couple hours in there going over the threads and making notes.

It really depends on the kind of value that you're delivering and the niche you're in. If the customers in your niche have money, you can charge them a bit more. If you want to sell en masse, charge less. Simple.

When I put a job up for proposals on a freelancing site, I have a budget in mind, but I am really looking at what each writer is bringing to the project. If they write a great proposal and tell me about things they can bring to it that others can't (personal experience, educational background, etc) I'm willing to pay more. So, as others are pointing out I think, 4 cents a word could work out being REALLY expensive if the final product is poorly researched, badly written trash. But 4 cents a word could be a downright BARGAIN if the result is an awesome product.

Tonight I just had a new writer deliver a completed project ... a 30 page report ... for under $300. And it is STELLAR stuff. Best piece I've ever had written for me I think. And delivered on time! (Do you think I'll be using that writer again?)

But here's a key ... I always put the job up for bid for the completed project. I give tight parameters for the length I'm looking for, and then let all the bids come in as a quoted final delivery price. Otherwise you can have a situation where the writer "pads" the piece out because every paragraph is another dollar.

One more thing - if you get a good price, and the writer delivers a great result ... consider paying a bonus. That (and rate raises) is the way to build and keep a good team.

It depends on the quality. I have seen an average 2-3 cents per word for quality writers.