How much to pay a non writer to write an ebook?

[Frank Ayres]

A friend of my wife's is very knowledgeable in a popular subject and needs some money.
She is willing to write me an ebook on the subject.

I am not sure how much to say i will pay as she has never done something like this before and she isn't a professional writer just very knowledgeable in the subject.

Say it is a min of 50 pages how much should i be paying?

[dvduval]

I'd offer a small sum to write a couple of pages, and then assess how much time it took her, and talk about the cost of continuing the work.

[Chris Kent]

You need to find out if she is capable of writing at all. Get a small sample.

If she is not, then you are better getting the knowledge out of her by speaking to her. Then writing the book yourself.

Think about celebrities who get books ghost written. Many of them do not bother putting pen to paper, they are simply interviewed by the real author.

[dave147]

if she's not a professional then you'll probably have to spend some time editing it and re-writing, but for the idea and the work you should pay her $250

[Frank Ayres]

I don't have any writing skills myself, i outsource all my writing so wouldn't really be an option for me to do it.
Also i am planning on getting a sample before paying out but i still need to tell her upfront how much i am willing to pay before she will do it.
So forgetting samples etc providing it looks good how much should i say i would be willing to pay?

[johnmags]

perhaps you could ask her how much she is willing to be paid for the job. if it is way beyond your estimate, then negotiate and compromise.

[Tom Brite]

I just finished creating 2 ebooks for a guy because i was in need of some small instant cash and enjoy writing ebooks and charged him $15 a page (single spaced) and all the formatting and image too, plus 10% of all income made from it.

However if she can't write then that's no good really.... maybe you could spend a few hours with her first and teach her how to write an ebook and show her others and then arrange a fixed price per page. Typically a 100 page ebook costs $1000 to $3000 by a professional.

Tom Brite

[Frank Ayres]

Originally Posted by Tom Brite

I just finished creating 2 ebooks for a guy because i was in need of some small instant cash and enjoy writing ebooks and charged him $15 a page (single spaced) and all the formatting and image too, plus 10% of all income made from it.

However if she can't write then that's no good really.... maybe you could spend a few hours with her first and teach her how to write an ebook and show her others and then arrange a fixed price per page. Typically a 100 page ebook costs $1000 to $3000 by a professional.

Tom Brite

I didnt say she couldnt write i said she wasnt a professional writer.

[Jillian Slack]

Not sure how much to pay her, either, but you'd probably have better results if you had a professional writer (whoever you are outsourcing to) interview her to pull all of the info out of her.

As a professional writer, I think it's MUCH easier to write it myself from the start rather than trying to fix what someone else put together.

Jill

[Mary Green]

I would say have her put all of her information down, then have a ghostwriter put it together in an ebook. That way you have the best of both worlds. **Hint: look at my signature/wso.

Mary Green

[ezimedia]

HI

Ask her what the lowest amount is she will accept to do the work for you and then, you can work out if it is worth getting her to do it or if you should just hire a person that knows the topic and knows how to write from the start then to get it re-written if she does it for you and can't write.

Thx
Tom

[Loren Woirhaye]

Have her make an outline - record her talking about the subject
following the outline - have it transcribed and then either:

1. Edit it to a readable format.
2. Edit and re-record.

Audio has a bigger perceived value because literacy is
on the decline. You could offer the ebook and the audio
as an upsell.

In any case, treat the lady right. Differ payment if you
have to. I don't mean royalties, but you DO want her
telling her friends about how well you treated her financially,
don't you?

Added benefit is it will be much easier for her to "write"
the product this way.

[Steven Fullman]

Bingo!

There's a great idea for ya, Spud.

Best of all worlds.

Steve

Originally Posted by Loren Woirhaye

Have her make an outline - record her talking about the subject
following the outline - have it transcribed and then either:

1. Edit it to a readable format.
2. Edit and re-record.

Audio has a bigger perceived value because literacy is
on the decline. You could offer the ebook and the audio
as an upsell.

In any case, treat the lady right. Differ payment if you
have to. I don't mean royalties, but you DO want her
telling her friends about how well you treated her financially,
don't you?

Added benefit is it will be much easier for her to "write"
the product this way.

[ShawnC]

I like what Loren laid out as well.

I personally would approach her with a JV proposal. She's an expert in this field. You have the ability to make some money with that expertise.

She creates the content, you create the 'product'. If it's a worthwhile thing to be moving forward on (which it sounds like it is) then you both stand to make money from it, and more than just some up front cash.

There's plenty of ways to plan that out - bu I think if you give her a stake in it for the life of the product, you stand to get better results in the product she helps you create.