Many of my clients are novelists who have a work in progress. Sometimes they’ve got 20,000 or 40,000 words written and they need to get to the next level. What they’re looking for is a combination of a ghostwriter, editor, and muse. But since many novelists are not wealthy people, they are concerned about the cost of professional services.

As far as the budget goes, the number one rule is this: editing is cheaper than ghostwriting. The scale is wide. For example, if you asked me to do a line edit of a completed 60,000-word novel, it would cost as little as two cents per word, or $1,200. If you asked me to ghostwrite an entire 60,000-word book from scratch, it would cost at least ten cents per word, or $6,000. Prices for heavy and developmental editing range from three cents to six cents per word. So the more that you can do yourself, the more money you will save.

I always provide a binding quote in advance, so you always know what rate you’re paying. And we work in sections, and you only pay for the section we’re focused on. There are no binding contracts and you can cancel whenever you want.

Many of my fiction clients pay me a higher rate for the first 10,000 words. Then, using what they have learned from my edits and comments, they put me “on hold” and work on the manuscript themselves. Then we move ahead with more editing, and because the writing has improved, the rate is lower!

You can also hire me to do a critique, where I read what you’ve got and provide you with a tough review.

– Thomas Hauck is a Boston-area book editor and ghostwriter serving both first-time and established authors.

Thomas Hauck, Ghostwriter and Book Editor