Why Ghostwriters Make More $$ Than Freelance Writers - The Art & Business of Writing Podcast with Nicolas Cole

Summary

Podcast Summary: "Why Ghostwriters Make More $$$ Than Freelance Writers"

Podcast Information:

Title: Coffee With Cole: The Digital Writing Podcast
Host/Author: Nicolas Cole
Episode: Why Ghostwriters Make More $$$ Than Freelance Writers
Release Date: February 13, 2025
Description: Weekly deep dives into the Art & Business of Digital Writing, Ghostwriting, & Self-Publishing

Introduction

In the episode titled "Why Ghostwriters Make More $$$ Than Freelance Writers," Nicolas Cole delves into the lucrative world of ghostwriting, contrasting it with traditional freelance writing. He emphasizes the financial and professional benefits of positioning oneself as a ghostwriter and introduces his Premium Ghostwriting Academy (PGA) as a pathway to achieving higher earnings and greater business efficiency.

The Ghostwriting Advantage

Key Argument: Cole posits that ghostwriters, on average, earn significantly more than freelance writers simply by adopting the title and business practices of ghostwriting.

Quote:

"Ghostwriters, on average, make more money than freelance writers. So just by calling yourself a ghostwriter means you make more money."
(00:00)

Supporting Points:

Subtle Positioning Tweaks: Small changes in how writers market and present their services can lead to substantial financial improvements.
Enhanced Earnings: Ghostwriters command higher fees due to their specialized services and perceived expertise.

Premium Ghostwriting Academy (PGA) Overview

Cole introduces PGA as a comprehensive program designed to help writers transition from freelancing to ghostwriting, thereby increasing their income and reducing stress.

Key Features:

Fix Your Niche
Optimize Packaging and Pricing
Revamp Outreach Strategy

1. Fix Your Niche

Importance of Niching Down: Specializing in a specific niche allows writers to become experts in that area, attracting higher-paying clients who value specialized knowledge.

Quote:

"When you niche down, you specialize. And when you specialize, you make more money."
(00:53)

PGA’s Approach:

Selection Process: Helping writers choose a niche aligned with their career history and personal interests.
Overcoming Barriers: Addressing fears and misconceptions about niching down through coaching and support.

2. Optimize Packaging and Pricing

Productized Services: Instead of offering vague, general writing services, ghostwriters should package their offerings into specific, repeatable services that can be sold consistently.

Quote:

"You're going to pick a very specific service, you're going to productize it, and you're going to sell that same thing over and over and over again."
(04:20)

Benefits:

Efficiency: Streamlined services lead to better time management and higher productivity.
Increased Revenue: Productized services justify higher prices and attract premium clients.

PGA’s Strategy:

Service Specification: Defining precise services to avoid the pitfalls of charging per hour or offering anything-and-everything writing services.
Pricing Models: Establishing pricing structures that reflect the value and specificity of the services offered.

3. Revamp Outreach Strategy

Free Consulting Approach: A strategic method of providing value upfront to build trust and attract high-paying clients without resorting to traditional job platforms like Upwork or Fiverr.

Quote:

"The system I created is how I've attracted over 300 different ghostwriting clients and generated over $3,755,972 as a ghostwriter. It's called the free consulting approach."
(07:15)

Key Elements:

Targeted Outreach: Focusing on ideal clients rather than mass outreach.
Educational Value: Offering free insights and advice to demonstrate expertise and establish credibility.

Impact:

Trust Building: Clients are more likely to hire ghostwriters who have already provided them with valuable information.
Higher Conversion Rates: Quality leads resulting from targeted outreach translate to higher-paying contracts.

Success Stories

Cole shares testimonials from PGA students to illustrate the program’s effectiveness:

Caroline:
- Profile: Struggling freelancer.
- Outcome: Transitioned to ghostwriting, earning over $75,000 annually.
Khaled:
- Profile: Full-time tech employee.
- Outcome: Turned ghostwriting side hustle into a significant secondary income.
Marcus:
- Profile: No prior marketing or sales experience.
- Outcome: Secured a $5,000 client after implementing PGA strategies.
- Quote:
  
  "Not long after that, he landed his first $5,000 client. Now show me another side hustle where that's possible."
  (15:45)
Namisha:
- Profile: Freelancer from India.
- Outcome: Repositioned as a ghostwriter for entrepreneurs with online courses, leading to premium pricing and agency formation.
Roman:
- Profile: Previously stuck earning between $3,000 to $5,000 monthly.
- Outcome: After initial resistance, adopted PGA’s methods and now averages $10,000 per month.
Crystal:
- Profile: Former corporate communicator.
- Outcome: Increased income while reducing work hours, leading to improved health and lifestyle.
Matthew Brown:
- Profile: Limited writing experience.
- Outcome: Now runs a ghostwriting agency earning $40,000+ monthly and employs others.
- Quote:
  
  "He's actually been hiring writers and account managers from inside PGA."
  (25:30)

Commitment and Work Ethic

Cole emphasizes that success in ghostwriting requires dedication and hard work. PGA’s most successful students are those who actively participate, implement strategies, and remain committed to their growth.

Quote:

"The more you put in, the more you get out."
(21:10)

Student Example: Derek

Profile: Managed ghostwriting while working full-time and planning a wedding.
Outcome: Generated over $29,000 in revenue by actively engaging with PGA resources.

Conclusion and Call to Action

Nicolas Cole wraps up by reaffirming that while the strategies shared are not quick fixes, they are fundamental practices that can lead to substantial financial gains and business growth for writers willing to invest the effort.

Final Quote:

"If you think they are, you have a bunch of faulty beliefs around business and money that you need to unlearn. And I would love to help coach you through them because it is 100% doable to reposition yourself and start making more money as a ghostwriter."
(29:50)

Cole encourages listeners to consider PGA if they are serious about elevating their writing careers and invites them to book a call with the PGA team to address their unique challenges.

Notable Quotes Summary

Introduction to Ghostwriting:

"Ghostwriters, on average, make more money than freelance writers."
(00:00)
Niching Down:

"When you niche down, you specialize. And when you specialize, you make more money."
(00:53)
Productized Services:

"You're going to pick a very specific service, you're going to productize it, and you're going to sell that same thing over and over and over again."
(04:20)
Free Consulting Approach:

"The system I created is how I've attracted over 300 different ghostwriting clients and generated over $3,755,972 as a ghostwriter."
(07:15)
Student Success - Marcus:

"Not long after that, he landed his first $5,000 client."
(15:45)
Commitment to Success:

"The more you put in, the more you get out."
(21:10)
Final Encouragement:

"It is 100% doable to reposition yourself and start making more money as a ghostwriter."
(29:50)

Takeaways for Listeners

Repositioning as a Ghostwriter: Adopting the ghostwriter title can significantly enhance earning potential.
Specialization is Key: Focusing on a niche market leads to expertise and higher client fees.
Productized Services: Offering specific, repeatable services ensures consistency and efficiency in operations.
Effective Outreach: Utilizing strategies like free consulting builds trust and attracts premium clients without traditional selling tactics.
Commitment Pays Off: Success in ghostwriting demands dedication, continuous learning, and active implementation of proven strategies.

For writers seeking to elevate their careers and income, Nicolas Cole’s insights and the Premium Ghostwriting Academy present a structured pathway toward achieving these goals.

Transcript

Nicholas Cole (0:00)

How could you be struggling as a freelance writer when you could just do this? Okay, seriously, watch carefully. How could you be struggling as a freelance writer when you could just call yourself a ghostwriter? Ghostwriters, on average, make more money than freelance writers. So just by calling yourself a ghostwriter means you make more money. It seems like a big change, but it's a really subtle tweak. And there are dozens of other little positioning tweaks like this, packaging tweaks, pricing tweaks, that if you make them, you stop having such a hard time paying your bills as a freelancer and you will make more money, be less stressed, and have more free time to do whatever you want. Maybe focus on your own writing. And I'm going to walk you through those tweaks in this video. Okay? Over a thousand writers have trusted me on this. They started calling themselves ghostwriters. They made all these little tweaks, and now clients are willing to pay them more money. So if you're a freelance writer stuck in the two to $8,000 per month range and you're chasing jobs on upwork or fiverr, I can tell you exactly why you're stuck and exactly how to fix it. My name is Nicholas Cole and I'm one of the most read writers on the Internet. I built the first ghostwriting agency for CEOs and scaled it to millions of dollars. I wrote a book about it called the Art and Business of Ghostwriting. And now I run the largest ghostwriting trading program on the Internet called Premium Ghostwriting Academy, designed to help people like you, whether you've been struggling as a freelancer like Caroline here, switch over to ghostwriting and last year made over $75,000 as a full time ghostwriter. Or maybe you're working a full time job and want to start ghostwriting on the side like Khaled here. He works for a major tech company and then turned his ghostwriting side hustle into a secondary, practically full time income. It really doesn't matter who you are or where you're starting from, if you follow these instructions, you will make more money as a writer, period. So let me walk you through what we do and why we do it. And at the end of this video, I hope you'll book a call with our team so we can hear from you direct and help solve the unique problems inside your individual writing business. So there are three key results that we help you achieve in our Premium Ghostwriting Academy. The first key result, we will fix your niche. So right now you're probably struggling to charge More because you aren't known for a niche you own. In fact, you're probably just saying yes to any client willing to pay you money, right? Well, that's wrong. And this is the first thing we need to fix. Because when you niche down, you specialize. And when you specialize, you make more money. And yes, we will not only help you pick the right niche for you based on your career history and personal interests, but we will also help you overcome all the faulty beliefs and manage the anxiety I'm sure you feel about niching down. We've coached over a thousand writers through this at this point, so we're pretty good at it. Key result number two, we will fix your packaging and pricing. Okay? So once you have your niche, next will help you package and sell a very specific productized. That's the key word, productized service. So instead of charging per hour or charging per month and saying, I can write anything you need, right? Which is probably what you've been doing, we're going to help you do the opposite. You're going to pick a very specific service, you're going to productize it, and you're going to sell that same thing over and over and over again. Because this is how you build efficiencies. This is how you make more money. This is how you have the freedom to work less. This is so incredibly important. Okay? If you don't productize yourself, you're never going to get above 10 grand per month as a writer. Key result number three, we're going to fix your outreach strategy. Okay? Nobody teaches writers how to find high quality, high paying clients. Nobody taught me I had to figure all this out on my own. But I did. And the system I created is how I've attracted over 300 different ghostwriting clients and generated over $3,755,972 as a ghostwriter. It's called the free consulting approach. So instead of applying for jobs on upwork or fiverr or spam, sending DMs and emails to as many people as you can find, I'm going to show you how to take a much more targeted, less salesy and more educational approach. All free consulting means is you provide value for free first. This is how you build trust really quickly and how I've gotten hundreds of powerful CEOs and founders to hire me and pay me money on the Internet. And I promise it's not a hard skill to learn. It's very simple and it's one that will make you more money for the rest of Your life. Now, how do I know these things will make you more money as a writer? Well, the truth is, I can't know, right? Because it depends on a lot of things. Depends on whether or not you listen to me and implement all the things that I've learned that I know will make you more money. And it depends on how hard you're willing to work. Depends on whether you stick with it or not, right? Ghost writing is hard. Doing anything in life, well, is hard. So if you're just looking for some get rich quick scheme, just go ahead and click that big red X button. Because you're probably not the right fit for us and we're probably not the right fit for you. But if you're willing to put in the work and if you're willing to trust and implement all these little tweaks that I've learned have worked for me and have worked for so many other students, then you can start to see results like this. Because sure, I made these changes in my own business and I went on to generate over $3 million in ghostwriting revenue. But how do you know that when you make these tweaks in your business, it's going to work for you too? Well, let me show you a couple of our students ranging from full time ghostwriters to people who work a busy 9 to 5 and just started ghostwriting on the side. Like Marcus here, who asked to remain anonymous. In typical ghostwriter fashion. Marcus joined PGA and had zero marketing experience, sales experience, or just general business experience. But we helped him pick a niche package and price a service and learn how to provide free consulting to people that he wanted to pitch and people he felt like he could help. And not long after that, he landed his first $5,000 client. Now show me another side hustle where that's possible. Or Namisha here, she lives in India and was freelancing, but she joined PGA and we helped her reposition herself as a ghostwriter who works with clients all over the world. We helped her clarify her niche so that she could go specifically after entrepreneurs with online courses. And then we helped her fix her packaging and pricing. So now she's selling a repeatable project at a premium. And since she already had a few clients, we showed her how to upsell those clients to generate even more revenue for herself. And now she's even in the process of teaming up with a friend and starting her own ghostwriting agency, all just in a few months. She's also just a great person and terrific student. She has a really positive attitude. I love Working with her or Roman. Before he joined pga, he was like every other freelance writer out there. He was stuck earning between $3,000 to $5,000 per month. He was overworking himself, he was undercharging, and he was just feeling generally burnt out. And funny story, actually, when he joined pga, he fought us every step of the way. For the first four months. He was so stubborn and just didn't think any of the tweaks that I was pointing out to him were going to make a difference. He just didn't do any of them. Until finally he got so fed up with how he wasn't making any progress that he decided, you know what? I'm just going to trust and I'm just going to listen and I'm going to do these things for 30 days and see what happens. You want to guess what happened? His entire business changed. He clarified his niche, fixed his packaging and pricing, changed the way he did outreach, changed what types of clients he was attracting, and now he averages around $10,000 per month as a full time ghostwriter. And he's one of our biggest fans and most loyal students. He's on every call every week. So sometimes you just have to learn these lessons the hard way. Or Crystal, when she joined pga, she had just left corporate America and was feeling really burnt out, really stressed, and just generally unhealthy. She had 20 years of experience in communications, and yet she was still making all the same mistakes that most freelance writers make. So we helped her. We helped her clarify her niche. We helped her fix her packaging and pricing. We introduced her to our free consulting outreach strategy. Right? And now not only is she making more money than she was making before, but she works a fraction of the amount of time. She gets to sleep in. She gets to walk four miles a day. She even lost weight and got so healthy that she got to stop taking her blood pressure medication. I'm literally. I'm not making this up. Now, obviously we don't promote any of those results, right? We don't promise any of that. But it just goes to show how transformative it can be to reposition yourself in your life, right, and charge what you're worth. And if you want to know how high the ceiling is, okay. On my YouTube channel, I have a short interview with our most successful student. His name is Matthew Brown. He joined PGA with a little bit of writing experience, but we helped him improve everything. His niche, his packaging and pricing, his outreach strategy, everything. And now he runs his own ghostwriting agency doing upwards of $40,000 per month. And his agency keeps growing. He's actually been hiring writers and account managers from inside pga. Now, obviously, this took a lot of work, right? Matthew was by far one of our most committed students, but he's still in the community and he still shows up to calls every week. He's continuing to learn and continuing to grow. But I just wanted to mention it to show you what's possible and I could go on and on. Okay, but you get the point. Over a thousand writers have gone through our premium ghostwriting academy. At this point, they've repositioned themselves as ghostwriters and they've learned a ton about how to treat themselves as a one person business. So that's what I mean when I say, how could you be struggling as a freelance writer when all you have to do is call yourself a ghostwriter, make these tweaks and start making more money? And these tweaks I'm talking about, they're not silver bullets, okay? These aren't hacks or tricks or ways to game an algorithm. I'm just talking about executing some very simple fundamentals in your writing business that nobody probably explained to you until now that will verifiably make you more money. Now, it's gonna take work. I wanna be transparent about that. Our most successful students are also our hardest working and most committed students. Shocking, I know. Turns out the more you put in, the more you get out. Like Derek here, who generated over $29,000 in revenue last year as a ghostwriter while working a full time job and planning a wedding. Derek was on every call. Derek asked me a ton of questions Derek put in the work. But none of these outcomes I've mentioned in this video are crazy, impossible. And if you think they are, you have a bunch of faulty beliefs around business and money that you need to unlearn. And I would love to help coach you through them because it is 100% doable to reposition yourself and start making more money as a ghostwriter.