Ghostwriters, lets talk!

[aswaninabwen510]

I was recently having a conversation about the remuneration structure of ghostwriters. Personally, I have done two successful projects here on fiverr, I am working on my third. At the end of the project I am given an agreed amount, we shake hands and go our separate ways.
However, someone opened my eyes to issues of royalties and how a royalty contract would serve my interests better than a one time fee on a project. (PS: I specifically work on autobiographies and memoirs)
I have never spoken to any other freelance writer about this and am interested to know what other ghostwriters are doing and what they think about royalties.
What’s working for you? please tell me more about your contracts and how they work?

[looseink]

All I do is charge a per word fee in USD.

As I am a full-time ghostwriter with several contracts in place (non-Fiverr, before I joined Fiverr) living in Canada, the exchange rate usually gives me a nice ‘extra’ that I don’t otherwise charge for.

When it comes to royalties, I never give it a thought as once I release an article, I no longer own it and that is my understanding of how freelancing works.

I have extensive experience in the publishing field, and have never been remotely concerned about royalties as a ghostwriter.

[uk1000]

I don’t think royalties would work properly on Fiverr with their current rules. From the Terms of Service:

You may not offer Sellers to pay, or make payment using any method other than through the Fiverr.com site. In case you have been asked to use an alternative payment method, please report it immediately to Customer Support

In theory you could have a gig or extra to collect them but it would be a manual order each time where they paid through the normal gig (no off-site payment). In reality I don’t think Fiverr would allow that as you’re not doing additional work each time. You could check with CS if/how it could work but I don’t think it could/I don’t think it would be allowed on Fiverr currently.

I’m not a ghostwriter though.

[melanielm]

Royalties wouldn’t work at all on Fiverr, and I do not accept those as the only source of payment elsewhere. I believe a service performed deserves payment, not a hope of future payments based on the buyer’s ability to market their work effectively.

[aswaninabwen510]

All I do is charge a per word fee in USD.

As I am a full-time ghostwriter with several contracts in place (non-Fiverr, before I joined Fiverr) living in Canada, the exchange rate usually gives me a nice ‘extra’ that I don’t otherwise charge for.

When it comes to royalties, I never give it a thought as once I release an article, I no longer own it and that is my understanding of how freelancing works.

I have extensive experience in the publishing field, and have never been remotely concerned about royalties as a ghostwriter.

Its good to know that I am on the right track, thank you for this feedback @looseink, I was getting worried that am getting the short end of the stick

[aswaninabwen510]

I don’t think royalties would work properly on Fiverr with their current rules. From the Terms of Service:

You may not offer Sellers to pay, or make payment using any method other than through the Fiverr.com site. In case you have been asked to use an alternative payment method, please report it immediately to Customer Support

In theory you could have a gig or extra to collect them but it would be a manual order each time where they paid through the normal gig (no off-site payment). In reality I don’t think Fiverr would allow that as you’re not doing additional work each time. You could check with CS if/how it could work but I don’t think it could/I don’t think it would be allowed on Fiverr currently.

I’m not a ghostwriter though.

I agree with you @uk1000, fiverr’s terms of service have no room to wiggle with such detailed contract like the one of royalties. I however needed to understand what other ghostwriters are doing because I am pretty sure some of them work outside of fiverr too.

[aswaninabwen510]

Royalties wouldn’t work at all on Fiverr, and I do not accept those as the only source of payment elsewhere. I believe a service performed deserves payment, not a hope of future payments based on the buyer’s ability to market their work effectively.

good point @melanielm, but some of the books we write end up becoming best sellers, at the risk of sounding greedy, don’t you feel like you deserve some share of the success? :thinking:

[melanielm]

good point @melanielm, but some of the books we write end up becoming best sellers, at the risk of sounding greedy, don’t you feel like you deserve some share of the success? :thinking:

I suppose I look at it from a very pragmatic point of view. The person who designs a toaster gets paid for designing the toaster, not a percentage every time a toaster sells. While more money is always great, I get paid for the work I do when I do it, and I move on. Would I take a royalty agreement if offered? Yes, as long as I was paid for my work already. I’m certainly not against making more money on principle! 🙂 I am also involved with publishing completely unrelated to ghostwriting or Fiverr, so I understand some of what goes into making a book successful.