What to include in agreement with a Ghost Writer. . .

Question

I am exploring engaging a Ghost writer to partner with me on the development of a non-fiction (well, mostly) business book.

What are the critical elements of the agreement that need to be included?

Answer 1

There are a lot of factors that come up and should be negotiated at the beginning.

You can structure your agreement for a flat fee (most common) or for a percentage of royalties (less common), or a combination.

Regardless of the payment arrangement, you'll also have to decide on certain legal/copyright and process issues:

• name credit (you'll either have to specify that you be included as co-author, mentioned in the acknowledgments, or are waiving all rights);
• royalties (waive or include);
• who is doing the research (this is a big chunk of the work so be sure to sort that out before you start);
• interview access (how many hours the client will be available for interviews/collaboration);
• payment schedule (many ask for, say, 1/4 of the fee upfront, 1/4 upon completion of research/interviews/outline, 1/4 upon completion of first draft, 1/4 upon completion of final draft).

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

I think you should identify what your goals are and start from there. You should decide just what the ghost writer's responsibilities are and also identify a means of determining whether or not those responsibilities were met.

Answer 3

IANAL, but he is. This should be a good starting point.

If you also want to have a look at the ghostwriter side, visit some internet sites offering this service and read their conditions (e.g. the Penn Group; first Google hit, I know nothing about them).

(While looking up services, I stumbled over this link. I do not understand its content, but maybe it is useful to you.)