Ghostwriting Business

3 Ghostwriting Business Success Stories [2024]

Pat Walls

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Updated: October 10th, 2024

Got a way with words but prefer to stay behind the scenes? Ghostwriting might just be the perfect business idea for you. Ghostwriting involves writing content—books, articles, speeches—that is officially credited to someone else.

You get to wield your writing skills and transform clients’ ideas into polished, engaging text. The spectrum ranges from helping busy execs craft impactful speeches to penning memoirs for public figures. It’s a business that can start small, taking on freelance projects on platforms like Upwork, and scale up to a full-fledged agency.

The appeal here is twofold: flexibility and demand. You manage your workload and choice of projects, making it ideal if you want control over your schedule. Plus, there’s always a market for high-quality content. If you’re disciplined, have a knack for capturing different voices, and love the art of storytelling, ghostwriting can be a rewarding and lucrative business.

In this list, you'll find real-world ghostwriting business success stories and very profitable examples of starting a ghostwriting business that makes money.

1. Reedsy ($24M/year)

Ricardo Fayet, CMO of Reedsy, didn't come up with the idea for the book publishing services marketplace. His co-founder Emmanuel mentioned it to him in university, and it stood out as a promising idea that leveraged the growing self-publishing trend and freelance economy movement in traditional publishing. They validated the idea by talking to industry experts and built a core team to bring it to life.

How much money it makes: $24M/year
How much did it cost to start: $40K
How many people on the team: 38

How Our Book Publishing Services Marketplace Hit $1M/Month In Gross Merchandise Value

Reedsy, a book publishing services marketplace that connects authors with freelancers, has driven over $1m in GMV, features over 1,500 vetted freelance professionals, and sees over 1,000 projects every month.

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2. Content-Whale Private Limited ($750K/year)

Vaibhav Kishnani, an engineer turned writer, came up with the idea for Content-Whale after noticing the unprofessional conduct in the Indian content market. With just Rs. 2,500 ($35) in capital, he started the content agency which now generates a revenue turnover of Rs. 4 crores ($514,000) and serves clients like Quikr and The Boston Consulting Group.

How much money it makes: $750K/year
How much did it cost to start: $35
How many people on the team: 30

How We Started A $514K/Year Content Curation Agency With Just $35 [From India]

Content-Whale, a content curation agency, has achieved a Rs. 4 crore ($514k/year) turnover 4-5 years after being started with just Rs. 2500 ($35), and has a pool of more than 500 writers, aiming to become a market leader in the global content market.

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3. Mister Words ($18K/year)

Brian Rouff came up with the idea for his writing business, Mister Words, after writing his first novel, Dice Angel, and receiving positive reviews. Through word of mouth and referrals, he began ghostwriting books for clients and providing writing consultation services. The business has been successful, with revenues averaging $1,500/month, and Rouff plans to transition to running it full-time in the next year.

How much money it makes: $18K/year
How much did it cost to start: $500
How many people on the team: 0

This Year I'm Going Full Time On My Ghostwriting Side Hustle

Mister Words, a writing business, has brought in $1,500/month after 15 years of operation, and is now being turned into a main gig with screenwriting services and the potential for $10,000+ profits per project.

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