Ghostwriting As An Income Stream

For the past month or so, I've been involved in a ghostwriting project. I finished a 30,000 word Regency novella for them on Wednesday of this past week. Why, you may ask, did I want to do it?

There are several reasons, actually, other than the fact the pay isn't too bad.

First, writing for the Regency market is a fairly new experience for me, so anything I can write in that vein helps me in my own endeavors.

Second, I look at the work as if it were a foster child. I nurture and care for it while it's in my possession, but once it's ready, I pat it on the behind and let it go.

Third, my own work, anything I put my name on, goes through a very rigid set of edits and rewrites, which I don't need to do with these works.

Fourth, I don't have to promote the work, thereby saving me time and money. I don't obsess over sales numbers, try to figure out where to get the best bang for my advertising dollar, I don't need to chase down reviews, or any of the other things that come with promoting my own work. I don't know what happens to it after I let it go.

Last, I'm not obligated to give input on a cover, or to pay for it.

I can't say I do it with no regret, despite all these benefits. I get invested in the characters and the story lines and do wish I could keep them for myself. I hate working under a deadline, too, although I do it a lot.

But then, I don't have to wait six months for a royalty payment on books that were sold nine months to a year earlier. I get paid as I go, each time I turn in 10,000 words, and it shows up in my bank account within ten days. Will I do it again? Maybe not right away, but sure, I'll do it.