The business world is filled with stories of leaders who once made the mistake of basing their decisions only on perception or gut feel, ignoring the facts.

In the early 2000s, for instance, phone company Nokia felt secure in its assumption that its customers wouldn’t want phones with complex touch-screen interfaces. Data trends showed otherwise, but Nokia stuck to its guns and . . . well, we all know what happened. It lost its dominant position in the industry to Apple and Google’s Android smart phones.

In the same way, we ghostwriters know we bring value to our clients. We feel it in the in-depth conversations we have with them. We understand it in the feedback we gain from them. And we share the thrill when their books become bestsellers and take on lives of their own.

All without the authors having to write a word.

But until now, we’ve lacked hard facts about that value. What’s the ROI (return on investment) of hiring a ghostwriter for your business book? Is it really worth it, compared to writing it yourself?

Today, we can answer that question, and it’s all down to a research study* that was carried out last year. In this, the largest ever survey of published and prospective authors of non-fiction books, 350 people shared their experiences. The research was carried out by a former SVP at Forrester Research, a thought leadership expert, and an organisational psychologist and psychometrician.

1 in 12 of the authors surveyed had hired ghostwriters to write their books, and their feedback is of particular interest. What were the standout findings?

• Ghoswritten books generated five times the revenue of non-ghosted books, giving a median total revenue of $92.5k (total income, not just from book sales).
• Ghostwritten books were four times as profitable as non-ghosted books, generating a median profit of $43.5k, even when the cost of the ghostwriter was taken into account.
• 96% of authors were satisfied with their ghostwriter’s performance.
• 1 in 4 authors who used ghostwriters paid their ghostwriter $50k or more.

So it’s clear: working with a ghostwriter is likely to lead to you earning more money, and making more profit, than if you were to write it yourself. But why?

Here’s why my individual interpretation comes in. To me, there are three reasons:

Strategic expertise

An experienced ghostwriter can help you write the right book. This is surprisingly easy to get wrong on your own, and it’s the reason why some books don’t deliver what their authors intended.

It takes expertise and objectivity to guide someone through the maze of target audiences, key messages, and chapter structures. When you have a ghostwriter on board, you’re much more likely to end up with a book that speaks to the readers whom you most want to win over.

Writing prowess

A skilled ghostwriter can take your thoughts and ideas and turn you into a great teacher or thought leader, all through the power of their writing. This is how your book makes an impact on its readers.Without their wordsmithing, a book can run the risk of being a little dry or difficult to understand, and that will reduce its sales.

Take a look at the bestsellers in your local bookstore and see how easy they are to absorb. This is the standard we aspire to for all the books we ghostwrite.

Time, time, time

When you offload the labour of writing a book to a ghostwriter, you’re not stuck in the ‘When I have time, I’ll finish this chapter’, or, ‘When I have a spare afternoon, I’ll do those edits’ trap.

Instead, you can focus on the thing you do best, which is the work you’re known and loved for. That way, when your book comes out, you’re ideally positioned to capitalise on its sales and build a bigger name for yourself and your business.

Being honest, while I always had a feeling that ghostwriters brought valuable financial benefits to their clients (even when their fees were taken into account), it was a thrill to see our work validated through this research. If this has prompted you to start 2025 with a bang by hiring a ghostwriter who can help you make your book a profitable enterprise, we’re here for you. You can meet us here.

*You can download the full report here: https://authorroi.com/

Ginny Carter is a bestselling ghostwriter of over 25 books, a book coach, and an award-winning author in her own right.