One choice in building an info product is to pay somebody to make a product for you. There are tons of Internet sites on the market where you’ll easily locate someone to do this. For many people, having their name on the best seller list is just not as valuable as having a buck in their billfold. They’re willing to forgo the name recognition time and again, and they are doing so for what seems like little money.
These writers are known as “freelancers” or “ghost writers”. Remember, however, that even if you find yourself doing business with someone to generate your product for you personally, you might still have to do the initial research to come up with the idea for the product. Only at that time will you be able to hire someone to make it.
You can take a look at the following web-sites for freelance product creators:
- http://www.elance.com
- http://www.guru.com
- http://www.vworker.com (formerly rentacoder.com)
- http://www.sologig.com
- http://www.editor.com
- http://www.freelance-work-exchange.com
At most of the websites above, all you need to do is register as a member (usually at no cost) and also you are allowed to place your job for freelance writers to look at. The secret here is to make your product sound like it will be the next New York Times best seller. You want to stimulate curiosity between the freelancers so that they are going to bid against one another causing your cost to decline.
Again, you will need to be resourceful here. Are there additional ways that you may compensate a ghost writer other than via an up front fee? Perhaps a preset amount of every publication sold? It would be unlikely that you’ll get someone who would complete the work with no money paid up front, but you might be able to get the cost reduced in the event you can offer something at the back end because of sales.
While working with any of the freelance web-sites, make sure that you clearly identify the conditions of the agreement in your proposal. For example, remember to discuss the intellectual property rights to your product. You should make sure that you are the owner of those rights. If you are not vigilant here, you could discover your ghost writer trying to obtain a copyright on your product!
You must remember to verify references of those that bid on your project, also. Ask to see samples of their past work. Obviously, they typically can’t inform you what products they’ve “ghostwritten” seeing that this might violate their prior business arrangements (Think about it, do you want them blabbing that they have been the “brains” behind your product?) So, respect them if they can not tell you. Simply ask them to see something that they have done in the past and make sure that their work is up to your standard.
To get an idea of how to work with a ghost writer, drop by some of the freelance web-sites and scroll through the projects that are already posted by category. This also will let you see about how much you’ll expect to pay for your project as well. For instance, during a review of projects on Elance.com, I found quite a few requests for bids for article writing. The topics varied from health and fitness, to dog training, to organic gardening- just to name a few. Many of the requests were for seven to ten articles and there were loads of bidders even while the projected price was listed at less than $225.
One additional note about working with a ghostwriter. Be sure you have a “Work For Hire” contract…. Either electronically or in writing (preferred). This is essential so that you can prove that you own the copyright if this should ever turn out to be an issue. You can surely obtain sample agreements by searching Google which you could use. Hiring a ghostwriter doesn’t have to be difficult, it just has to be done right.
