BusinessGhost on Shark Tank

Ghostwriting and the TV show “Shark Tank” are two things I wouldn’t normally think go together, but last week I discovered that they do. Shark Tank is one of my new favorite shows (I love hearing about the interesting inventions and business ideas people have), so imagine my surprise when last week the investors on the show were presented with the opportunity to invest in BusinessGhost, an Irvine, California-based ghostwriting service that assists business people in writing books.

Sadly, the investors were not convinced that the business model was scalable, so owner Michael Levin walked away empty-handed. Before he exited, however, Levin did share some interesting information about his ghostwriting firm.

BusinessGhost has eight ghostwriters on staff, who complete an average of two ghostwriting projects per month. The firm earns between $35,000-75,000 per book project and has annual revenues approaching $750,000 per year.

The good news for independent ghostwriters is that the fees he quoted seem quite fair and the demand for the firm’s services seems steady. If there is any bad news, it’s that the business may not be scalable, meaning that it may be difficult to grow much beyond a certain point. However, in my mind that’s not a surprise. Writing is a skill and individual writers have different voices; one client may prefer a writing style akin to Malcolm Gladwell and another may want Tim Ferris. That difference is what helps differentiate ghostwriters.

Fortunately, if this show is any indication, demand for ghostwriting remains high. We all just need to learn how to leverage what makes us each unique – our writing voice.

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Marcia Layton Turner

Leave a Comment