My agent has given me access to some ghost-writing jobs (with book packagers, etc.). I think the more established companies prefer to go through agents in order to get some pre-screening done. It's still competitive - I've written first chapters for... probably three or four different books? Based on publisher outlines. I wasn't selected to write any of them. I don't think it's because my writing isn't at a high enough standard (I can generally find publishers for the books I write on my own) so much as it just didn't match the precise style the company was looking for in a specific project.
I've also kept an eye on the markets and have not yet seen the companies actually PRODUCE the books I applied to write, so possibly the projects fell apart for other reasons.
Regardless, I think agents are probably a good place to start if you're looking for the more established gigs.
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