How to find clients for ghostwriting?

[Bayview]

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.

[Merciless Medic]

Excuse me asking, but what is ghostwriting? Is it like writing for someone else? Like a biography or something of the like?

[Bayview]

Excuse me asking, but what is ghostwriting? Is it like writing for someone else? Like a biography or something of the like?

Yes - usually written to someone else's outline or at least general ideas, and then published under a name not your own. You often don't keep copyright to the work if you ghostwrite it.

[luckyscars]

I was offered to ghostwrite a book once for the acquaintance of a business partner -- a memoir. Said no because I didn't really need the money, it wasn't a terribly interesting project (it wasn't really so much a personal story as their perspectives on arbitration, which is hellishly dull), and it was a lot of work. I slightly regret that decision now, if only because I think it would have been a good lead to more projects and probably would have helped improve my self-discipline. You can't really fart around as a ghostwriter.

It also seems like the kind of industry which is pretty closed shop (at least for commercial projects), a little bit like being a movie stuntman, so if you have an opportunity to do it for a legitimate project it seems like something that should be at least considered...

One thing that seems prevalent with ghostwriters is that any aspect of author style has to be kind of pushed to the side. Most clients seem want a fairly conservative style that 'sounds like a good writer', but is not particularly unique. It's a little bit like journalism. Though, honestly, I have not come across many ghostwriters in fiction. Not sure how much of a market there even is for that besides a few oddballs with money to burn.