In 2018, I wrote a post that, in part, warned about a solicitation from an obviously dodgy “ghostwriting” service (one big clue: the mangled English everywhere on its website).
With a bit of digging, I discovered not only that this service was a single scammer doing business on four different websites under four different names, but that domain registration, content, and other similarities linked the ghostwriting sites with nearly 30 other scammy websites offering other kinds of services, from logo creation to accounting.
Back then, ghostwriting scams (ghostscams for short) weren’t super-common. How times have changed. There are a TON of ghostscams now.
Like the ghostscams I wrote about in 2018, they offer not just writing services, but editing, cover design, publishing packages, marketing and more. They do business under multiple names–ten, twenty, even more–and many are part of even larger complexes of predatory service providers: video creation, Wikipedia page creation, illustrations, web design.
Since they’re based overseas–primarily in the Philippines–their websites are littered with English-language errors. They misrepresent–and outright lie about–their qualifications, credentials, and projects. A common feature of ghostscam websites is a false claim to have worked on books from well-known, trad-pubbed authors. Many have even gone to the trouble of inventing fake staff rosters.
Based on complaints I’ve gotten from writers who’ve fallen into the ghostscams’ clutches, as well as several chats with scammer sales associates, costs can range from $1,500 to $3,000 for a “written from scratch” book of around 350 pages–all paid in advance, naturally. Of course the initially quoted price is always higher–but there’s always a very special discount, just for you! Editing alone can be as much as $4,000, depending on manuscript length–though when I lamented that the price was more than I’d budgeted, several ghostscam sales associates offered to cut the cost by a third or more. If you want a cover and publishing services, those will set you back another $500-$1,000.
Here’s the “discounted” price Efficient Ghostwriter quoted for my 350-page “romance fiction novel”, including writing, editing, cover design, and publishing on Amazon, B&N, etc.:
Ghost Writer Experts was more pricey–and that’s even after granting me a super-exciting 10-Year Anniversary Sale! discount. But they did throw in a $550 publishing package for free:
I’ve gotten complaints from writers who’ve used ghostscams for editing, and have received edited or copy edited manuscripts full of errors, or random and unnecessary changes. And while I’ve never heard from anyone who has gone all the way through the bookwriting process, I’d imagine that the quality of the finished book is equivalent to what you’d get from a ghostwriter on Fiverr–which, by the way, would cost you a whole lot less. (As noted above, all of the ghostscams’ claims about their portfolios are fake, so there’s no way to research people who’ve actually used their services.)
How to identify whether that company you’re thinking of using to write, edit, and/or publish your book is a ghostscam? Following are some suggestions.
SOLICITATION
I’ve said this so often that I’m sure my readers are sick of hearing it, but these days, THE NUMBER ONE SIGN OF A WRITING SCAM IS SOLICITATION.
I’ll say it again. The. Number. One. Sign. Of. A. Writing. Scam. Is. Solicitation.
Just like reputable literary agents and publishers, who only very rarely reach out to writers they don’t already represent, reputable ghostwriters and editors will not email or phone you out of the blue to try and convince you to buy their services. Especially with something as cheesy as this:
Here’s another thing no reputable company will tell you: that your book can (or will) be a best seller. That’s a guarantee no one can make (well, no one who isn’t a con artist or a liar), and reputable companies and individuals know better than to make it.
Bonus bogosity: the email address in the solicitation above references one ghostscam (Pearson Ghostwriting). The text references another (Paramount Ghostwriting). And the links lead to a third (Central Ghostwriting) and a fourth (Ghostwriting Publication).
TERRIBLE ENGLISH
If you’re going to hire someone to write an English-language book for you, or edit or copy edit or proof your English-language manuscript, they should be capable of producing literate English prose. Right? I mean, it just makes sense.
Ghostscams–which are based overseas (in India, Pakistan, and the Philippines), and are created and staffed largely by people for whom English is a second language–maintain websites that are stuffed with ungrammatical, tortured, and sometimes incomprehensible English. For instance this, from Pacific Ghost Writing:
Or this, from Paramount Ghost Writing (note that they get their own name wrong):
Or this, from Ghostwriting Avenue:
As a side note, one common English-language error on sites like this is misuse of the word “avail.” If you see something like this, it’s a sure-fire tipoff that whoever you’re dealing with is not a US company:
Seriously, if you want to hire someone to pen down your creativity, publish your beautifully conjured fiction, or harness your creative horses, don’t overlook bad English in their self-presentation. If a company doesn’t care enough, or isn’t capable, of producing a grammatical, error-free website, what reason is there to assume that their writing and editing staff will be any more competent?
I am constantly amazed by how many writers ignore or overlook this huge flashing warning sign.
ABSENCE OF VERIFIABLE INFORMATION
You wouldn’t hire a writer or editor who couldn’t demonstrate that they have the credentials to properly do the job, would you?
A reputable writing- or publishing-related service provider should offer concrete, specific information about itself and its staff, including staff names and biographies, that make it possible for you to assess–and verify–its bona fides. The absence of that information, or info that’s so vague it can’t be researched, or claims that can’t be confirmed or turn out to be false, are warning signs.
Something like this, for instance (from Ghost Writing Professionals) doesn’t cut it:
Which bestselling authors? Which former editors? Which PhD experts? A reputable company would tell you.
Of course, a disreputable company can simply lie. A number of ghostscams provide fake author rosters, using stock photos, made-up names, and, sometimes, fake biographies.
An example: these identical rosters of Experienced and Renowned Ghostwriters claimed by The Book Writing Corp, Professional Ghostwriter, Creative Bookwriters, and Ghostwriting Avenue (note how similar all these websites look). The images are stock. The supposed authors are nowhere to be found online. And the wordy but completely specifics-free “biographies”, which are as horribly written as the rest of the text on these four sites, are nonsensical.
More identical fake staff rosters from Ghost Writing Publication and Ghost Writing Solution. These guys aren’t trying nearly as hard: it’s just stock images and fake names.
Along with websearches on the supposed authors’ names to see if you can find any professional references, reverse image searches can pinpoint a scam (you can use TinEye or Google Image Search). Some of the more advanced scams employ deepfake algorithms to produce unique images, but many just use Shutterstock or another stock photo provider. For instance, here’s “Nicholas Brown” from Paramount Ghostwriters and Versatile Ghostwriters:
And here’s “Nicholas”, who normally resides on stock photo site Alamy, where he’s described as “Attractive man in armchair looking at camera”.
DISCREPANCIES
Internal inconsistencies and claims that can be disproved are also signs that a site is dodgy.
Perhaps the ghostscam claims a US, UK, or Canadian address, but its website is littered with English-language errors. Why would a company based in an English-speaking country have such trouble producing clean, grammatical text? (And why would you want a group like that to write or edit your book?)
Does the company address look like a regular business address? Google it. The fake addresses claimed by scammers are often Mailbox Depots, virtual offices, or random residential addresses–not what you’d expect from a reputable business.
Does the company say that it’s been in business for X number of years? Check its domain registration (you can use a site like DomainTools). You may discover that has only been around for a few months. Chamber of Authors claims “10+ years of experience”, but its web domain was registered less than a year ago. Ditto for Efficient Ghostwriters, which also claims 10 years. Ghostwriting Solution’s claim of 9 years is slightly closer to the truth–but that doesn’t make it truthful: its domain wasn’t registered until February 2020.
Or maybe there’s one name in the header of the site, but text or testimonials reference a different one. Wiki Ghost Writer’s footer apparently belongs to Pacific Ghostwriting. Finest Creative Writers doesn’t seem to have realized (or doesn’t care) that all the text on its website refers to Book Writing Founders. All the testimonials for Paramount Ghostwriting credit Ghost Writing Guru.
It’s important to carefully peruse the website and supporting materials of any service you’re thinking of using, and to double check any claims.
DUPLICATE SITES
A reputable business doesn’t generally need to maintain more than one website (along with a matching social media presence). Scammers, on the other hand, maximize their victim-harvesting potential by doing business under multiple names and websites. If a site looks iffy–or even just to double-check–some websearching is in order.
Does the website provide the names of writers or staff? Google one or more. For instance, searching on “Scott Truax ghostwriter” (one of the purported ghostwriters at Pro Book Author) reveals that “Scott” is featured on at least eight other sites, most of which have identical formatting and text.
Googling the site’s business address can also expose duplicates (be sure to put the address in quotes to exclude irrelevant results).
Phrase searches can work as well. Copy a distinctively-worded sentence from the website (you shouldn’t have any trouble finding one), and paste it–in quotes–into a browser. Try this phrase from AD Ghostwriting: “Our diversified talent pool with multiple unique skillsets has enabled us to specialize in various genres”. Result: nine other ghostwriting sites using the identical phrase (some that Google has identified as dangerous).
Searching on this, from Stellar Ghostwriting–“Our team of most scintillating ghostwriters are extremely skilled in creating innovatively brilliant content for your book related to any genre”–turns up several other sites using identical language.
EXPLOITING THE BEST-SELLER DREAM
Become a Best-Selling Author! Be the Next Best-Selling Author! Fulfill Your Destiny to Become the Best-Selling Author! Win the Title of Best Seller!
These and similar hyped-up come-ons top the home pages of many ghostscams. As noted above, reputable companies don’t engage in this kind of flimflam: no one can guarantee a best seller, and reputable writers and editors know this. Reputable companies don’t employ these kinds of cheap recruitment tactics.
FALSE CLAIMS
In addition to fictitious staff, many ghostscams include an array of book covers featuring books by well-known trad-pubbed authors, to encourage potential victims to believe these are books they’ve actually worked on. Here’s Book Writing Bureau:
Even if you’re prepared to believe that acclaimed, Pulitzer- and Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison didn’t write her own famous novel, how plausible is it that an online ghostwriting service with “10 years of experience” produced a book originally published in 1987? Or that it worked on Marie Kondo’s The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, originally pubbed in 2010 (in Japanese)?
Such claims are simply ludicrous, and fall apart under the lightest of investigation.
The shameless con artsts at Creative Book Writers are claiming they ghost wrote my novel TRUE FICTION. When my brother @todgoldberg called & confronted them about it, they hung up on him. I tried calling, too, but nobody answered. pic.twitter.com/O2j9p5jh2W
— Lee Goldberg (@LeeGoldberg) January 18, 2022
Well. This was a very unpleasant, and very unexpected surprise, and it looks like I’m gonna have to break my metaphorical foot off in somebody’s ass. This ghostwriting scam site is claiming to have written my book, THE HOLLOW PLACES. pic.twitter.com/F78FclweCg
— Kingfisher & Wombat (@UrsulaV) January 18, 2022
Falsehoods aren’t limited to website claims, either. The (real human) sales associates who staff the ghostscams’ chat windows are happy to lie:
This one didn’t just lie, but embellished:
Lee Goldberg and his brother Tod have also been messing with ghostscam sales associates, with hilarious results when they’re forced off script:
In a subsequent conversation, a different Susan resorted to pretending she was a bot:
FINAL NOTE
In researching this post over the past five days, I chatted with dozens of ghostscam sales associates to get an idea of pitches and price ranges for various services. The scams’ chat windows are normally super-eager to engage visitors…but my explorations–plus, possibly, the brutal trolling by Lee and Tod Goldberg and the attendant social media call-outs–seems to have triggered some alarms in scamland (remember, most of these sites are connected, so it makes sense they’d notice patterns).
When I tried to use chat windows yesterday evening, as part of proofing and double-checking this post, I either could see no chat windows at all, or got a message like this:
Looks like they blocked me. Oh well.
UPDATE 7/20/22: Most ghostscams offer a money back guarantee, but you wouldn’t be wrong in suspecting that that’s just window dressing to soothe the anxieties of potential marks. I just heard from a writer who paid one of the services mentioned above, but then had second thoughts and asked for a refund. First they were strung along with excuses (We sent it! No idea why you didn’t get it! etc.), but eventually, when they kept pushing, were told flatly that the company didn’t consider that they deserved to be reimbursed.
UPDATE 3/1/23: Many ghostscams are fly-by-night: here for a few months, then gone. Some are more enduring, however, and there’s especially long-lived one about which I’ve gotten enough complaints that it deserves to be called out by name: Elite Book Writing.
Complaints include paying thousands of dollars for services that are delayed with one excuse after another, heavy upselling pressure, substandard products (“editing” that inserts errors), writers being ghosted after asking questions, and book order scams (the author is told there’s been an order for hundreds of books that Elite will distribute–the author has to pay for printing but will receive “guaranteed royalties” for all sales–needless to say, there are no orders, no royalties, and once the writer hands the money over that’s the last they will ever hear from Elite).
You can see similar complaints at the BBB.
UPDATE 3/32/23: Based on questions I’m receiving from writers, there’s currently a mini-boom in ghostscams using Amazon or Amazon-adjacent terms in their names, in an attempt to deceive writers into believing they actually are Amazon or Amazon-affiliated: Amazon Digital Pro, Amazon Publisher Pro, Amazon Publishing Hub, KDP Publishers, Amazon Publishing Solutions, Amazon Publishing Center, Amazon Kindle Direct Publication…the list goes on.
Typical of ghostscams, most do business under multiple (Amazon-imitating) names. Likely to elude legal action by Amazon, they often have a short shelf life.
UPDATE 7/7/23: Further to the update above, I’ve written a post about the growing number of Amazon fakers.
Has any one tried Brooklyn Ghostwriters?
In my judgment, Brooklyn Ghostwriters is a scam like the ones described in this post.
Does anyone know about the GhostwritingSaga?
Is it legit or not ?
I just checked the Ghostwriting Saga website. It has most of the warning signs identified in my post.
Sorry I didn’t understand
Is this a good sign or a bad sign?
I’m dealing with them right now, it’s a mess
The listed several different addresses in Dallas that are all just parking garages
Ohh 😮
I have already given 2500$ to them for my editing of my book and marketing and other services
They will pressure you to give them more money for other (possibly completely bogus) services. Don’t do it.
Did you read my post? It answers your question.
They already got me for 1200
#ghostwritingsaga
So did you pay the amount ?
Hi Avanish,
At this point they claim to be processing me a full refund. I guess that’s the litmus test on legitimacy. We’ll see ?
I had given them my book for editing and all
They did edit the first chapter
And it was quite nice and impressive the way they edited it
I did like it
Nice 👍
I didn’t get the same level service. I’m happy they at least agreed to a refund.
It’s motivating me to dig more into wrapping this up myself, and then seek out an editor that’s a better fit
Not to be a downer, but scammers often promise refunds to pacify angry customers and then don’t deliver. I hope that isn’t the case for you. Would you please let us know what happens? Thanks.
Sure will let you know..
As I told you, they are editing it and all
They did edit the first chapter and it was pretty impressive and I liked it
Within next 1-2 days would get the next chapter so, I hope I like it and I am not finding any problem with them so I don’t think so I will ask for a refund.. it will take a month and a half time for completion of my book
I can only decide then if their services was good or not
The refund is pending at my bank, they haven’t received the funds yet. We’ll see
That’s really nice they refunded your money
So that means they r a legit company then
I changed my yelp review to neutral while the refund is pending. I can always change it back and repost the google reviews. I never had a pending refund before, the funds have always either been there or not. In this case it’s saying it might take 5 days and Saga hasn’t given them the funds yet ?
Ohh I didn’t know they aren’t given the funds back yet..
Do you want to wait for some more time for the funds to come back ?
They have edited my second chapter and gave it today. They are doing a good job with it and doing the editing part very nicely
I have no complaint against them
At this point it appears to be a stall tactic and Saga hasn’t released the funds yet
Saga did fund the refund and it cleared the bank. They did honor their refund policy
Steer clear of GhostBookWriters dot org. These guys are based out of Pakistan with a N.Y. address.
They deceitfully use a bogus BBB website (BBB-Acredidations instead of BBB) giving themselves an A+ rating and tons of great reviews.
However, when you research them on the real BBB site, they have an “F” rating with numerous complaints. Once they have your money, its excuses, delays and finally, they just stop communicating with you.
The logo was slightly different from the legit BBB address.
And of course, they did the whole schmeal about their special discount, “just for you” 😉 and in a rush to sign.
My instincts kept telling me something was amuck so, good thing I did a little more research.
I contacted the N.Y. BBB and filed a complaint. I don’t know whether or not they’ll inform me of the outcome but, at least it’s reported.
It was such a rude awakening to see so many scamming sites so eager to take your money. And now that I know “good” ghost writers charge $12,000 – $15,000, the fly by nighters promising the world for $1200, are just that, idle promises.
Great article and on point. Wish I’d have seen it prior to wasting all my precious time with scammers.
Thanks for sharing your experience, Dee. Sorry you wasted time–but at least it doesn’t sound like you wasted money! I’m glad you found my article.
does anyone has experience with https://www.eternalghostwriting.com/
I signed up with them almost 2 weeks ago. I was promised an outline mid week last week and then a chapter on friday after I provided about 6 pages worth of content for them to use.. I heard nothing on Friday and asked my account manager about it. She called and asked if Monday is ok for the outline and then chapter later in the week. I agreed but started feeling something was off. Monday 8/14/2023 now and I texted my account manager. She didn’t respond. I went to the eternal ghostwriting website and used the customer support chat to tell them my issue and I was considering a refund. I heard back from another account manager immediately. The people are very kind. Right now I just want to see the quality of work. If it is good then I can deal with delays because these things take time, as they should. I thought the timetable was awful fast but I am not experienced with this so who am I to say? Anyhow, I felt a hint scam vibe when I wasn’t getting what I was told and then I was getting pressured for buying a marketing package, which I want with the right company. They make the prices ultra low when I tell them I can’t pay a certain amount. However, I consider AI could be putting a dent in their income stream so I chalked it up to that. Anyhow, I can’t say but maybe go with someplace that is bonafied, has good reviews, no reviews saying their a scam, etc….
Also, my account manager emailed me from another account that had the name iconicghostwriter.com. This company has several reviews that state they are a scam. I think there are several of these sites linked up and are the same company.
Banana 100,
Your comment lists several components that identify a ghostscam:
– Delays
– Non-response (until you mentioned the “r” word)
– Pressure to spend more money
– Account manager emailing from an account that has the name of a different ghostwriting service
Please don’t give these people any more money. Also see the comment from Henry Molinar, below.
I have found that one way to spot a ghost-writing scam is to be wary of services that offer prices that seem too cheap. Ghost-writers and professional bio writing services that are legit usually charge fair rates based on how much they know and how hard the job is. If an offer seems too good to be true, you should do a lot of research, read reviews, and carefully read the terms and conditions before going through with it. This will help you make sure that the offer is real and that the services offered are good.
Victoria,
Why didn’t I read your “How to Spot a Ghostwriting Scam” piece before I signed up and paid $5,500 to Eternal Ghostwriting to help me make my writings better, publish, book cover and marketing the book. The next day the senior writer said it didn’t include hard back books at Barnes and Nobles and got me for another $7,000 so my book would be at 600 plus B&N store throughout the USA. Then two weeks later, the writer said it was going to be a best seller and it should have a script made for it so it could be made into a movie for $3,000. In all cases the figures were $2-3,000 more but gave me a discount if I said yes “now”.
The initial contract was with Eternal Ghostwriting, the $7,000 came back with a Fortune Ghostwriting contract that I didn’t know at all, and the script I was never given a contract. The poor quality and errors filled of the rewrite my first three chapters were totally unacceptable to me. It wasn’t going to work and not a good fit and not in my voice with these foreign accented people. I asked for a refund. They would even listen to me by phone nor by text, so I went to my bank to ask for a refund back to my debit card account. After a long time, my bank sided with them, saying they proved they provided products or services and moved the $15,500 back to their bank account and not to mine. I asked my bank what information they gave them that my bank used to make this bad decision. After I received the information I was seeking, I discovered they made so many lies about me and about what actually happened.
They told me originally they were in Dallas, Texas but they are located in the garment district in Los Angeles. Letter sent to the Fortune Ghostwriting address was returned as undeliverable. Do you have any experience with these businesses? They didn’t provide any services for the publishing with Barnes and Noble nor any script written without a completed manuscript when not even the first chapter was approved by me, so how did they provided me with services for the $3,000?
Lawyers would cost me a lot to do a civil lawsuit. Can I use your blog to let the bank investigative fraud team read and see how these businesses have all the hallmarks of a ghostscam operation?
Yes, of course. And I’m sorry you lost so much money to Eternal Ghostwriting.
Hi Victoria, I currently started working with Lincoln Writes and now I don’t know what to do regarding I have already paid over 6k! Do you believe it to be a Scam? They send me the chapters to approve and I send it back with my notes etc.
Thank you,
Maria
Hi, Maria,
I’ve gotten other questions about Lincoln Writes. In my judgment, it’s a scam, like the ones discussed in my post: https://writerbeware.blog/2022/01/24/how-to-spot-a-ghostwriting-scam/. I’ve heard from writers who’ve bought services from similar ghostwriting scams and have received substandard work full of mistakes, or no work at all. I’ve also heard from writers who bought services and then were targeted for a book sales fraud (where the scammer claims that bookstores are ready to order thousands of copies…but you have to pay to have them printed).
I’m really sorry to give you bad news. My advice would be not to give them any more money.
How do we get our money back from these companies?
They promised me 5x on my investment at least (20k total), and they claimed their people do 7x on average.
My book was released Sept 25, it is almost 9 months later and we are in the negative with book sales + $ for advertising with only 136 books sold within that time
This is not worth it in my experience and I will most likely be disputing the 20k charge since we have what they promised in writing and did not deliver anywhere close
If anything changes I’d be glad to update this review but I’m doubtful they can fulfill their promises in the next 3 months since they haven’t even come within the same ballpark in 9 months.
Maria, I’m sorry you fell victim to Lincoln Writes, too. I left a lengthy comment/review of Lincoln Writes here on Victoria’s post over a year ago, but apparently the internet demons ate it. Please don’t give them any more money and demand what you’ve paid back immediately. They scammed me, not for ghostwriting services but for promotion services. I did manage to get $3K of my $6K investment back, but it took a lot of back and forth with ridiculous claims on their part, threatening to turn it over to my lawyer, then they insisted on paying me over a 3 month period. Shoddy, childish work, a condescending rep that I finally refused to talk to anymore, posting articles that required substantial edits by me, and so so soooo much more.
Thank you for this comment O.J. Barré. I was doing research on them for marketing but was immediately turned off. The rep claimed that they were responsible for Victoria Aveyard ‘Red Queen’ series marketing success. Then he sent me serval images to look over and all were low quality. I was quoted 10k for 9 months of services. I wish I could share the conversation here. Anyway, your comment let me know I made the right decision. If you don’t mind me asking who did you end up going with?
Have you ever looked into Innovative Ghostwriters? I legit can’t tell if they’re a scam or not.
Definitely a scam. Lots of markers: poor English, false claims about having worked on trad-pubbed books, duplicate sites (for example: https://www.ghostwriterexperts.com/index.php ).
Does anyone here know of the company Penguin Classic Writers (website: https://www.penguinsclassicwriters.com/services/book-ghostwriting/, allegedly located in Houston, TX). I am concerned that a colleague of mine who was in search of e-book publishing services may have been scammed. Thanks in advance!
It’s clearly a scam. It’s got multiple markers: poor English, claims of expertise that can’t be verified because no details are provided, discrepancies (“Penguins” in the logo, “Penguin” in the text; a different company name, “Ghost Book Writers”, on the About page), and sites with duplicate content. I hope you can save your colleague from handing over any (more) money.
Thank you for your research. This is helpful. Have you vetted: https://www.barnesghostwriting.com/ ?
Also, if you have worked with a ghostwriting service provider before, how were you able to successfully reference check their credentials or organization?
I tried using this company and would add it to the list! I was surprised it wasn’t on there already. I had researched before I sent money to them. The good reviews greatly outnumbered the bad ones, so I tried them. Awful, I have seen more creativity in children and better spelling! It seemed that once they found out I didn’t intend on publishing through them (I received many calls about the cost of this), they couldn’t continue working on the contracted items unless I paid more money!). It had taken some time to go back and forth, and they said it went over the timeframe that wasn’t listed in the contract or mentioned to me with all the contacts they made with me through email or phone!
Does anyone here know of the company Ghost Book Writers (website: http://www.ghostbookwriters.org, allegedly located in Brooklyn, NY). I am concerned that a colleague of mine who was in search of e-book publishing services may have been scammed. Thanks in advance!
Just looking at their website, they do look like one of the scams described in my post. All the markers are there, including at least two other websites with different names but identical content and design templates: Superior Writings Hub (https://superiorwritingshub.com/) and Ghost Writers 360 (https://ghostwriters360.com/).
Frank says:
Thanks for leaving a reply to my inquiry about Ghost Writer Experts. They can barely speak English on the phone, claim to be African Americans, and call my house about ten times a day.
Please add ghost writer proficiency to hood list !!! Scam buckets. Liars. Thieves.
He could have given the names of the legit one’s he is referring to.
So where are the legit one’s? Who are they? Of course I will find them.
Really great article. Thank you for your great work here.
That was FUNNY! Victoria. I don’t think he can take the truth.
Great post, Victoria! Opened my eyes.
Amazing research that you have done. Can you kindly print the entire article? After printing just squeesh it and shove it all up in your ass lady. Many names that you have added here are ligit businesses. They were already facing a lot of problems because these scams are copying all their content and info to create their own websites for scamming. Now you added another pillar of problem for them. GREAT! Stupid researchers. Atleast, finish your education before you go out public with your $2 research.
Awww. Did I make the widdle scammers sad?
OH NO! My long comment disappeared!! Why oh why didn’t I copy and save it before trying to post??
I have a better case study please share the details of the person whom I can contact to give insights about a couple of these websites as I have tried paying a few of the companies mentioned above and they are completely scam and ripping off people
Great article!
Add American Writers Group https://americanwritersgroup.com
Very similar to the sites beginning with "ghostwriting" such as Ghostwriting Solutions.
DOG GONNIT.
I wish I had searched better on Paramount Ghostwrites.
This is a great resource.
I had written (Myself with a paid editor) and published my first book with the idea for 2-4 more books and thought it was well worth (HAHA) to hire this firm to help me get #2 & #3 out, after all I had content from my prior book and transcriptions from lectures and podcasts that could be used to bring them up to speed and provide raw content for my business books.
Waste of time and money. Money I can earn back, time I cannot.
G.B. Miller, there's a whole subculture in the self-publishing world devoted to paying other people to write books that are then published under your name–the idea is to set up a kind of writing franchise where you pay a minimum fee to someone on Fiverr or a similar jobs site and then collect the income. I think the ghostwriting scams are at least partly an outgrowth of that.
On the other hand, I hear semi-often from people who have a book idea but don't feel they have writing skills, and want to hire–or find for free–someone to do the actual writing. And the ghostwriting scams offer a range of other services that writers are willing to pay for, such as editing and publishing. So there are definitely customers for these kinds of services–unfortunately. As with the Nigerian-style spam scams, they only need a tiny uptake to make money–especially given the web of interrelated websites.
I'm still trying to grasp the concept of the average newish writer using a ghostwriting service to "help" with their story. I mean, I get if you're a busy known person in a particular entertainment/sports field whose writing skills just honestly aren't there needing a ghostwriter to put your story into print. But why an ordinary person? If you're not confident in your skills at all, maybe you're better off either not pursuing it or taking a few basic creative writing classes/workshops to acquire the basic skill set to put you on your chosen path of fun.
Great Caesar's Ghost!
Hi Victoria,
You never fail to amaze me with your diligence and research.
I just love reading your reports.
I did find one of the Ghostwriters on Linkedin! Surprise!
I did a screen shot of the guy that seems to be on your list. Nanda Behl
with contact details. The image looks identical to yours. He may not know of this scam.
Linkedin.com/in/nanda-behl-9a6942175
But, did not go any further.
Keep up the good work.