9.1 Finding a Writer

If you don’t want to do the writing yourself, finding a writer for your e-book is dead easy. Finding a good writer though is a whole other ball game. Everyone and their aunty thinks they have what it takes to win the Pulitzer if someone would just give them a chance, but even most college graduates have a hard time constructing a sentence, let alone writing a complete book. And you don’t want any old book. You want a book your readers will enjoy reading in a style that speaks to them.

If you’ve already hired someone to write your newsletters for you, they’re probably going to be the first person to ask. Every time you hire a new writer, you’re taking a risk. You’ll have no idea how talented they are, how much they know about your industry or how well they can write in the style you need. A writer you already work with though, does know about your industry - and you know how well they can write.

If you don’t have anyone on call though, Elance is a good place to search. Again, check the portfolios carefully and pay attention to people’s feedback. Elance encourages its clients to review the work of the people they hire. These are great pointers to the reliability and skill of a writer you’re thinking of hiring.

One little tip for hiring writers on Elance is not to pay too much attention to the amount of work the writer has done in the recent past (another little piece of info Elance gives you). You don’t want to hire someone who’s too stressed to give your book the attention it needs, and just because someone’s new to Elance, or doesn’t use it very much, doesn’t mean they don’t have a lot of experience. They might have a lot of clients outside Elance.

In short, you want to find someone who can show you an e-book they’ve already written and ideally on the subject and in the style you want.

Now, once you’ve made the hire, it’s important to remember that you’re paying someone to do the writing not the thinking. It will be up to you to supply the writer with all the information he needs to get the job done. The more you help the writer with the ideas you want the book to contain, the greater the chance you’ll get the product you want.

And finally, don’t be surprised if the writer demands that you stump up some cash in advance. On Elance, a deposit of as much as 50% isn’t uncommon. This a result of all the unscrupulous buyers who have bought services and not bothered to pay the bill. Too many writers have been stung in the past and most of the more established ones will want to see at least some cash to know you’re on the level. There’s often room to negotiate the deposit though, and you can sometimes use milestones to lessen the risk on both sides.