by Giovanni Casali, editorial coordinator
A professional ghostwriter costs from €2,500 for a short story to over €20,000 for a commissioned historical novel. A complete biography, the most requested project, typically falls between €6,000 and €15,000.
These are honest figures, and on this page we explain what they depend on, what they really include, and where the costs nobody mentions at the first meeting like to hide.
The price of a commissioned book is not a magic number: it is the sum of real hours of work. Five things determine it.
Length. A 50-page story and a 400-page novel are not the same trade.
Interviews. A biography is born from hours of recorded conversation, which must be conducted, transcribed and turned into narrative. The longer the story, the more sessions it takes.
Research. This is why the historical novel is the most expensive genre in ghostwriting: before writing, one must study documents, eras, places. Those who do it seriously charge for it, and rightly so.
Revisions. A serious price includes several rounds of revision with the client. If revisions are "extra", the starting price is bait.
Rights. The finished work must be yours: name, rights, proceeds. Always check that full transfer is written into the contract.
To find your bearings, the market divides into three tiers.
| Tier | Indicative price | What to expect |
|---|---|---|
| Budget | under €3,000 | Short texts, or a risk (see below) |
| Mid-range | €4,000-8,000 | Biographies, manuals, business books |
| High-end | €9,000-24,000 | Novels, historical fiction, complex projects |
A clear word about the budget tier: a short story can legitimately cost €2,500. But if someone offers you an entire book for €1,000, the numbers do not add up: at those figures no professional can devote to you the hundreds of hours a book requires. The well-founded suspicion is that you will receive AI-generated text, revised in a hurry or not revised at all. If the price seems too good to be true, it is not true.
This is where quotes win or lose the game. Many seemingly convenient offers cover the writing only: then you discover that cover design, layout, printing, publishing on the stores and translations are extras, and the final bill doubles.
Our advice, whether you choose us or anyone else: always ask for the price of the complete journey, from the first interview to the book people can actually buy. Only then can you truly compare offers.
We put our numbers on the table before the meeting:
| Project | Starting from |
|---|---|
| Short story or short project | €2,500 |
| Biography or memoir (short format) | €3,500 |
| Biography or memoir (full format) | €6,000 |
| Manual, essay or business book | €7,000 |
| Novel | €9,000 |
| Complete publishing package (cover, layout, stores, print on demand) | €1,500 |
| Editorial consulting | €150 / hour |
These are "starting from" prices: the exact quote comes after a free, no-obligation consultation, once we have understood your story and how much work it deserves.
And unlike almost everyone, the journey with us can go all the way: writing, revision, design, publishing on the stores and translation into English, French, German, Italian and Spanish, all under one roof.
Because a professional book takes hundreds of hours. Whoever sells it for €1,000 is saving on something, and that something is the quality of your book.
It depends on the project: usually 3 to 6 months for a biography, longer for a novel. Haste is the enemy of good books.
You do, entirely: name, rights and proceeds. We put it in writing in the contract.
Thinking about a life story? We also answered another frequent question: Who can write my autobiography?
The simplest way to find out what your book costs is to tell us about it: the first consultation is free and without obligation.
info@dualpenbooks.com
Giovanni Casali, editorial coordinator, will reply.
Want to get a sense of how we write first? Read a few excerpts.