How much does a LinkedIn ghostwriter cost? (And what you actually get for it)

I get asked this a lot, usually a little sheepishly, near the end of a first call. So here's my honest answer, including my own prices.

How much does a LinkedIn ghostwriter cost?

The range is wide. You can pay a small one-off fee for a single post, or as much as a senior hire for a full thought leadership programme, and both are called "ghostwriting".

Here are my own prices, so you have at least one fixed point (all excluding VAT):

• LinkedIn Voice Audit: 6,900 SEK, paid in full upfront
• Podcast & Media Pitch Kit: 7,500 SEK
• Narrative Sprint: 14,900 SEK (about €1,325) for one week of work
• Monthly retainers: Essential €3,500, Signature €6,000, Embedded €10,500
• Day rate: €1,100, or €165 an hour for smaller pieces of work

Why do LinkedIn ghostwriting prices vary so much?

In my experience, six things drive most of the difference.

1. Seniority and background. A writer who has spent years deciding what a minister or a CEO should and shouldn't say brings judgement as well as words. That takes longer to build, and it costs more.
2. Interviews or briefs. Some writers work from a short brief or a list of topics you send. Others interview you regularly and draw the posts out of your own stories and opinions. Interviews take more time on both sides, but I think they're the main reason a post ends up sounding like you.
3. Number of posts. Two posts a week and five posts a week are very different jobs, and the price usually follows.
4. Comments and engagement. Drafting replies to comments, or suggesting conversations to join, adds hours. Some services include it, many don't.
5. Strategy. Somebody has to decide what you want to be known for. If that's included, you're paying for it. If it isn't, it usually falls back to you.
6. Approvals. Sign-offs from legal, investor relations or a comms team take real time. I spent long enough in the No 10 press office and the Cabinet Office to know that the writing is often the quickest part!

How do LinkedIn ghostwriters charge: per post or per month?

There are three common models.

Per post. You pay for each piece. It's flexible, and it can suit occasional, high-stakes posts. One US agency guide puts per-post rates at roughly $300 to $800 (Foundera), while another puts them as low as $50 to $100 at the entry level (SuperGig). So the figures don't agree, which in itself tells you something.

Monthly retainer. Most ongoing work is sold this way, because consistency matters. SuperGig's 2026 guide suggests about $500 to $1,500 a month for entry-level freelancers, $2,000 to $4,000 for mid-tier writers with a defined process, and $5,000 to $10,000 and up for executive positioning agencies.

Project. A fixed fee for a defined piece of work, such as a strategy or a batch of posts. Foundera suggests project fees of roughly $2,000 to $8,000.

For the very lowest end, Upwork's own figures show typical hourly rates for ghostwriters on its platform of $20 to $45 (Upwork).

I'd treat all of these as rough guides, not hard benchmarks. Most come from companies that sell ghostwriting themselves, they're largely US figures in dollars, and none of them is a proper independent survey.

What do you get at different price points?

Broadly, and in my opinion:

• At the lower end, you usually get writing from prompts you supply, with little strategy. That can be fine if you already know exactly what you want to say.
• In the middle, you'd expect a regular interview, a voice guide and a content plan, so the posts hang together.
• At the upper end, the writing becomes the smaller part. You're paying for positioning, judgement on what not to say, and someone who can handle the awkward moments.

Here's what's in mine, so you can compare like with like.

The Voice Audit (6,900 SEK) is a 45-minute call, a review of your profile and recent posts, a rewritten headline and About section, a one-page note on your voice and themes, and five post ideas, delivered within five working days.

The Podcast & Media Pitch Kit (7,500 SEK) gives you a master media pitch and short bio, versions for podcasts and for journalists, and a shortlist of 10 podcasts and outlets that fit.

The Narrative Sprint (14,900 SEK) is one week: a 90-minute workshop, a voice brief, a narrative arc for the quarter, a 12-week content plan, three finished posts and a handover call, paid 50% at booking and 50% on delivery.

The retainers are for ongoing support. On Essential (€3,500 a month), I write 6 to 8 posts and one long-form piece a month, from a monthly interview call. Signature (€6,000) and Embedded (€10,500) work a little differently. Both give you full access to me at any time for ad hoc work and support. That includes out-of-hours crisis support, with my WhatsApp number and a dedicated Slack channel. There's no cap on the amount of content (within a reasonable workload, of course), and both flex to what you need, whether that's a speech or a tricky statement. Embedded is the deepest level of involvement, and I think it suits leaders who'd like me working alongside them more closely.

What are the red flags with very cheap or AI-churned services?

I don't want to knock anyone here. Plenty of writers charge modestly and do good, honest work. But a few signs would make me cautious at any price:

• Nobody asks you very much. If there's no interview and no real questions about how you think, the posts can't really come from you.
• Lots of posts, very fast, for very little. A week's worth of good posts in one person's voice takes real thinking time. When the volume looks too good to be true, it often means AI is doing much of the drafting.
• Everything sounds the same. The same hooks, the same endings, every time.
• No samples at all. A good ghostwriter usually can't name clients (I don't name mine), but they can show you anonymised work and explain how they got there.
• A long lock-in before you've seen anything. A trial period, or a short first term, is a reasonable thing to ask for.

For what it's worth, I write without AI. That's a choice about what I'm selling. Clients come to me for judgement and press-office experience. Speed is something a tool can give you.

What about AI tools?

There's now a whole category of tools that let you record yourself answering a question, then turn your answer into posts and articles. I can see the appeal. They're fast, and if you mainly need volume, they can be handy.

In my experience, though, they can only work with what you've already said. They don't ask the follow-up question that gets to the interesting bit, and they don't judge what's better left out (which, after years in a press office, I think is often the most valuable decision of all). They also can't help much when a journalist calls, or when something goes wrong late on a Sunday evening.

That's where I think a former press officer earns the fee. If volume is all you need, a tool might well be enough... and that's absolutely fine.

Is a LinkedIn ghostwriter worth it for a CEO or executive?

I think it can be, but it depends on what you need it to do.

The obvious gain is time. The less obvious one is consistency. Most leaders I talk to have plenty to say, but post brilliantly for three weeks, then go quiet for three months when a launch gets in the way.

There's also a cost to not being visible, which is harder to measure. When a journalist or a potential hire looks you up, what they find (or don't find) is already doing some of the talking for you.

At Maersk, I led digital media for channels with more than 4 million followers across the Group. What stayed with me is how often the posts that did best were the ones written for one reader, in a voice people recognised.

If none of that matters much to your business right now, I'd hold off. A ghostwriter is worth it when being visible genuinely helps you do your job.

How do I hire the right LinkedIn ghostwriter?

A few questions I'd ask anyone, including me:

1. Where will the ideas come from: interviews, or a brief I send?
2. How many posts a month, and does anything else count towards that number?
3. Who replies to comments, and who has access to my account?
4. How many rounds of edits are included?
5. Can I see anonymised examples, and talk to someone you've worked with?
6. What's the notice period?

Then read the samples aloud. If they sound like a person, that's a good sign.

How can I start without committing to a retainer?

This is why I've set up my packages as three steps.

• Step 1, start small: a Voice Audit or a Pitch Kit, if you'd like to see how I work first.
• Step 2, plan your quarter: the Narrative Sprint, which is the one I'd usually recommend. If you start a retainer within 30 days, the full fee comes off your first month.
• Step 3, ongoing support: a monthly retainer.

You can see everything on the packages page. And if you'd like to talk it through, do feel free to book a short call. No pressure either way.

Sources

• SuperGig, "LinkedIn Ghostwriting Cost, What LinkedIn Ghostwriters Charge Per Post and Per Month" (2026): https://supergig.com/blog/linkedin-ghostwriting-cost
• Foundera, "LinkedIn Ghostwriting Pricing Guide 2026" (Ron Fybish, 21 May 2026): https://www.foundera.co/blog/linkedin-ghostwriting-pricing-guide-2026
• Upwork, "Ghostwriters on Upwork Cost $20 to $45/hr" (accessed 8 October 2026): https://www.upwork.com/hire/ghostwriters/cost/

All market figures were checked on 8 October 2026. They're published by companies that sell ghostwriting or freelance services, so please read them as rough guides.