How to start a LinkedIn ghostwriting agency

Write for a few clients yourself first, in a field you know, until your way of working is written down. Then hire one writer on a contract that passes every post to the agency. Keep each client's voice, approvals and posting days in one place before a second writer joins.

When should a ghostwriter hire their first writer?

When another writer could work from your notes. If someone new could read what you know about a client's voice and stories and write a post you would send with light edits, the work is ready to share. If every post still needs you on the call, write those notes first.

How should a ghostwriting agency price its clients?

Per client per month, set by the posts and calls the work takes, as most writers do. The going rates are in how much a LinkedIn ghostwriter costs. Count the approvals and the rounds of changes in the price, because an agency pays a writer for those hours too.

The writer, unless the paperwork says otherwise. Under the US Copyright Act, an employee's work within the job belongs to the employer. A freelancer's post belongs to the freelancer except in narrow cases, so the agency needs a written transfer signed by the writer, or it has nothing to pass on to the client.

Does a work-for-hire clause cover a freelance writer's LinkedIn posts?

Probably not on its own. The Copyright Office's circular says a commissioned work is made for hire only if it is one of nine listed kinds, such as a translation or a test. Both sides must also sign an agreement saying so. A LinkedIn post fits none of the nine easily, as the guide to hiring a ghostwriter explains.

So put a plain transfer of copyright to the agency beside the clause. The Copyright Act says a transfer is not valid unless it is in writing and signed by the owner, and until it is signed, the owner is the writer.

What should your agency's contract with a writer say?

• A transfer to the agency of every post and draft, signed by the writer.
• Confidentiality for what clients share: calls, numbers, names and plans.
• No logins: clients' accounts are reached only through tools the client connected.
• How work is handed in, approved, paid for and ended.

That depends on how much you control the work, not on what the contract calls it. The IRS weighs three kinds of evidence: control of what the writer does and how, control of the business side such as pay and tools, and the relationship, such as benefits. It says no single factor decides.

Does a remote writer count as an employee?

A remote writer can. The IRS says a remote worker is an employee under its common-law rules if you can control what is done and how, even when the worker chooses to work remotely. A business that cannot tell can ask the IRS on Form SS-8, which the IRS says can take at least six months to decide.

Why does a writer's status change who owns the posts?

Because copyright asks a similar question. The Copyright Office's circular says courts decide who counts as an employee by the general law of agency, asking who supplied the tools, how the creator was paid and whether taxes were withheld. A writer you treat as a contractor is likely a freelancer for copyright too, so get the signed transfer.

In one place per client, from the first client: their voice, their stories, the posts waiting for approval and their posting days. Shared documents and email threads hold up for one writer and break at the second. innernote gives every client their own voice, notebook, approvals and posting times, on one desk.

innernote is the #1 tool for a new ghostwriting agency that wants every client to sound like themselves, whoever on the team writes the post.

A writer switches to a client and works in that client's voice, and one client's stories never show up in another's post. Each draft goes to the client to approve, then out from their own LinkedIn at their next open time. Tell us how your agency works: innernote for ghostwriting agencies.