How to hire a ghostwriter in Nigeria

What a ghostwriter does

Most people with a book in them are not short of things to say. They are short of time, or of the craft of turning thirty years of experience into three hundred readable pages. A ghostwriter supplies that craft. They interview you, read what you already have, find the shape of the book and write it in your voice. Your name goes on the cover.

It is an old and respectable way to make a book, and you are in good company if you use it. Memoirs, business books, speeches, family histories and church histories are written this way all the time.

Who owns the finished work

This is the part most often left until it is too late, so take it first.

Nigeria's Copyright Act 2022 says copyright first belongs to the author, the person who actually writes the work, "except as otherwise provided in an agreement" (section 28(1)). The Act makes special provision for work made for government bodies, and for portraits, photographs and films commissioned for private use. It makes no such provision for a commissioned book. So if you pay a writer and nothing is put in writing, do not assume the copyright is yours.

The Act also says an assignment of copyright, or an exclusive licence, "shall have no effect unless it is in writing" (section 30(3)). A handshake, a bank transfer and a WhatsApp chat saying "the book is yours" are a weak footing for a book you intend to publish under your name for decades.

The writer's right to be named

Separately from copyright, the Act gives an author the right to claim authorship of their work and to object to changes that harm their honour or reputation (section 14(1)). It says these rights cannot be passed to someone else during the author's lifetime (section 14(3)).

Ghostwriting depends on the writer agreeing not to be named. The Act does not spell out how such a promise sits beside section 14, and we will not pretend it does. Two things follow. Your agreement should say plainly that the writer will not be identified and will not claim the work in public. And if the book matters to your name or your business, have a lawyer read the agreement before you both accept it.

What to settle before work starts

Put each of these in the agreement. None of them is awkward to raise at the start. All of them are awkward to raise at the end.

• Ownership: who holds the copyright in the finished work, and from when
• Credit: whose name appears, and whether the writer is acknowledged anywhere
• Confidentiality: whether the writer may ever say they worked on it, or show it to future clients
• Scope: what is being written, how long it is, and what you will supply
• Stages: how the work is split, and what you approve at each step
• Revisions: how many rounds of changes are included at each stage
• AI use: whether the writer may use AI tools, and for what
• If it ends early: who owns the pages already written and paid for

On WBA, the first three are decided by the authorship arrangement you choose when you post a brief. "Ghostwritten or uncredited" means you are credited, the writer is never identified as the author, and the writer may not show the work in a public portfolio. See choosing an authorship arrangement.

How to choose the right writer

1. 1Read their work. Ask for samples in the form you need: a chapter if you want a book, a speech if you want a speech. A ghostwriter's best work is often confidential, so some will show you credited writing instead. That is normal.
2. 2Listen to how they ask questions. A good ghostwriter spends the first conversation asking about you, your reader and why the book has to exist. One who talks mostly about themselves will write a book that sounds like them.
3. 3Ask how they work. How many interviews, recorded or not, who transcribes, when you see the first pages, and what happens if you dislike them.
4. 4Ask what they need from you. A writer who says "nothing, leave it to me" has not understood that it is your book.
5. 5Ask about AI. Using AI tools is not the problem. Being handed machine-written pages as if a person wrote them is. See AI disclosure on this platform.
6. 6Start with one stage. An outline and a sample chapter tell you more than any interview, and cost you far less than a full draft that misses your voice.

What it costs

We are not going to give you a number, because we could not find a published survey of ghostwriting rates in Nigeria that we were able to check, and a figure we cannot stand behind is worse than none.

What we can tell you is what moves the price:

• Length: a 20-minute speech and a 70,000-word memoir are different jobs
• Research: whether the writer works from your interviews alone, or must read, verify and interview others
• How much exists already: notes, recordings, an earlier draft
• Deadline: a fixed launch date costs more than an open one
• Confidentiality: a writer who can never show the work gives up something of value
• The writer's record: experience is priced, and usually worth it

The reliable way to learn the going rate for your project is to describe it well and compare what several writers quote. See writing a brief that gets good bids.

Hiring a ghostwriter on WBA

Writers' Block Africa was built for exactly this kind of work, by people who believe African stories deserve professional writing and professional terms.

1. 1Post a brief saying what you need, who it is for and when it is due.
2. 2Choose the authorship arrangement. Nothing is chosen for you.
3. 3Compare bids. Every professional answers the same questions in the same order: price, stages, timeline, revision rounds, exclusions, AI use and relevant experience.
4. 4Accept the contract drawn up for the arrangement you chose.
5. 5Fund and approve the work one stage at a time.

When you are ready, post a brief or browse writers.

Sources

• Copyright Act, 2022 (Act No. 8), Federal Republic of Nigeria Official Gazette No. 56, Vol. 110, 27 March 2023: sections 4, 14, 19, 28, 30 and 87. Read on 10 November 2026 in the copy published by the Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre at placng.org.
• Section 87 of the same Act, for the register of works kept by the Nigerian Copyright Commission.