Business Ghost is a ghost-writing service for celebrities who want to tell the world their stories through a book. It helps top CEOs, celebrities, and athletes publish books about themselves by hiring a professional to take their interviews and listen to them to get the necessary information for the book. The book is then published under the celebrity’s name, with all the rights given to them.
Michael Levin is the author behind this idea. He came up with this once he saw that celebrities were willing to pay a lot to acquire someone to write their book. Michael was already in the ghost-writing business for financial moguls and had successfully published his books, which later became bestsellers. He also catered to companies in addition to celebrities.
The bestselling point of Business Ghost is that it is a professional ghost-writing service specializing in business. This means that the person writing the book is well-versed in business-related jargon and can easily understand what the client wants to include in the book. The client also gets full credit for the book as it gets published under their name.
Before coming to Shark Tank, Michael had been growing his business on the side for quite some time. He needed the investment to hire more writers and to market his service, making it the most well-known and demanded business ghost-writing service.
Are They Still an Active Company?
Yes, they are active and still in business, but another company acquired them in 2016. Business Ghost seems to have been acquired by Advantage Media.
How Did the Shark Tank Pitch Go?
Michael entered Shark Tank with an initial ask of $200,000 in exchange for a 10% equity in his business.
He started his pitch by showing the Sharks the collection of published books he’s written and tells them that a few of them have also gone on to have television adaptations. Michael then explained his work and how most of his books have become bestsellers. He discovered quite a big market for ghost-writing for celebrities and companies and believes there’s much more money to make.
This is where he needed the Sharks to step in. He wanted to spread the word about his service. He wants to become the first name to pop up in the head of a CEO or a company when they think about publishing a book on their work. Michael had eight writers working under him as he expanded his business instead of being a solo ghostwriter.
Robert inquired about this change, and Michael explained that the writers were conducting interviews under the supervision of a creative manager since they could target more clients this way. One book usually costs around $35,000-$75,000, including publishing the Business Ghost’s first 50-100 copies.
Kevin was the first Shark to say he was out since he saw very little chance of making a profit. Robert followed Kevin, explaining that he didn’t like that Michael didn’t have a good strategy for the future of the business. Barbara wasn’t interested, and Daymond didn’t see himself getting his money back anytime soon if he invested. Both of them were out.
Mark was the only one left. He claimed that although the work sounded exciting, he had no hope for the future of publishing. He didn’t think it was wise to invest so much in publishing when books were starting to become obsolete. He was out.
Michael left the Tank without an investment from the Sharks.
Our Review of Business Ghost
We went through a few books the Business Ghost wrote, shown on Shark Tank, and consulted with their team about the process.
The good news is that the process is pretty simple. All we had to do was set up a call with a writer and tell them our idea and what kind of book we were looking for. They asked us a few questions, such as the length and our target audience, and guaranteed the publishing of the first 100 copies in the package they were offering.
The bad news is that the packages were costly. The cost was outside most of our budgets, and only those who had money to burn could afford it.
Pros of Business Ghost:
- A professional writing team will write your book
- They will include you in every step of the process and take your feedback as they move ahead
- They will edit and take care of the publishing process
- They will do the initial marketing to increase your sales
Cons of Business Ghost:
- Very costly
- Someone else will write your book, so it might look a little different than what you had pictured in your mind
Who Is Business Ghost for?
Business Ghost is for any celebrity, athlete, or company that wishes to tell their stories to the world but doesn’t know how. It’s also for anyone with great business related ideas but whose literary skills aren’t good enough to write a book.
Are There Any Alternatives?
There are a lot of ghostwriters available nowadays, therefore, Business Ghost isn’t a unique idea. If you’re looking for someone to write your book, then hundreds of options are available behind a few search words in your engine.
Our Final Thoughts
Overall, Business Ghost is a great business, but there are a lot of alternative companies that someone can go to. Since this service specializes in business, it is a good option for companies and CEOs as they have the money and resources for the service and a lot of people to guide them and assist them in the writing process.
Although the company hasn’t targeted fiction markets, it has the potential to grow and cover more than just the business field, giving more people reason to hire them for their work.