The AI Ghostwriter Get Rich Quick Scheme
- Mary Ghostwriting
- Aug 10
- 4 min read
Every week now, I see another post, ad, or course promising to teach you how to “make six figures ghostwriting with AI.” The pitch is always the same: Just learn the right prompts, churn out content in minutes, and watch the money roll in.
It’s seductive. It’s also nonsense.
The Harsh Truth
If your entire “ghostwriting” business is just prompting ChatGPT, you’re not a ghostwriter. You’re a middleman. And middlemen get cut out the second the buyer realizes they can do the exact same thing you’re doing, in less time and for free.
Right now, maybe you’re half a step ahead of the average client in knowing what to ask an AI. Two years from now? That “skill” will be the digital equivalent of knowing how to send a
fax. Clients will create their own prompts, skip you entirely, and you’ll be left wondering why your “easy money” suddenly dried up.
What These “Offers” Actually Offer
Most of these AI-ghostwriting get-rich-quick pitches boil down to:
Copy-and-paste prompts you could have Googled yourself.
Minimal human input, no interviewing, no research, no strategic thought.
Iterative junk with AI-generated text that’s just re-spun versions of whatever’s already out there.
No editorial oversight with output goes straight from AI to client, errors and all.
And the worst part? The people selling these courses package speed as if it’s the only metric that matters.
Clients don’t pay ghostwriters just to type faster. They pay for precision, insight, and the ability to make them sound like themselves—or the version of themselves they wish they were. AI can't tell you that.
What Clients Actually Want
And now we get to the biggest myth of all. Clients don’t want an “AI ghostwriter.” What they want is:
Efficiency without compromise. Yes, they like fast turnarounds, but not if it means cutting corners. Sloppy, AI-obvious writing makes them look bad and this is a credibility game.
Integrated use of AI as a tool, not as the entire process.
Human judgment and strategy. AI can’t decide what not to say.
Voice capture. If your deliverable could belong to anyone, it’s worthless to the person paying you.
Original thought. AI is a remix machine. The real ghostwriter brings clarity, creativity, and nuance to the mix.
If your work is indistinguishable from what the client could have gotten by pasting their own prompts into ChatGPT, why hire you at all? Just stop and think about it. The whole premise is wildly illogical.
Red Flag Checklist: How to Spot the AI Ghostwriting Grift
If you see these signs in a ghostwriter’s pitch, keep your wallet closed:
They took (or sell) a “get rich quick” writing course. You know the type — screenshots of “$20K months” but no actual breakdown of the work involved.
They can’t walk you through the ghostwriting process from start to finish. No onboarding, no voice capture method, no revision plan — just “send me a brief and I’ll handle it.”
No client interviews — they’re more interested in “getting started” than in understanding you or your goals.
No editing or revision cycle — they brag about speed but never mention quality control.
Flat, generic writing — nothing about it sounds like you.
More talk about prompts than about your goals, audience, or message.
They promise “guaranteed” rankings, virality, or book sales — classic hype signal.
Their “proof” is just social media comments and clout-chasing. Lots of likes, screenshots, and “love your work” emojis from followers — no concrete deliverables or measurable results.
They lean on recommendations from other course creators or fellow participants. That’s not client feedback — it’s a buddy system.
Every example they give could have been written for literally anyone. If there’s no clear voice or unique perspective, it’s just filler with a price tag.
Ghostwriting Is Not on Autopilot
Real ghostwriting isn’t just typing. It’s interviewing, strategizing, shaping narratives, managing egos, and delivering work that makes your client look brilliant without revealing you exist.
AI can help with certain parts, but it will never replace the human judgment that decides:
What’s relevant and what’s noise
How to phrase something so it feels true
When to push back, cut fluff, or leave something unsaid
If your “service” is just pressing the AI button, you’re not doing any of that. You’re hitting ‘generate’ and hoping no one notices.
Short-Term Grift vs. Long-Term Career
The AI-prompt ghostwriting hustle is a short-term grift, not a sustainable career.
You might land a few clients who don’t know better — but those clients won’t stay. And the minute they figure out you’re running the same play they could, they’ll ghost you (pun intended).
AI is a tool. Use it. But don’t mistake it for a business plan — because when the shortcut closes, the people with real skills are the ones still getting paid. The rest will be creating new courses, which is their main source of income anyway. So nothing changes for them.
The risk is entirely yours.
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