What Fees Does Textbroker Charge Authors For Custom Book Content?

I’ll cut to the chase from my last project: Textbroker’s client fees are not a single flat rate for custom book content — they’re layered. The Foundation is a per-word charge that scales with quality. If you want someone competent to draft scenes, you pay more per word than for generic filler. If you want a familiar author locked to your project exclusively, expect to pay a direct-hire premium.

Beyond per-word, there are three common buying routes and each affects cost: open orders (cheapest, variable quality), direct orders (you choose the writer; pricier), and managed or agency-type services (highest cost, includes coordination). On top of that, rush fees, research complexity, and specialist topics (legal, medical, etc.) can drive prices higher. Also consider post-draft costs — copyediting, proofreading, and formatting are usually separate unless you buy a packaged service.

Practically speaking, if you’re planning a full-length book, ask for a project quote or calculate an expected per-word ceiling for a premium writer and multiply. Many authors I know budget more conservatively and then allocate extra for revisions. My experience is that paying a bit extra up front for a higher-rated writer saved time and money in editing later, and I’d rather pay that premium for cleaner first drafts.

I’ve experimented with outsourcing long-form scenes and shorter book projects through Textbroker, and the fee picture felt layered but logical: base per-word rates that reflect writer quality, then higher options—direct hires or managed services—for hands-on projects. On shorter pieces I used open or team orders to save cash, but for anything I wanted to feel like mine I either invited a writer directly or accepted the managed-service premium. Those premiums are for project management, guaranteed turnaround, and usually better alignment with your voice.

Also be ready for extras—rush jobs, deep research, or specialist topic work add to the bill, and editing/proofreading is often separate unless bundled. VAT or other regional taxes can change the invoice total. All told, it’s a tradeoff: convenience and speed versus cost. For my next book excerpt I balanced by buying a higher-tier per-word writer for the rough draft and outsourcing editing separately, which landed me in a comfortable middle ground and left me feeling satisfied.

I got curious about this when I was pricing out a self-published novella, and I dug into how Textbroker structures fees so I could budget sensibly. Broadly speaking, they charge clients per word, and the final cost depends on the quality level you choose and the delivery route you take. There are a few ways to buy content: an open marketplace where any qualifying writer can pick up your brief, DirectOrders where you invite a specific writer, and a managed or full-service option where the platform coordinates writers and editing for you. Each of those paths pushes the price up or down.

For short custom book content—chapter drafts, scene rewrites, or web-serialized segments—you’re mostly looking at per-word rates tied to quality tiers. Lower-tier content is cheaper but requires more in-house editing; higher-tier writers cost more but usually need fewer rounds of revision. If you want a dedicated, experienced writer for a multi-chapter project, DirectOrders or a managed project are the realistic choices and they come with premium pricing. There are also add-ons to watch for: rush delivery, research-heavy assignments, and project management can carry extra fees. Some clients choose to buy editing or proofreading separately, which is another line item.

One practical note: for longer, book-length projects, many authors find the platform’s managed service or a negotiated fixed project price more predictable than pure per-word billing. Managed services often bundle editing, formatting guidance, and a degree of creative direction, but they’ll bill higher to reflect that coordination. Taxes or VAT may apply depending on where you’re based, and there can be minimum order amounts or prepayment requirements, so factor that into your cashflow. Personally, I treated Textbroker as a place to prototype or supplement content rather than ghostwrite an entire novel, but if your priority is speed and you budget for the higher tiers, it’s a workable option that saved me a ton of legwork.