Youre struggling to write an ezine, an e-book and a handful of articles. Even if youre a good writer, its tempting to think, Wouldnt it be nice to hire someone to do this? A ghostwriter?! Then my To Do List will stop haunting my dreams.

Lets consider 3 sources of help for the time-challenged (and its possible that some readers would rather scrub floors than write, too).

(1) Ghostwriters complete the project from start to finish. You never see their names on the final product. Ideally, you created your contract to establish that your Ghost was writing for hire, i.e., you own all the rights to the finished product.

Good ghostwriters dont come cheap. For published books, they can get 50% of the advance and royalties sometimes more. After all, they get no glory. Often they cant list your project on their resumes and you wont give them testimonials. Thats the whole idea: theyre invisible! So they must be compensated for the lack of track record. Theyre known by word of mouth.

You can hire low-cost ghostwriters at eLance. But you have to develop the assignment, write an ironclad contract, and hope your ghostwriter actually wrote what she submitted, rather than help herself to the Internet smorgasbord. Talk about being haunted.

Needless to say, I rarely recommend hiring a ghostwriter. Instead, consider hiring a writing coach, preferably someone who also understands copywriting. That way youll learn how to create selling points along the way -- and your sales letter will practically write itself when youre done.

(2) Editors take your work and create good products. Ideally, youll write everything you need and your editor can check spelling, tighten the prose, repair grammar errors and polish.

Good editors also dont work cheap, but for straight spelling-and-grammar, you can easily find help. And often hiring an editor can be a wise investment. You may get lucky with a virtual assistant who can edit, proofread and produce your publication.

(3) Copywriters create sales letters, web pages and sometimes press releases, ezines and e-books. Good copywriters will insist on obtaining strategic information so they can write to your target market, stressing your unique advantages.

Like ghostwriters, copywriters actually create your message. But were usually more than a shadowy presence: most business owners are proud to tell the world they hired a copywriter.

You may feel that you spend as much time working with your copywriter as youd spend writing your own copy, although the result will (hopefully) be far more effective and professional.

Actually, youre using your time wisely. A copywriter forces you to assess your strategy and actually write out success stories, target market descriptions and a benefits-features list. Most of us (even copywriters!) tend to skip these steps when writing our own copy. Were usually sorry afterwards.