Premium Ghostwriting Academy Review 2026: Nicolas Cole's 3 Pillars of Success + A Passive Alternative

What Are the Pros and Cons of Premium Ghostwriting Academy?

Price: Premium Ghostwriting Academy costs $6,800, according to several reviews.

Refund Policy: Premium Ghostwriting Academy has no refund policy.

Origin: Premium Ghostwriting Academy was launched in 2023.

What Is Premium Ghostwriting Academy's 3 Pillars of Success?

1. Premium Positioning. The first pillar is all about authority and specialization. You’ll start by selecting a niche or industry that aligns with your strengths and market demand. From there, they help you establish yourself online as a trusted advisor and premium ghostwriter, not just another freelancer.
2. Premium Packaging. Next, you're taught how to write, launch, and sell packaged services. Instead of charging by the hour or page, you’ll learn to create writing packages that earn higher fees and build trust faster. However, I should tell you that they only focus on 3 types of ghostwriting: email courses, newsletters, and social media.
3. Premium Prospecting. The team will show you how to start and lead client conversations that feel natural, helpful, and not salesy. Premium Ghostwriting Academy claims that this pillar helped them sell over $5M in ghostwriting services.

What Is a Premium Ghostwriter?

A premium ghostwriter is a writer who gets paid high fees to create content that someone else publishes under their own name. Instead of doing cheap, one-off blog posts, ghostwriters focus on high-value projects like thought-leadership articles, books, email sequences, and signature content for personal brands.

Ghostwriters don’t just “write nicely.” They help shape ideas, messaging, and positioning, then turn that into content that attracts better clients and opportunities for the person hiring them.

According to Premium Ghostwriting Academy, this is the fastest way for writers to “earn a lucrative living.” Because of their strategic role, ghostwriters usually work long-term with a small number of people and charge thousands per project or per month, rather than low, per-word or per-hour rates.

What Do You Get Inside Premium Ghostwriting Academy?

• Full-stack ghostwriting service. PGA teaches three core services: 5-day educational email courses (EEC), newsletters, and social media content. First, you learn to build EECs, which they call a revenue-critical asset for any business. Then they show you how to turn that project into monthly newsletter and social content retainers, so you can sell a full content package at premium rates.

• Private Slack channel. You're given your own private Slack space where you can message the team, ask questions, submit your work, and schedule 1:1 calls with your coach.

• 9-module curriculum hosted in Skool. This is your main study guide. Instead of a regular online course, where you just read everything, it comes with assignments after each module. You have to submit this to your Slack channel for your coach to give feedback on it. So it's a very interactive course.

  

• Community. You'll join a community of hundreds of writers, from complete beginners to seasoned ghostwriters. This is a great opportunity to build a supportive professional network.

• Live mentorship. Premium Ghostwriting Academy hosts 4 live one-hour Zoom sessions each week. Here, they talk about niche, content, tech, automation, sales, outreach, hot seat, and workshops.

• Premium Ghostwriting Blueprint. This is a FREE 5-day email course. It walks you through landing your first $5,000 ghostwriting client, even as a complete beginner.

Who Is Premium Ghostwriting Academy For?

Premium Ghostwriting Academy is for:

• Freelance writers who want to earn more.
• 9-5 workers looking for a side hustle or career switch.
• Anyone who loves writing and wants to earn from it.

Premium Ghostwriting Academy says you can join even if you have no writing experience. They'll teach you how to be good at it.

However, in my opinion, you have to at least enjoy writing. Since it's a hands-on business model, you'll find yourself writing a lot of content most days. If you don't like that, then pretty soon, it will be no different than going to that office job you hate.

Does Premium Ghostwriting Academy Have Upsells?

Yes, Premium Ghostwriting Academy has upsells, including:

• Liftoff (PGA Extension). This is a next-level program for students who need a little more help before they're ready to scale. Liftoff offers even closer support and a smaller group. The goal is to get you into consistent $5-$10k+ clients. However, because it’s still in beta, there isn’t much student data available yet.
• Velocity Mastermind. This is an in-person event for the ghostwriters in Premium Ghostwriting Academy. Here, you hang out with Nicolas Cole, the team, and other top students, talk strategy, work through bigger business problems, and build relationships. It’s less about basic ghostwriting skills and more about how to think and operate like a high-level business owner. One review said that they paid 5 figures to attend.
• Premium Ghostwriting Mastermind (PGM). This is another in-person event for top ghostwriter students. It focuses on scaling ghostwriting into a real agency, raising prices, and building better systems. Multiple posts and student stories show people joining this after their time in PGA and/or Liftoff.

Besides these direct upsells, you’ll also see a bunch of cross-sell offers. They’re part of the larger business Nicolas Cole runs with his business partner, Dickie Bush. These aren’t strictly part of Premium Ghostwriting Academy, but they’re promoted through their emails, podcast, and content:

• Ship 30 for 30. A beginner-friendly writing challenge where you publish every day for 30 days and get used to writing online in public.
• Write With AI. A paid newsletter that shows writers how to plug AI into their workflow using practical prompts, examples, and simple systems.
• LinkedIn AI. An AI-driven toolkit and prompt library to help you spin up LinkedIn hooks, posts, and content much faster.
• 3P Playbook. A lower-ticket offer that walks writers through positioning, pricing, and packaging so they can raise rates and aim for $100k+/year.
• Ghostwriter GPT / Social Ghostwriter GPT. AI prompt packs and workflows designed to help ghostwriters find better clients and deliver content more efficiently.
• AI Content Agent Cohort. A live cohort where they help you build an “AI content agent” that takes over more of your content ideas and publishing.
• Velocity Agency / Vortex / other masterminds. Higher-level done-for-you and mastermind offers for more advanced business owners who want direct help implementing their systems.

What Are Alternatives to Premium Ghostwriting Academy?

• Performance Copywriter Method (Shiv Shetti). This course is all about writing emails and sales pages that actually move products. Shiv shows you how to craft performance-based copy, so instead of flat fees, your writing is good enough that you can get paid on results.
• The Real World Copywriting Campus (Andrew Tate). This teaches the basics of persuasive writing: headlines, hooks, offers, and sales messages that get people to click, reply, or buy. It’s framed as a simple way to learn how to write copy that makes money, even if you’re new.
• The PDF Method 2.0 (Ewan Davies). Here you learn how to use AI to draft the content for simple PDFs, then tighten up the hooks, pages, and promo copy that sell them. It’s less about long-form “artsy” writing and more about clear, direct copy that makes those PDFs profitable.

Who Is Nicolas Cole?

Nicolas Cole is a successful writer, teacher, and co-founder of multiple writing businesses. He is known as one of the highest-paid ghostwriters in the world.

Nicolas has been obsessed with writing since he started publishing online at 17. He first blogged about his experiences as a World of Warcraft gamer. In 2015, he became the #1 most-read writer on Quora. In 2016, he was one of Inc Magazine's highest-performing contributing writers.

Nicolas decided to turn his passion into a full-scale business. He co-founded Digital Press, which he describes as the first ghostwriting agency focused on thought-leadership content for founders and executives. Within 2 years, he scaled it to around $2M in annual revenue and 20+ employees. Besides that, Nicolas has ghostwritten for 300+ industry leaders.

To help other writers and even non-writers follow his path, Nicolas co-founded Premium Ghostwriting Academy with his business partner, Dickie Bush, along with other digital writing programs like Ship 30 for 30, Write With AI, and several smaller ghostwriting offers. He also publishes free content on YouTube, social media, his Substack newsletters, and Coffee With Cole: The Digital Writing Podcast. Here, he talks about the art and business of digital writing and ghostwriting.

Who Is Dickie Bush?

Dickie Bush is Nicolas Cole’s business partner and co-founder of several of his main offers. He's more of the behind-the-scenes guy. But that doesn't mean he isn't a successful writer, too. Dickie says he operates a $6M/year and even $600k/month digital writing operation. On top of the courses, he publishes regularly on X and Substack (“Dickie’s Digest”) and hosts the “Dickie Bush Audio” podcast, where he talks about digital writing, systems, and building leverage as a creator.

What Does Nicolas Cole Promise?

Nicolas Cole promises that anyone can become a premium ghostwriter and earn over $5,000 to $8,000 per month. With his Premium Ghostwriting Academy course and guidance, he teaches students how to write educational email courses. Because these are revenue-critical assets for any business owner, you can charge premium prices for your writing services.

Can Anyone Become a Premium Ghostwriter?

Yes, anyone can become a premium ghostwriter, but only excellent writers who actually enjoy writing can succeed. Today, potential clients can easily fire up AI in seconds. You have to be noticeably better than AI content, not just "good enough". That means sharp ideas, clear structure, and a voice that sounds persuasive. Without this, you'll have a hard time convincing big clients to trust you, let alone hire and pay you a huge salary.

Sure, Premium Ghostwriting Academy teaches you how to write and package your offer, but you also need to love writing. As a ghostwriter, most of your days are spent at the keyboard cranking out words, revising drafts, and thinking about clients’ ideas, not your own. This isn’t some set-and-forget business model. It’s a daily, hands-on grind, and if you don’t genuinely enjoy writing, it’s going to feel like another job you can’t escape.

Even if you're an excellent writer who loves the job, a strong writing portfolio is still necessary. Writing coach Elna Cain says clients expect ghostwriters to “be a chameleon.” You have to be able to quickly adapt to other writing styles. One Reddit user points out that ghostwriting today is intensely competitive. Attracting high-value clients is difficult without a large and diverse portfolio. Ghostwriters may only increase their rates as they satisfy clients and gain more experience.

Is Premium Ghostwriting Academy Worth It?

Premium Ghostwriting Academy is worth it if you're passionate about writing. It's not just a course that you study on your own. You're given writing assignments that your coach will review and help improve. Nicolas Cole and his team also provide ready support throughout your time with them.

However, the course is very expensive. You have to be willing to spend $6,800 to get this kind of coaching. And you might not even make your money back, because landing high-paying clients is hard, especially for beginners. So it's a big risk and is not worth it for those who are not really great writers or those who don't really enjoy writing.

Premium Ghostwriting Academy is also not worth it if you're looking for passive income or a side hustle. This business requires a lot of time and dedication. The moment you stop writing, you lose clients and income. That’s why I’d recommend the local SEO lead generation business model instead if you want something more passive and secure.

Why Local SEO Lead Generation Is Better Than Ghostwriting?

Local SEO lead generation is better than ghostwriting because it’s easier to land high-paying clients, and it’s a much more passive business model. With local SEO lead gen, you're not a newbie ghostwriter competing with established writers. Instead, you're a digital real estate owner who builds small business websites. Your goal is to rank these sites on Google by targeting a specific area and niche. Once you reach the top local search engine rankings, your site will attract traffic and leads. You sell these leads to actual businesses in the area. From my experience, local SEO lead gen clients are happy to pay a fixed monthly fee or a 5-10% cut of the deals they close from your leads.

Here's a side-by-side breakdown for local SEO lead generation vs ghostwriting:

In my opinion, ghostwriting is like being the backstage crew for Coldplay. You set up the stage. You test the mics. You run the lights. You make sure the entire show goes off without a hitch. BUT nobody knows your name, you're not earning royalties, you don't own any part of the songs, and you're invisible to the audience.

Meanwhile, local SEO lead generation is like being the owner of MetLife Stadium. Once built, you don’t need to sing, write, or show up on stage. But guess what? Every time there's a concert (a lead), every time someone buys a ticket (a business closes a sale), every time someone walks through the door (traffic from Google), you get paid.

Local SEO Lead Generation Is My #1 Business For Passive Income

Local SEO lead generation is my #1 business for passive income because it allows me to enjoy myself without any worries. Consider my website, Thousand Oaks Custom Metal & Electric Gates, 1022 East Avenida De Los Arboles, Thousand Oaks, CA 91360, 805-800-8922 https://www.thousandoaksmetalgates.com/. The leads from this site generate about $44,000 each month for my client, who then pays me a 10% commission of about $4,400. This is entirely passive. I did the bulk of my work on the front end and now watch income roll in.

If you're interested, I run a local SEO lead gen coaching program with over 7,4000 students. I teach my repeatable 3-step process to ensure profitability and scalability. Go check it out! You can also work for one of my roofing clients for a 1% to 5% commission.