Ghost Writers

pugwall

I just read my brothers higher Level Paper 1 English LC exam and on of the comprehensions featured a Ghost Writer and his story.

I was wondering how prevalent are ghost writers.

Do many Irish 'authors' use ghost writers to write best selling novels for them?

Well known/household name + ghost writer = Best seller? hmm interesting...

claire h

Ghost writers really only tend to be used for series fiction, the kind of stuff that isn't so popular anymore but was very big in the 80s and 90s for children's/teenage fiction - quite a lot of the Babysitters Club series was ghost-written, the Nancy Drew books had ghost writers ('Carolyn Keene' was in fact several different people), etc. They're also used for celebrity 'written' books but fairly often there'll be some kind of credit - a 'with' in there somewhere, or an acknowledgement of some kind.

I can't think of a single Irish author who is producing enough work per year to need a ghost writer. Darren Shan is fairly prolific but a book every few months isn't that unusual for a full-time writer, particularly if the books are in a series.

NADA

Yeah. I did this exam in the Leaving Cert and never heard of Ghost writers before then. It was quite interesting. I am starting to wonder do any of the authors I love Ghost Write. Also why would you Ghost write? Would you not be better off writing your own money by being an author yourself. I don't understand this. Can somebody explain?

claire h

NADA wrote:

Also why would you Ghost write? Would you not be better off writing your own money by being an author yourself. I don't understand this. Can somebody explain?

It really does tend only to be used for books that are in series, or that are celebrity-associated. So say you're writing for a series. The characters are already there, you get an outline approved by the writer whose name it's going under (or else by the editor), you expand upon the outline and produce a book. Probably not the most rewarding work in the world, but at least you're writing something that you definitely know is going to be published, and you know you're going to get paid (ghost writers for series fiction tend to get a flat fee, rather than royalties). Or say you're being asked to ghostwrite an 'autobiography' of a celebrity (or, in rare cases, fiction - Pamela Anderson got a ghostwriter to pen her fiction book, which is definitely unusual) - you know that it's going to get published, and you know you're going to get paid.

Being "an author yourself" involves a whole lot of uncertainty - the actual writing and revision of a novel can take years, then there's the submitting to agents or publishers, and *then* even after something's been accepted, it'll take at least a year for it to appear in shops. So I imagine a lot of ghost-writing is done by people who are also working on their own stuff, but still want to put food on the table.

NADA

claire h wrote:

It really does tend only to be used for books that are in series, or that are celebrity-associated. So say you're writing for a series. The characters are already there, you get an outline approved by the writer whose name it's going under (or else by the editor), you expand upon the outline and produce a book. Probably not the most rewarding work in the world, but at least you're writing something that you definitely know is going to be published, and you know you're going to get paid (ghost writers for series fiction tend to get a flat fee, rather than royalties). Or say you're being asked to ghostwrite an 'autobiography' of a celebrity (or, in rare cases, fiction - Pamela Anderson got a ghostwriter to pen her fiction book, which is definitely unusual) - you know that it's going to get published, and you know you're going to get paid.

Being "an author yourself" involves a whole lot of uncertainty - the actual writing and revision of a novel can take years, then there's the submitting to agents or publishers, and *then* even after something's been accepted, it'll take at least a year for it to appear in shops. So I imagine a lot of ghost-writing is done by people who are also working on their own stuff, but still want to put food on the table.

You know I never looked at it like that. Do you know Lee Child? He writes a thriller series about an ex military cop? Would you say he Ghost writes?

claire h

NADA wrote:

You know I never looked at it like that. Do you know Lee Child? He writes a thriller series about an ex military cop? Would you say he Ghost writes?

The thing is it's usually impossible to tell. If books are coming out very frequently, it can be a sign that ghost writers are involved - on the other hand, some full-time writers (particularly those writing 'genre' fiction) can produce 10,000 words a day. Especially for series fiction, it's hard to tell whether something is coming from a ghost writer adhering to an outline and working towards a tight deadline (and rushing things) or whether it's the author whose name is on the cover.

Have just read the LC comphrension about ghost-writing. The whole anonymous thing doesn't really apply so much anymore, I think. A ghost writer might be thanked for their 'help with preparation of the manuscript', or the copyright page might indicate the work is copyright to both the author and a packaging company (packaging companies 'prepare work' for publication, and sometimes ghostwriters are involved). Series fiction will have a 'created by' on the front cover and then a 'written by' credit inside. But I'm sure there are a couple of writers who get stuff ghost-written for them... just don't think that there can be that many.