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Welcome to another blog hop. Today’s topic is:
Ghost writers. Let’s talk about the good, the bad, and the ugly.
I’m no expert in this field, but all I do know is that I don’t agree with it. Almost every famous actor/’celebrity’ (sometimes even royalty) can find the time in their busy lives to bash out a book or a series of books. Agents no doubt all vie to represent these celebrities, as the authors are well known and therefore they know the books will sell in their thousands or even millions.
However, has the celebrity really written their book? They have given an outline to a ghost writer who will write it for them, and so hey, surely the ghost writer is the author? Hmm…
Over the past few years I have watched a TV programme of a sheep farming husband and wife who live in Yorkshire and have 9 children. They are busy from dawn to dusk looking after their family and the hundreds of sheep roaming over their many acres of land, and due to the TV programme they have become quite well known (their eldest son now has a TV programme of his own). Therefore, how on earth does the wife find time to sit down and write a series of books about their lives as well as doing everything else? Maybe she dictates to a ghost writer in-between shearing sheep, looking for lost sheep, or cooking for her large brood. Who knows? All I do know is that surprise, surprise, she has had no difficulty in finding a literary agent.
Celebrities know they can pass over the hard work of writing a book to a ghost writer, and it will sell even if they have not personally written it. That doesn’t seem right to me – it should be the ghost writer who collects all the royalties. He or she has sat burning the candle at both ends to make money for the celebrity and the agent, who are both probably already millionaires, but how much money do the real authors themselves earn for such an endeavour? I suspect not as much as the celebrity or agent. It doesn’t seem fair to me, but then again a lot of things in this world aren’t fair where money is concerned.
Let’s see what other blog-hoppers have to say regarding ghost writers:
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Stevie Turner 
Half of Hollywood didn’t even go to college. From what I know, they are interviewed by the writer and the writer creates. Lol, I hardly believe most have no clue how to outline. 🙂 Celebrities sell. 🙂 xx
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Yes they do, and they know it. x
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Fact. xx
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Writing to topic for $ is just a job, and many, even uncredited ghost writers get a cut. What is objectionable is the celebrity to publishing deal, but that’s been going on forever. Faulkner beat on it on 1927. I have a book review coming where this subject, not necessarily the moral issues, is most of the plot. Strangely enough written by British author Wendy Holden. I’ll also say that many times the truly unsung hero of a lot of trash to page is the mainstream publisher editor because the “ghost” is no more competent than the ones dictating their scandalously effervescent life stories.
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Ah, is that the book about Diana’s childhood?
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No, mine is from Holden’s “Bridget Jones’ Diary” phase after she got promoted from publisher’s gopher and assistant to author. Her later phases have been the more Lucy Worsley minus the tongue in cheek histories.
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Ah, you get Ms Worsley over there too? She’s everywhere here when it comes to programmes about royalty and historical palaces.
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My opinion is the same as yours, Stevie. Hopefully, they’re up front about there being a ghost writer, but it seems disingenuous (at best) to take credit for someone else’s work.
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Yes, both authors’ names should be on the cover.
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I agree with you wholeheartedly, Stevie. Anyone who employs a ghost writer is lazy. If you can talk, you can write your own book, for heavens sake!
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Lazy, or just cashing in on their name.
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I agree with you. It does seem poor form to slap your name as author on a book cover that someone else has written. If everyone were being honest, they would call the book an authorized biography.
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I suppose it’s the celebrity’s name though that readers are looking for.
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I suppose you’re right. I stay away from celebrity memoirs.
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Hi Stevie, I read a review of a book ‘written’ by Sarah Ferguson recently. I know she had help with writing the book but there was no acknowledgement on the cover of this assistance. I thought pretty much along the lines of what you’ve written here. It annoys me that celebrities just can’t stay out of anything and effectively steal money from people like ghost writers. As you say, nothing is sacrosanct where money is concerned in this world of ours.
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Celebrities are vain creatures who need to stay in the public eye. They’re too busy polishing their egos to write a book, but they know that any drivel written about them by a ghost writer will make them even more money.
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I know, sigh!
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Did Barbara Cartland employ ghost writers or was all that drivel her own doing?
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Any ghost writer probably refused to wear pink, and so she had to write the books herself!
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🤣
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All that’s required is a little honesty, if someone has help, why not admit it?
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Ghost writing reminds me of the famous painters in history who employed talented apprentices to paint like them and then passed them off as original works. This film took the subject of ghost-writing to a new level! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ghost_Writer_(film)
Best wishes, Pete.
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Sounds like a good film, thanks Pete. Yes, I’ve heard about the apprentice artists too.
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I read somewhere that some of the popular thriller authors have a cast of writers who use the same formula to pump several books a year. Plausible? When you read a book and you feel like you’ve read it before, it sure does.
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Yes, it sounds plausible to me.
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That was true of the Hardy Boys and the Nancy Drew books. Their authors didn’t exist. They were written by a “writer pool.”
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Really? I didn’t know that.
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When I first learned that, I had a hard time wrapping my head around it. How could this be???
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Life is full of disappointments, lol.
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That’s been my experience, anyway! 😀
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Interesting. Did not know that! Thanks!
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You’re welcome!
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When I was a kid I didn’t look at the author’s name – I just enjoyed the stories.
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Some authors lend their name and co-write with another author, but give them credit. I’m good with that.
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I was asked to ghost write a story once. Not anyone famous, just someone with a good idea but didn’t have the time, or skills to write it himself. He was willing to pay well too. I would have done it but in the end his daughter grew up and wrote it for him.
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