Ghostwriting: A Writing World of Illusion

We read other people's words every day - so why am I bothered by the idea of ghostwriting? Perhaps it has something to do with my newfound understanding of the illusion we prescribe to when it comes to this side of the publishing industry. 

I have pictured the cover for the 2012 film The Ghost Writer (based on Robert Harris' novel, The Ghost) directed by Roman Polanski and staring Ewan McGreggor and Pierce Brosnan. It wasn't a major hit but the concept might have opened a few eyes of who really writes some of these 'Best Sellers' by the famed and notorious.

According to Wikipedia...

A ghostwriter is a writer who writes books, articles, stories, reports, or other texts that are officially credited to another person. Celebrities, executives, and political leaders often hire ghostwriters to draft or edit autobiographies, magazine articles, or other written material. In music, ghostwriters are often used for writing songs and lyrics for popular music genres.

A fairly straightforward definition but the term that bothered me the most was "officially credited to another person." Is this another form of lying? Because it's "officially okay" with the people producing the book to not be truthful about who wrote it - does this make it okay with us as readers?

Ghostwriting can include everything from editing and revising a rough draft to fully writing a book based on an outline provided by the credited author. That's a large spectrum to consider. Editing and revising sounds reasonable and yet writing an entire manuscript from an outline sounds like...full fledged authorship. Wikipedia goes on to give examples for non-fiction and fiction ghostwriter postitions:

Non-Fiction

• For some projects, ghostwriters will do a substantial amount of research, as in the case of a ghostwriter who is hired to write an autobiography for a well-known person.

So when we read a book by a celebrity or political figure - non-fiction books that people often read to gain insight on the supposed famous person and their life - their poetic prose might be something they only 'approved.' 

Fiction

• Ghostwriters are also hired to write fiction in the style of an existing author, often as a way of increasing the number of books that can be published by a popular author (e.g., Tom Clancy, James Patterson). 

Now, this is where I sort of cringe. When I buy a book by a published fiction author, I guess I have this blissful notion that they actually wrote the novel. Am I the only one in this boat? In some cases a credited writer will acknowlege their ghostwriter but it is NOT required. And usually, ghostwriting agreements strictly prohibit publicly sharing the work you have done for others so it's unlikely you'll ever see a ghostwriter standing up to say "Those words are mine." 

 

Obviously, using a pseudonymn or pen name is a long-standing and widely acceptable practice in the world of publishing but this feels different to me. If John C. Author writes his books under the name Nick O. Time - it's still John who is actually doing the writing. But if John C. Author writes a book for, let's say...Stephen King or J.K. Rowling - that seems a little deceptive. (I am not implying that either of these authors use ghostwriters. I was merely using their names and reputations as well known authors as an example). You may think that this rarely happens but everything I've read says that some publishers push their well-known writers to hire ghostwriters so that they can produce more (money-making) books throughout their careers. What if you found out that your favorite author only wrote half of the books you've read?
 

Beyond Reading for Enjoyment

Apparently, ghostwriting extends into the business world as well. It is a practiced method that professionals use ghostwriters to enhance or establish credibility. The ghostwriter does the research on a topic, writes the book for this person who can now 'claim' their are an 'expert' on this topic because of course - they've been published.

 

Medical ghostwriting is another side of the industry in which pharmaceutical companies pay both professional writers to produce papers and then pay other scientists or physicians to attach their names to these papers before they are published in medical or scientific journals.

 

And of course, blog ghostwriting for companies is in huge fashion right now. The same person might write as multiple people for a company blog AND as the people commenting on the blog posts.  
 

An Educational Double Standard

The only area that I could find in which ghostwriting is taboo is as a student. It seems widely recognized that if you are a student who submits a paper to your professor that has been written by someone else (a ghostwriter) - you can be given a failing grade or even expelled. Plagarism is a major offense among universities and colleges across the country. What is humorous is that a professor can legally hire a ghostwriter and produce the textbook requred for the class. That is allowed but as a student - the originality of your work cannot falter.

 

And by the way - ghostwriting among the student body is in full force. Staggering numbers of students are still avidly having other people do their homework, write their papers and essays and more.  

 

So here I sit, feeling slightly betrayed as I wonder if my favorite quotes from novels and non-fiction masterpieces are from the credited author or some other nameless (albeit possibly brilliant) writer. To those men and women...

"Thank you for your words - I wish I had known they were yours."