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Years ago, I wrote\u00a0a critique<\/a>\u00a0of the practice of ghostwriting in Christian publishing, which put me in multiple difficult discussions with publishers and ghostwriters alike. I also joined several dozen other Christian writers in signing a letter to our publishers expressing our ethical objections to ghostwriting.<\/p>\n Just what is ghostwriting? It\u2019s when someone else writes a book that is credited to a celebrity as if he or she wrote it. The rationale is that because the real writer\u2019s name isn\u2019t well-known and marketable, the book won\u2019t sell well unless it\u2019s released under the celebrity\u2019s name.<\/p>\n I\u2019m not talking about the legitimate process of coauthoring, in which authors invest varying levels of work and expertise into the writing. Nor am I talking about books that, after being written, need substantial editing provided by the publisher. By ghostwriting, I\u2019m talking about when the actual writer\u2019s name is not on the cover, or when a person\u2019s name is on the cover (even as a coauthor with the real writer) who did little or nothing to write the book. It\u2019s perfectly fine to say this is a book about X written by Y. X\u2019s name can be more prominent that Y\u2019s since it\u2019s about him or her. BUT what\u2019s not fine, in my opinion, is to put X\u2019s name as the author of the book when they\u2019ve done nothing to actually write it.<\/p>\n I know of cases where the celebrity didn\u2019t write a word and only skimmed through the book for the first time late in the editing process. The book may be about them or say things they agree with. But is it honest to present them as the book\u2019s author?<\/p>\n Ask the average person what it means when a name is on a book cover, and they\u2019ll tell you it means the person actually wrote it. That\u2019s what book buyers believe. Hence, the book is sold to them under false pretenses. I\u2019ve been told, \u201cThe ghostwriter knows what he\u2019s agreeing to, and if he doesn\u2019t need to see his name on the book, that\u2019s up to him.\u201d But the question isn\u2019t what the ghostwriter or celebrity believes\u2014it\u2019s what the potential book-buyer believes, and is led to believe.<\/p>\n Isn\u2019t it reasonable for both Christians and non-Christians to be able to buy a Christian book with the confidence that the person identified on the book and publicized as the author actually wrote it?<\/p>\n There have been some improvements in the years since we sent that letter to Christian publishers, but as the following article from WORLD News Group points out, there are still no industry standards. My thanks to journalist Jenny Rough for this carefully researched, well-written, and informative article. (And yes, Jenny actually DID write it!)<\/p>\n <\/p> Writer Angela Hunt works fast. In her 30-year career, she\u2019s published over 180 books. \u201cI may not be the best writer in the world, but I do try to be fast and professional,\u201d she says. In the early days, she took whatever assignments she could. \u201cI wrote magazine articles, catalog copy, you know, anything anybody would pay me to write.\u201d One day a ministry representative asked Hunt to ghostwrite the biography of a famous preacher. She accepted the gig, and her career as a ghostwriter took off.<\/p>\n Ghostwriting is when one person writes a book, but it\u2019s published under somebody else\u2019s name. It\u2019s an umbrella term that covers two big branches. In the first, the writer\u2019s name doesn\u2019t appear anywhere\u00a0on<\/em>\u00a0or\u00a0in<\/em>\u00a0the book; the writer is a true phantom. In the second, the writer\u2019s name appears somewhere, usually in the acknowledgments or on the title page, but credit isn\u2019t obvious (here, some prefer the trendier term\u00a0collaborative writer<\/em>).<\/p>\n Ghosts write for authors who don\u2019t have the time, desire, or ability to craft a book. Ghostwriter Frank Ball says a lot of people have no idea what it takes to write a book: \u201cThey assume,\u00a0I can write this in my spare time over the weekend.<\/em>\u201d But writing a book involves multiple drafts of obsessively arranging and rearranging words, agonizing over sentence structure, and thinking deeply to develop a narrative arc. A speaker who excels at verbal communication doesn\u2019t necessarily have writing talent. Same with Biblical counselors\u2014they might be great at talk therapy, but their writing can be bogged down with clinical language. Ghostwriting has long been the standard practice of the industry in both secular and Christian publishing houses.<\/p>\n You\u2019ve probably heard of Gary Sinise, the Hollywood actor who played Lt. Dan in\u00a0Forrest Gump<\/em>. But have you heard of Marcus Brotherton? Brotherton wrote\u00a0Grateful American<\/em>, Sinise\u2019s book about converting to Catholicism and his military service work. Over the years Sinise poured his time and energy into founding Steppenwolf Theatre Company and honing his acting chops, not his English composition skills. When it came time for his book, he looked for help.<\/p>\n \u201cIt would have to be someone who could hear my voice and tune in naturally and easily to what I was trying to communicate,\u201d Sinise says. Sinise and Brotherton had lengthy conversations over FaceTime and met in person four times so Sinise could talk out his story. Brotherton, who received title page and acknowledgments credit for\u00a0Grateful American<\/em>, has also written books for Atlanta megachurch pastor Louie Giglio. He describes his job as \u201ctaking a person\u2019s work, whatever it is, and developing that into a written message.\u201d<\/p>\n Not all authors are as transparent as Sinise, who talked openly with WORLD about the partnership. Literary agent Madeleine Morel works with about 100 professional ghostwriters, including a coterie of ghostwriters who specialize in what she calls \u201csoft God\u201d books in the Christian market. Her unscientific guess is that 60 to 70 percent of books on\u00a0The New York Times<\/em>\u00a0nonfiction bestseller list are ghostwritten. Joey Paul, senior acquisitions editor for Thomas Nelson and Zondervan, thinks the practice is less common with Christian nonfiction books. (Paul defines ghostwriting more narrowly than Morel does and would exclude certain collaborative projects from the term.)<\/p>\n Adam Bellow, formerly of Broadside Books, the conservative nonfiction imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, says almost all politicians\u2019 books are ghosted, and that Sarah Palin and Ted Cruz had ghostwriters for books he published. He notes that most ghostwriters earn about $30,000 to $60,000 for a book but that some may receive as much as $250,000 plus participation in royalties.<\/p>\n Having a skilled writer at the keyboard is smart, but critics of ghostwriting say trouble pops up when it\u2019s unclear to book buyers that the author and writer are two different people.<\/p>\n Read the rest.<\/a><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Photo by\u00a0Glenn Carstens-Peters<\/a>\u00a0on\u00a0Unsplash<\/a><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Years ago, I wrote\u00a0a critique\u00a0of the practice of ghostwriting in Christian publishing, which put me in multiple difficult discussions with publishers and ghostwriters alike. I also joined several dozen other Christian writers in signing a letter to our publishers expressing our ethical objections to ghostwriting. Just what is ghostwriting? It\u2019s when someone else writes a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2661,"featured_media":3207,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[193],"tags":[1036,1635,2451,2457,2454,2445,1359,2460,1229,2448,1214],"class_list":["post-3204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-writing","tag-author","tag-book","tag-celebrity","tag-credit","tag-critique","tag-ghostwriting","tag-letter","tag-name","tag-publishers","tag-world-news-group","tag-write"],"yoast_head":"\n\n
Invisible Hands<\/strong><\/h4>\n