Ghostwriting: Is it ethical?

“However, I often work with clients to produce a finished product – a newspaper column, a blog post, a letter – that is credited to the client, not to me.”

I’m in the same situation that you are in. No one has contacted me to ghostwrite a celebrity book for them. However, nearly every company that I do technical and business writing for owns the writing when we are finished and I usually do not get a byline or any type of credit other than a paycheck. In a sense, that’s sort of like ghostwriting and it doesn’t bother me nor do I see it as unethical.

Would I have trouble ghostwriting a book for a celebrity to pass off as their own? Truthfully, I haven’t thought too much about it. Probably because I’m not being approached for this type of work. So far, I’ve turned down assignments because I felt the content was unethical (promoting something immoral and/or illegal). I’ve also accepted and completed a developmental edit for a writer (in this case, extensive editing and suggestions to improve her text).

I can see instances where it might be okay for a Christian to do ghostwriting–such as writing something that is obviously a fake. (Say, a blog from the perspective of the family pet.) What about if the celebrity has the ideas and a poorly written text and you come in and clean it up? I don’t think that I’d have a problem with that. Except for blogging, most writers go through a series of editors before their work ever sees the light of day.

Interesting post. I look forward to seeing more comments.

I haven’t ever been asked to ghostwrite something for a celebrity, but one time I was asked to write a thesis. The student, a mature woman who had returned to graduate school after being out of school for many years, was stuck and didn’t think she could finish. Someone referred her to me, and when we discussed how I could help her, she asked if I would just take her research and what she had written so far and just finish the project. I told her I couldn’t do that, and I didn’t think that was what she really wanted. She was just totally frustrated.

So she came to my office many times over the next few weeks, and I pulled the thesis from her. I let her dictate to me, and I typed when she said. When she wasn’t clear, I asked her questions, and when she was getting off-topic (her biggest problem was trying to use every fact she learned in her research whether it had anything to do with the subject of the thesis or not), I pulled her back in line. After she finished the thesis and finally got her degree (she had been given an extension to finish the thesis), she told me she was really glad I “made” her do it herself (with a lot of help from me). She was really proud of her accomplishment and would have felt guilt if I had actually done the work.

This situation seems similar to me to the situation you describe of a celebrity who has a poorly-written manuscript that you clean it up. I think it’s substantive editing, as the ideas belong to the person who gets credit as author. But some people might consider this ghostwriting.

The kind of ghostwriting I have a problem with is when a celebrity (or anyone) hires someone to write a book – especially fiction, gives them just a vague idea of a plot, isn’t involved in the writing process at all, then takes full credit and claims he wrote it. That, to me, is deceptive. If, however, the author gets a lot of help and doesn’t blatantly claim he did it all himself, I don’t have a problem with that. My clients usually thank me for my editorial help in the acknowledgements, though, of course, I don’t get a byline. While I’m not looking for public thanks, the acknowledgement removes the deception that the “author” had no help. After all, every book published has a lot of help from a lot of people along the road to publication.

Frankly, I see nothing wrong with ghostwriting. I’m paid well for my expertise, and I see it as a service much like editing. Not all of us are fantastic spellers, nor do we all understand the finer points of sentence structure. Using the “ghostwriting is wrong” hypothesis, wouldn’t it be fair to say that it’s equally wrong to pay someone to edit our work rather than learning how to be better writers?

I don’t see it as Devon does, and I respect her immensely. I don’t see it as a cheapening of our profession. I see it as presenting good stories instead of flooding the bookshelves with horribly written drivel written by a celeb. That to me would be much more demeaning to what we do, which is to take someone else’s idea and put it together coherently for them. They’re involved in the process at every step and they have final say over how that book looks. I’m merely providing the skills.

Thanks for the comment, Lori.

I think there’s a lot of overlap between heavy editing and ghostwriting. If the client is involved in the process and has the final say, that, to me, is different from a situation where someone hires a writer to write a novel. We all know if you give the same concept to ten different writers, you’ll get ten very different stories, even in different genres. For the person who came up with the original idea to claim credit for the book if they didn’t have any further involvement in it seems deceptive to me.

But it sounds like what you’re doing is a lot like what I do with some of my clients – take their information and ideas and help them shape their thoughts into something coherent. I’m not coming up with an original story for someone else to take credit for.

It would have been wrong by my standards if I had written the thesis in the situation I described in the reply to the previous comment. A thesis is supposed to demonstrate the student’s research and knowledge. I did a lot of editing to help the student make sense of her research, but she did the research and gained the knowledge. And in the end, she was glad I didn’t do it all for her.

Every writer has to determine for herself what she is comfortable doing, and it sounds like you’re very comfortable with what you do. That’s what’s important.

I think we agree, Lillie. I would also object to writing from scratch with no client input whatsoever and then someone else putting their name on it. It’s a collaborative process, as is most ghostwriting. I say “most” because I’ve found that a few “companies” hire writers to conceputalize, write and then sign over all rights to works they claim as their own. I have no idea what writer would even consider working under such an arrangement.

Also too, I think sometimes we writers have a bit of trouble separating our egos from our work. I’m not saying everyone who has moral objections to ghostwriting are really more against the perceived notion of someone claiming the writer’s work as their own. I’m saying that for some writers (and I’ve worked with a few), even the mere suggestion that a piece be altered is enough to send them into a tizzy, much less the suggestion that they write someone else’s ideas down for them and allow them to put their names to it. It’s not for everyone. That’s fine. It’s also not unethical to be a ghostwriter. It’s merely a choice of what kind of work to accept.

Well-said, Lori. Whether or not to ghostwrite, just like whether or not to write erotica or devotionals or novels or blogs, is a decision of the kind of work a writer chooses to do.

Laura has a great discussion going on over at Writing Thoughts. If you’re interested in this subject, I encourage you to read it.

I don’t think you can paint all ‘ghostwriting’ with the same brush. For instance, I do resume and business writing which I don’t get any sort of credit for other than paycheck, nor should I – it’s a service. I do think that when you’re selling your writing in that manner, where the customer then owns your words infinitum, you should make certain you’re paid accordingly – too many new writers short change themselves – remember the owner can use that copy for years and update as they like.

Webcontent is another area where I see no ethical dilemma in ghosting. However, the e-book phenomenon is, what I see as, a bit less than ethical to the final consumer. I’ve ghostwritten a few ebooks and as the writer I’m responsible for all of the research in most cases. And, while I won’t take the assignment if I can’t deliver a well researched final copy, I don’t know that other writers are in the position to give expert advice on some of these topics – often I’d say not, as many of these jobs are going to very low bidders. But where are the ebooks being purchased? On sites run by touted experts where the consumer believes the information they purchase to be reliable.

That opens up another can of worms entirely – the flux of writers taking extremely low pay for their work… many up their writing speed, but I can’t see how this would produce good content, so either you’re handing in schlock work at a meager wage or you’re handing in good work for a pittance – again, without credit… Unfortunately, there are an abundance of writers willing to do this which makes jobs which pay decently for ghosting harder to find.

I wouldn’t ghost write fiction and I have to agree that I dislike the practice, but I wouldn’t call it unethical either. It’s really up to the writer whether they want to give away that much of themselves.

Well, that’s my two cents – I’m off to check all of the links you’ve provided.

Thanks for your thoughtful comment, Merry.

I remember being on a teleseminar listening to a well-known Internet guru talking about how to make money with e-books. His advice was exactly what you said – go to elance or guru.com and hire a writer for $300 or $400. Then sell the e-book for $29.95 or $49.95 or more to consumers who think they are getting advice from the guru. I don’t think that’s fair to the writer (who was only paid a few hundred dollars that the guru earned in a dozen sales) or to the consumer (who thought they were getting advice from an expert in a particular topic).

However, I don’t think Web content or resume or business writing is the same thing at all. No one is taking advantage of anyone else – the writer and client agree on a price both consider fair, the writer earns money, and the client delivers information to Web visitors or whoever. Of course, what constitutes a fair price is a whole other topic that would generate an equal amount of discussion. But, there is no deception involved.

There is a lot of gray area, but I guess for me, the dividing line is whether there is deception or cheating. For example, I wouldn’t write academic papers – either for an individual student or for a term paper mill – but I don’t have a problem editing academic papers if the student has the knowledge of the subject but needs help conveying what they know.

This is a fascinating discussion!

Hi again, Lillie!

It is an excellent discussion – I’ve just posted one on my blog, “Ethics in Ghostwriting” answering Laura Spencer’s five questions and asking other writers to do the same. It’s an interesting topic and I can’t wait to see the responses.

As for your guru, that’s exactly the ethical dilemma I’m talking about. I was hired to do an ebook on painting – which was fine because I have a background in art, not only study but application and I’ve worked with the medium well enough to write on the subject well – on the other end of the spectrum, though, what about the writer who doesn’t know anything about this topic and is researching online and selling it as knowledge. Then too, it soured me a bit on ghostwritten ebooks because the client didn’t include anything that indicated they were interested in how the book was written – I’m both an artist and writer, so I can’t understand an artist putting their name on an instructional without actually supplying the information. Every painter I’ve ever met has their own techniques and favored manufacturers, papers, brushes… they can talk on it for hours – let alone subject matter… makes you wonder how valid the information is out there, doesn’t it? I mean, who is it that’s really selling that ebook – I’m guessing he’s not really an artist?

Merry

Thanks for continuing this fascinating conversation, Merry. I encourage everyone to read the continuing discussion at Mom and More.

Hi Lillie

I’ve linked to you on this in my own post on the topic, in response to Laura’s challenge at Writing Thoughts. You’ve really added some interesting and informative insights.

Thanks

Yvonne
Grow Your Writing Business

Thanks, Yvonne. You posted an insightful message, and I hope everyone following this conversation reads it.

Thank you for the invitation to read this conversation. I’m really not informed enough about the market to make any firm comments one way or the other regarding the ethics, except in the instance of Christian books. Because faith is what it is, I admit I would feel cheated to find out that I relied on for help in the journey was not written by the person to whom it was attributed. When I read a book like that, I’m asking for that person’s advice. Not someone else’s.

Okay, one more. I also think it’s unethical to use a ghost writer for a school assignment. Help like you gave, no problem. But to actually have someone else do all the work, no.

Hi Lillie

Thanks. I’ve since updated my post to direct readers to your site to read the comments on your topic. It really is an interesting discussion.

Yvonne

Thanks for your comment, Cass. I think we’re on the same wavelength.

And thanks, Yvonne, for the update to your post. There are some excellent comments here.

I posted part 2 of the response to this on my blog today. Sorry for the long delay.

Thanks, Laura. I agree with everything you said.

When I first wrote my post on this subject, I was defining ghostwriting much more narrowly – one person taking sole credit for another person’s work with no input into the process. Dictionary.com defines ghostwriter as “a person who writes one or numerous speeches, books, articles, etc., for another person who is named as or presumed to be the author.”

When you write for a company, usually no one else is claiming that they wrote the piece. A manual generally isn’t attributed to an “author.” For many types of business writing – brochures, Web content, resumes, ad copy, etc. – no one is named as the author. So I’ve never thought of that as ghostwriting.

When an individual hires a writer to write their autobiography or a president commissions someone to write a speech, the writer may do the actual writing, but the ideas are those of the “author” or president. Although that fits the definition of ghostwriting, I don’t have an ethical problem with it.

And writing a blog as dog or any other situation where people know the “author” is not the actual author is fine.

The situations that I find ethically challenging are those where the “author” who takes credit for the work has no input into the process: a romance novel credited to a well-known cover model who hasn’t even read the book or an e-book of expert advice credited to an industry guru that was written by someone hired to research and write, with no input from the guru.

Those situations seem deceptive to me, and therefore I wouldn’t do them. But I have no problem writing manuals that don’t credit an author, collaborating with a businessperson to write a newspaper article that is credited to the entrepeneur, or helping an individual write a memoir or family history. I do these things all the time and expect no credit for my work.

I always tell my clients that my goal is to make the work sound like them, only better. If the book or article reflects the ideas and voice of the “author” who has a byline, there is no deception, even if they had help with the actual writing. After all, every book published by a traditional publisher and every article published in a magazine or newspaper goes through an editing process, often quite significant.

Thanks for continuing this conversation, Laura.

I don’t really see anything wrong with ghostwriting, can you imagine the quality of read if some of those half-wit celebrities wrote their own stuff? I’ve read quite a few books that I know full well are ghostwritten, but as long as the “original” content/source comes from the person in question, I think it’s fair game.