A couple of weeks ago, I talked about a scandal in the male/female romance community. An author was found to have plagiarized several other authors in the genre. As if that wasn't bad enough, because there is no excuse for plagiarism, she ripped off best selling authors, including industry titan, Nora Roberts. Instead of owning her mistake, the author blamed her ghostwriter. The ghostwriter fired back, making sure everyone knew that every word she wrote came from the author, who by the way did not pay the ghostwriter for her services, instead giving her a sob story about needing the money for a sick child.
Plagiarism is deplorable, but this scandal sparked another debate. Is it okay to use a ghostwriter? Before we go any further, let's define what a ghostwriter is. In the simplest terms, it's having someone else take your ideas, and usually your rough draft, and polish it up until it becomes a full fledged story. The ghostwriter is not credited for the work done and consumers buy and read books assuming it was written by the author listed on the cover and title page.
Have you ever wondered how some authors can release a book a month while others are good for only a few a year? And still others only release one a year? For a few writers, they are dedicated enough to sit at their computer every day and do nothing but write. Some have a backlog of already written stories they're pulling from. The rest? They're using a ghostwriter.
Using a ghostwriter isn't a new practice, but this scandal has raised some questions. Is it fair for authors to use ghostwriters? Are authors who use ghostwriters duping readers? When a ghostwriter is used, what is the impact to the rest of us who aren't using them?
In the wake of the latest plagiarism scandal, many authors decried using ghostwriters. Several authors made sure to use their social media platforms to inform their readers if their name was on a book, they alone wrote it. There was even a few Facebook threads of authors posting pictures of their pets and cheekily proclaiming those were their ghostwriters. Given how passionately so many authors are speaking against it, I'm sure you can guess how most of us feel about ghostwriters, but why?
Like it or not, using a ghostwriter is a misrepresentation to your readers. Your cover and title page boasts you as the author, but you're simply the creator of the idea. You're not earning your fans or your money honestly, and that is not fair to the people purchasing your books.
Then there is the fact that ghostwriters are usually able to crank out these stories in thirty days or less. How? Because it's their job. They earn their living by writing one story after another. The more they can produce, the more money they make. Sure, the quality of the storytelling suffers, but many readers who are fans of the "author" will snap every one of those books up.
For those of us who write our own stories, we suffer. Fans want to know why we can't write a book a month. If we take a few months in between, there's a risk our fans are going to move on and find writers they know are producing. Part of this is because readers worry the author is going to abandon the series and they don't want to get invested. I hate to say it, but it happens for a variety of reasons.
So far, I've never abandoned a series, but I do take several months in between releases. I'm not the only author in my genre who does, and it's my hope that true fans will understand. I'm taking my time so I can give them the best product. I would rather take longer to give you the most polished product than give you something every month that isn't up to snuff.
As long as the practice of using ghostwriters is legal, there are people who will take advantage of it. I submit to you those people aren't real authors and they aren't truly invested in their craft.
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