If you’re anything like me when you hear the word ghostwriter, one of two things pops up. First, there’s
the 1990s PBS television series where a literal ghost who writes helps a group of teenagers solve mysteries (sadly,
we won’t be doing a deep dive into that forgotten gem). And the other is an image of a seasoned writer taking the
dictated life stories of a celebrity and compiling it into a cohesive book that then is talked about on the second hour
of the Today Show. However, while ghostwriting has frequently been thought of as a professional writer writing a
book for a non-writer, ghostwriting is far more expansive than just that.
According to the Gotham Ghostwriters, “more often than not, ghostwriting is a customized form of
collaboration, covering a range of relationships and services tied to the authors’ needs, objectives, and work style.”
Ghostwriting has in many ways evolved into a blanket definition for collaborative writing. This can include books,
speeches, articles, and research papers or presentations. Ghostwriting has been around for hundreds of years with
most early written works being written by a committee with many writers going uncredited. It wasn’t until the 18th
and 19th centuries that authorship became more important with individuals gaining sole authorship credit. It was
around this time that ghostwriting gained a less than desirable reputation with many being called “hacks” for
writing what wasn’t their original stories.
While it still carried out a negative connotation to some writing purists, ghostwriting became more
common in the 1900s with famous authors like F. Scott Fitzgerald, William Faulkner, and screenwriter Herman
Mankiewicz all taking on ghostwriting assignments. Mankiewicz even won an Oscar for his most famous
ghostwriting assignment (a little film called Citizen Kane). Ghostwriting didn’t just have a negative connotation for
the ghostwriter but also for the author whose name appeared on the final product as some saw it as “cheating” to
use someone else’s word. However, anyone who has worked with a copyeditor or developmental editor knows that
chunks of a writing assignment will be rewritten during the publishing process with changes from multiple voices
being incorporated into the final written product.
Nowadays, ghostwriting isn’t seen as “hack” writing and is more in-demand than ever with many
embracing their roles to further their careers into other ventures. For example, speechwriters like Jon Lovett and
Jon Favreau parlayed their ghostwriting for Barack Obama into the podcast, “Pod Save America,” which is one of
the most listened to in the United States. And with the rise in self-publishing, ghostwriters are seeing maybe their
greatest relevance ever. More and more professionals are looking to self-publish as a second career, whether that
be a blog, newsletter, magazine, or book. The Gotham Ghostwriters put it best: “The fact is, leaders, influencers,
and those inspired to tell their stories or share new thoughts and discoveries tend to be busy people who work
long hours to accomplish big goals. They have extensive expertise in their fields, but rarely have the time or the
writing skills to, for example, produce on their own a series of thought-leadership articles or a deep-dive book.”
If you fall into this category and are looking for some help ghostwriting and editing your self-published
work, reach out to Technica Editorial Services and get a quote on our Author Services.
By: Chris Moffitt
Chris is a Managing Editor at Technica Editorial
