Ghostwriters

Based on the original posting, September 2006

What makes writers 'ghostwrite'? Would ghostwriters not want their own identity to be associated with what they have written and do they also write under their own name? Possibly it is just a lucrative project for the actual author. Anonymity is assured even though it could be interpreted as deceitful.

Upside:

All sorts of articles (long and short) do need to get written. Manuals for various sources: computer software, any item sold to the public from a washing machine to a car. The list goes on...

Spins:

Politicians need to show competence and so clever words are paraded that suggest they are so, but only words written by somebody else. A speechwriter or ghostwriter. Anyone can sound genuine and an analysis of the content may find no factual fault.

Downside:

It can sustain the lie that a well-known 'celebrity' can also be a successful author when clearly these 'famous' people don't have the ability or diction. Where is the earlier work that shows the learning process? To suddenly explode onto the market with a bestseller at the first attempt sounds like science fiction or fantasy.

Maybe they do, so why would a publisher employ ghostwriters? If the well known 'name' attempted to write, it would, in reality, almost certainly be a literary disaster, but these first-time writer 'celebs' produce a 'bestseller'?

Amazing.