On the Huffington Post, writer Rebecca Serle held forth about ghost-written books that have celebrities’ names slapped on them. She writes:
“Let me get something straight: I have no problem with ghostwriting as a thing unto itself. What bothers me is the way it's shrouded in secrecy, ignored to the point of straight-up lying. Why not be honest? What is the problem with saying, "Hey, I'm a movie star. I'm super busy. And while I'm totally into the idea of putting out a book, I'm not going to sit at my computer six hours a day for a year and a half, so I need a little help here." I'd respect that, because just slapping Hilary Duff's name on the cover, having her show up for signings and readings, going on morning talk shows and interviewing with David Letterman does not make her an author. It also (and this is more to my point) does not make her a writer.”
It raises some interesting questions. First, does the general public believe that the celebrities write these books themselves? My guess is that the majority do. I say this as somebody who has encountered plenty of otherwise intelligent people who think that when I write a script, I just come up with the story and the actors make up the dialogue themselves.
Secondly, would they be less willing to read a book that was labeled, say, “written by Sam Smith, from a vague idea by Hilary Duff”? (By the way, just in case Ms. Duff’s lawyers happen to read this post, I don’t know the extent to which she played a role in writing her book, I’m making a general point.) My guess is the public would be less likely to buy that product.
I’ve seen interviews with a couple of celebrities who admitted they had help. Usually they say something like, “It was my ideas and I had somebody write them down,” as though it’s pretty similar to having an assistant jot down your grocery list.
I guess it’s all about the money and its naïve to think otherwise. I’d probably even take on that kind of assignment myself for a heavy fee. As long as they were willing to bill it as “written by Jurgen Wolff from a vague idea by…” I don’t expect any requests for my services anytime soon.
(Want to actually write your own book? Get a copy of “Your Writing Coach,” published by Nicholas Brealey and available from Amazon and other online and offline bookseller. And for my free report, "Seven Things that Stop You From Writing and How to Overcome Them," click here: http://goo.gl/bWjb)
