What is a ghost writer and should you use one?

Many people have dreamed of becoming a published author, and they do say that there is a book within us all, but for those who may not have either the time or the skill to write a book, there are people and businesses who offer ghost writing services to help you reach that goal of having a book in print.

Now, for many authors, this is a sticky subject, is it right to see someone become a bestselling author for a book they did not pen themselves? Maybe, maybe not, but ghost writers will still work with clients, and we’ll still see books in the stores that won’t have been written by the name on the cover.
​
A big area for ghost writers is in ‘auto-biographies’, here you’ll have a person of interest to the public who will work with a ghost writer to ensure that their life story is written well and makes an enjoyable read.

However, there’s a lot of fiction which has been ghost written too, some of these books were completed after the original authors death, authors like Robert Ludlum, his Bourne series being extend by new writers to keep the series going for eager fans, and the same goes for Ian Fleming’s James Bond, there have been several new books created long after the author’s death by new writers.

As well as carrying on from where a previous author left, there are plenty of new fiction books which have been completely written by ghost authors, and as these are mostly uncredited, you won’t always know who the actual author was. In some cases, you will see two names upon the cover, reading as ‘written by John Smith with Bob Saunders’, it’s fair to assume that Bob wrote the book in collaboration with John.
​
But you should be aware that although someone else writes the book, they do have to collaborate very closely with the person who has the idea for the story and who’s hired the ghost writer, there is a lot more work involved than you may give credit.

So, who is going to use a ghost writer?

As mentioned before, if you are going to write an autobiography, then a ghost writer is a good option, also if you have an idea for a book which will help others or businesses. However, this service does tend to be for those who can afford to spend a large amount of money on the project and have very little time to be able to write a book themselves.  These people tend to be top tier entrepreneurs, business leaders, celebrities, politicians and sports stars.

For writing fiction, a ghost writer can help those people who have kept putting off writing a book for months or even years, it can give you the impetus to actually make a start on the book and get it published.

How much will a ghost writer cost?

Using a ghost writer is not cheap, it can cost anywhere from $20,000 to $100,000 for a complete book, so you have to be dedicated to making the book work if you are going to use one.

But for the majority of self-published authors, the joy of publishing is in knowing that you have created something yourself. Yes, you’ll need some collaboration with things like formatting, editing, advertising and book cover design, however, the story/book was penned by you.