Ghostwriters And Their Secret Lives

Telegraph UK:

Mine is a secretive profession, more accustomed to the shadows than the limelight. But two new films have made ghostwriters the centre of attention: Roman Polanski's The Ghost, and L'Autre Dumas, which tells the tale of the French writer's overlooked collaborator. People seem shocked to discover that a book is frequently not the work of the single author on its cover.

Read the whole story: Telegraph UK

Comments

[Kim Stagliano]

09:08 PM on 02/18/2010

Has anyone ever figured out who took over for Lilian Jackson Braun of the "Cat Who.." cozy mystery series that began in the 1960s? The last two books were so badly written and edited that I can not imagine who took on the challenge of continuing the series. Not even the cat.

When Lawrence Sanders died (The Archie McNally mysteries) the series was continued by Vincent Lardo, and admirably so. And his name was on the cover.

Thanks.

[Peacein09]

05:20 PM on 02/17/2010

I never read a famous mystery writer's later works. I figure they are not written by the famous writer. I also notice that most mysteries written by American authors, whether "new" or old, seem depressingly the same. There are no surprises. I look for translations of foreign mysteries -- they used to be a little different. Now, even mysteries written by a Norwegian or Swede or French person are beginning to sound the same and offer no real surprises. Even movies that are supposed to be thrillers are boring if not in conception, in the follow-through. Remakes are a sign of a general failure in creativity. Publishers and producers are no longer looking for or offering us anything worth the price or the time it takes to read or watch.

[NancyPeske]

06:07 PM on 02/16/2010

Ghostwriting is a blast and it in no way prevents a writer from penning her own books and building her own author platform(s). It's collaborative, creative, intellectually stimulating, and fun. Many writers publish fiction under a pseudonym anyway. If you're not concerned foremost with pumping up your ego, ghostwriting can be a great, lucrative gig.

http://www.nancypeske.com

[Lowell Thompson]

04:50 PM on 02/16/2010

Funny you should bring this up.

A few days ago I bought the domain name The Ghosts Talk (theghoststalk.com) and plan to turn it into a site where ghost writers can tell the truth about working on books with someone else's name on the cover. I assume most will want to remain anonymous.

Having ghosted (I'm an AfrAmerican, so some may think I should say "spooked") a few projects, I have my own horror stories.

http://buythecover.com