If you use a ghostwriter, should you make it known or keep it confidential?

It really doesn’t matter.

ghostwriter confidential tuscawilla creative services jacquelyn lynnThere was a time when named authors went to great lengths to keep the public from knowing they used a ghostwriter, but that’s no longer the case. These days, it’s common knowledge that most celebrities don’t write their own books. And most readers don’t care. In fact, some ghostwriters have become minor celebrities themselves.

The contract for my first book project as a ghostwriter included a joint byline. But my client’s literary agent thought that having my name on the cover reduced the client’s credibility, and we agreed. After all, I wasn’t the subject matter expert, I was the wordsmith. So we amended our agreement and I was compensated monetarily for giving up the byline.

With my third ghostwriting book project (for a new client), the contract included at least six paragraphs of confidentiality language — I couldn’t tell anyone what my role in that book was. Then my client realized that all the big-name authors he admired used ghostwriters. Before the book was finished, he was introducing me to his associates as his ghostwriter. And our agreements for subsequent books didn’t mention confidentiality at all.

So to answer the question about whether or not to make it known that a ghostwriter wrote your book for you: It’s your choice. You don’t need to broadcast that you’re using a ghostwriter, nor do you need to hide it. It’s really not important.

What is important — in fact, what’s absolutely critical — is that you know and approve of what the ghostwriter is writing, and that you don’t contradict anything that’s written in your book in another forum.

In one of my ghostwriting projects, I included some business management information that my client discussed with me. As we were working on the manuscript, he read what I had written and agreed with my understanding of what he was saying. Later, during the Q&A portion of a speech he gave after the book was published, he directly contradicted the advice in the book. I was in the back of the room cringing; he was at the front looking foolish.

Certainly things can change; that's why second editions get written. But that wasn't what happened in this case; he had forgotten what was in his book and was pulling answers out of the air.

When your name is on the book (or article or whatever), even if you didn’t do the actual writing, you are responsible for the content. And that's far more important than whether you keep your business relationship with your ghostwriter confidential.

Jacquelyn Lynn
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