Nonfiction Ghostwriters are widely used by celebrities and public figures who wish to publish their autobiographies or memoirs. The degree of involvement of the ghostwriter in nonfiction writing projects ranges from minor to substantial. In some cases, a ghostwriter may be called in just to clean up, edit, and polish a rough draft of an autobiography or a "how-to" book. In other cases, the ghostwriter will write an entire book or article based on information, stories, notes, an
outline, or interview sessions with the celebrity or public figure. The credited author also indicates to the ghostwriter what type of style, tone, or "voice" they want in the book. In some cases, such as with some "how-to" books, diet guides, or cookbooks, a book will be entirely written by a ghostwriter, and the celebrity (e.g., a well-known musician or sports star) will be credited as author. Publishing companies use this strategy to increase the marketability of a book by associating it with a celebrity or well-known figure. In several countries before elections, candidates commission ghostwriters to produce autobiographies for them so as to gain visibility and exposure. One of
John F. Kennedy's books (
Profiles in Courage) is almost entirely credited to ghostwriters.
Donald Trump's autobiography
Trump: The Art of the Deal was produced by a ghostwriter. Several of Hillary Clinton's books were produced by ghostwriters. A consultant or career-switcher may pay to have a book ghostwritten on a topic in their professional area, to establish or enhance their credibility as an "expert" in their field. For example, a successful salesperson hoping to become a motivational speaker on selling may pay a ghostwriter to write a book on sales techniques. Often this type of book is published by a
self-publishing press (or "
vanity press"), which means that the author is paying to have the book published. This type of book is typically given away to prospective clients as a promotional tool, rather than being sold in bookstores.
Fiction Ghostwriters are employed by fiction publishers for several reasons. In some cases, publishers use ghostwriters to increase the number of books that can be published each year by a well-known, highly marketable author. Ghostwriters mostly pen fictional works for well-known "name" authors in genres such as detective fiction, mysteries, and teen fiction. Additionally, publishers use ghostwriters to write new books for established series where the "author" is a pseudonym. For example, the purported authors of the
Nancy Drew and
Hardy Boys mysteries, "
Carolyn Keene" and "
Franklin W. Dixon", respectively, are actually pseudonyms for a series of ghostwriters who write books in the same style using a template of basic information about the book's characters and their fictional universe (names, dates, speech patterns), and about the tone and style that are expected in the book (for more information, see
pseudonyms and
pen names). In addition, ghostwriters are often given copies of several of the previous books in the series to help them match the style. The estate of gothic novelist
V. C. Andrews hired ghostwriter
Andrew Neiderman to continue writing novels after her death, under her name and in a similar style to her original works. Many of action writer
Tom Clancy's books from the 2000s bear the names of two people on their covers, with Clancy's name in larger print and the other author's name in smaller print. Various books bearing Clancy's name were written by different authors under the same pseudonym. The first two books in the ''
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell'' franchise were written by
Raymond Benson under the pseudonym
David Michaels. Sometimes famous authors will ghostwrite for other celebrities, such as when
H. P. Lovecraft ghostwrote "Imprisoned with the Pharaohs" (also known as "Under the Pyramids") for
Harry Houdini in
Weird Tales in the 1920s.
Religion A number of papal
encyclicals have been written by ghostwriters.
Pascendi, for instance, was written by Joseph Lemius (1860–1923), the procurator in Rome of the
Oblates of Mary Immaculate. In June 1938,
Pius XI summoned American
Jesuit John La Farge, who began to prepare a draft of
Humani generis unitas, which LaFarge and two other Jesuits (Gustav Gundlach and Gustave Desbuquois) worked on in Paris; the draft was approximately 100 pages long. Another Jesuit translated the draft encyclical into Latin, presenting it to
Wlodimir Ledóchowski, then the General of the Society of Jesus who had chosen Gundlach and Desbuquois for the project.
Michel-Louis Guérard des Lauriers, one of the Vatican's leading theologians of that time, was responsible for the critical study of the
New Mass of Pope Paul VI, commonly known as the
Ottaviani Intervention, after the supposed attribution to Cardinals
Alfredo Ottaviani and
Antonio Bacci. The Vatican later answered these accusations and Cardinal Ottaviani later regretted that his name was misused to berate the pope. Plagiarism researcher Michael V. Dougherty has shown how convoluted the sources of ecclesiastical ghostwriting can be, noting that they are often plagiarized as well as being ghostwritten. The priest
Thomas Rosica – himself a proven plagiarist – was the ghostwriter for several speeches by
Cardinal Ouellet. "In an unusual twist," wrote Dougherty, "one of the same source texts extensively copied by Rosica for Cardinal Ouellet reappeared in an unoriginal homily by
Cardinal William Levada." Levada was at the time the Prefect of the
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
Academia Ghostwriting is considered to be academic dishonesty and can lead to repercussions if detected by universities, although it is not illegal in the United States, United Kingdom and Germany. There are ghostwriting companies and
freelancers that sell entrance essays, term papers, theses and dissertations to students. Such services are commonly known as "
essay mills". Although academic ghostwriting involves the sale of academic texts that are written on demand, it differs from
plagiarism in that it does not involve an undisclosed appropriation of existing texts. As opposed to cases of plagiarism that stem from a
copy-and-paste reuse of previous work, essays and assignments that are obtained through ghostwriting services as a rule have the originality of their text confirmed by
plagiarism detection software packages or online services that are widely used by universities. representing the drug industry, publishers, and medical societies, and it may violate American laws prohibiting off-label promotion by drug manufacturers as well as anti-kickback provisions within the statutes governing Medicare. Recently, it has attracted scrutiny from the lay press and from lawmakers, as well. including the
University of Washington School of Medicine, while it is prohibited and considered a particularly pernicious form of plagiarism at others, such as
Tufts University School of Medicine.
Professional medical writers can write papers without being listed as authors of the paper and without being considered ghostwriters, provided their role is acknowledged. The
European Medical Writers Association have published guidelines which aim to ensure professional medical writers carry out this role in an ethical and responsible manner. The use of properly acknowledged medical writers is accepted as legitimate by organisations such as the World Association of Medical Editors Moreover, professional medical writers' expertise in presenting scientific data may be of benefit in producing better quality papers.
Websites Some websites, including
blogs, are ghostwritten, because not all authors have the information technology skills or the time to dedicate to running a website. Nonetheless, the style, tone and content is modeled on that of the credited author. Many website ghostwriters are freelance but some are freelancers who work under contract, as with radio presenters and television presenters. Occasionally
a "house pseudonym", or collective name is used by the author of the website. Some celebrities, executives, or public figures set up blog websites—sometimes as a marketing, public relations, or lobbying tool. However, since these individuals are typically too busy to write their blog posts, they hire discreet ghostwriters to post to the blog under the celebrity or executive's name. As with nonfiction ghostwriting, the blog ghostwriter models their writing style, content and tone on that of the credited author. This goes for social media as well. Many public figures have ghostwriters at least partially handle their Facebook and Twitter accounts, among others.
Music Classical music and film scores was paid to ghostwrite music for wealthy patrons who wished to give the impression that they were gifted composers.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is an example of a well-known composer who was paid to ghostwrite music for wealthy patrons. In the film industry, a music ghostwriter is a "person who composes music for another composer but is not credited on the cue sheet or in the final product in any way." The practice is considered one of the "dirty little secrets of the film and television music business" that is considered unethical, but has been common since the early stages of the film industry. In the early years of film,
David Raksin worked as music ghostwriter and
orchestrator for
Charlie Chaplin; even though Chaplin was credited as the score writer, he was considered to be a "hummer" (pejorative film industry slang for a person who purports to be a film score composer but who in fact only gives a general idea of the melodies to a ghostwriter). The practice is also common in television, as composers listed on cue sheets are entitled to music royalties every time an episode or theme score appears on television. A 1998 investigation by
The Hollywood Reporter revealed that it was especially prevalent among animation companies such as
Saban Entertainment,
DiC,
Ruby-Spears Productions and
Hanna-Barbera, which often listed company executives as musicians for the purpose of royalties. In the late 1990s, several composers threatened a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against Saban Entertainment president
Haim Saban, for allegedly taking ownership and credit for their musical compositions.
Popular music Musical ghostwriting also occurs in
popular music. When a record company wants to market an inexperienced young singer as a singer-songwriter, or help a veteran bandleader coping with
writer's block (or a lack of motivation to finish the next album), an experienced songwriter may be discreetly brought in to help. In other cases, a ghostwriter writes lyrics and a melody in the style of the credited musician, with little or no input from the credited musician. A ghostwriter providing this type of service may be thanked, without reference to the service provided, in the album credits, or they may be a true 'ghost', with no acknowledgement in the album. Legal disputes have arisen when musical ghostwriters have tried to claim royalties when an allegedly ghostwritten song becomes a money-making hit. In 1987, Darryl Neudorf was asked to work on a project for
Nettwerk Productions involving newly signed artist
Sarah McLachlan. This recording, the album
Touch, resulted in garnering the interest of
Arista Records. She signed a multi-album contract with them and two of the songs that Neudorf worked on with her became commercial hits in Canada. In 1991, Neudorf was invited to work with McLachlan again on her second album,
Solace. In 1993, he filed a lawsuit against McLachlan and her label, alleging that he had made a significant and uncredited contribution to the songwriting on
Touch, and alleging that he was not paid properly for work done on
Solace. The judge in the suit eventually ruled in McLachlan's favour on the songs; stating that although Neudorf may have contributed to the songwriting, neither regarded each other as joint authors. The judge ruled in Neudorf's favour on the payment issue. of
Public Enemy has offered a more positive view of ghostwriting in hip hop. In
hip hop music, the increasing use of ghostwriters by high-profile hip hop stars has led to controversy. Critics view the increasing use of hip hop ghostwriters as the "perversion of hip-hop by commerce." This is because of the limiting definition of "rapping" as "expressing yourself through your own words, not someone else's."
Chuck D of
Public Enemy thinks this point of view is mistaken because "not everyone is equipped to be a lyricist and not everyone is equipped to be a vocalist." He points out that creating a rap song may require multiple talents.
Frank Ocean started his career as a ghostwriter for artists such as
Justin Bieber,
John Legend and
Brandy. Currently in hip-hop, the credit given to ghostwriters varies: "silent pens might sign confidentiality clauses, appear obliquely in the liner notes, or discuss their participation freely." In some cases, liner notes credit individuals for "vocal arrangement", which may be a euphemism for ghostwriting. In the early 2010s, hip-hop ghostwriting services like
Rap Rebirth appeared online, which provide recording artists who wish to purchase ghostwritten rhymes a greater degree of anonymity.
Visual art Ghost authorship also applies to the visual arts, most commonly paintings. The extent of the master artist's contribution varies widely, as little as composition adjustments and corrective brush strokes, or as much as entire works. A common practice is the use of art instruction class milieu in which the master artist makes significant contributions to the work of the student who then signs that work as their own. Services addressing complete works have historically been highly confidential. Less prevalent are advertised commercial services which may use the term "vanity artwork" as suggestive of "vanity publishing". ==As blacklisting countermeasure==