The Ghost and the Subject

Lynn Vincent is a successful politically conservative writer. Her background led former U.S. vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin to choose Vincent to co-author her autobiography Going Rogue: An American Life.  The book turned out to be one of the publishing industry's biggest successes of the year, but was also panned by critics across the board. Stephen Davis was chosen in 1988 to pen the autobiography of pop star Michael Jackson entitled Moon Walk. Though Jackson was one of the biggest artists in the history of music, the book was only on the shelves for a limited time due to Jackson's refusal to have it released in paperback. Obviously the life of a ghostwriter can be wildly unpredictable. Vincent's book was a commercial success and a critical failure. Davis' book could have been the biggest selling autobiography of a musician ever written, but was marginalized due to the wishes of his subject. The similarity between the two writers is that they both got paid handsomely, whereas many of their peers, who were too proud to lower themselves to write for other people, never had a single review of their novel or made a living by writing it.

Ghostwriting has many advantages over other kinds of writing careers. Ghostwriters get to write about an array of subjects, many of which they normally wouldn't, with people that often lead interesting lives. These are people that are largely inaccessible, sometimes great minds who stand at the precipice of the fields they have achieved notoriety within.


There is a level of freedom in ghostwriting that many writers, particularly journalists, couldn't dream of having.  Ghostwriters have the ability to make their own schedule, though the time they allot themselves is still dependent on the deadline of the project and the availability of people they interview.  They also have control over the direction and general tone of the book.  They may decide to focus on their subject's nefarious past being aware that most of the interest in the book will be from those who frequent the paparazzi magazine racks.  They could also choose to focus on the genius of the work that they're subject has done.  If writing about a subject like Paris Hilton, it is obviously the former that will be your target audience.  If penning Bob Dylan's autobiography, groupie exploits and passages on drug abuse probably won't be as appreciated by your target audience.

Freelance ghostwriters also negotiate the conditions of their employment directly with their client, setting an estimated date of completion and deciding upon either a flat-fee or a percentage of the royalties if the client already has a publisher waiting for the book.  During this interview a ghostwriter can decide whether they think their partnership will be successful enough to proceed or a nightmare in the making. 

Some writers will find ghostwriting to be too unrewarding to be considered as a career. The discretion that must be exercised with some clients prohibits taking credit for some writing that you do. You must write in the voice of someone else, accept their misguided edits, and quell their anxieties about what information they divulge. On top of this, you have only six months to a year to do all of the research and writing necessary to have a finished product, which means that those who battle with writer's block may find it very stressful. Andrew Crofts, a seasoned ghostwriter, says that these disadvantages are blown out of proportion. He says that "only the smallest percentage of books get reviewed. Most vanish completely from the shelves within a few months of publication, and are usually pretty hard to find even during those months. Apart from a handful of literary stars, (many of whom choose to write under pseudonyms anyway), few people recognise the names of authors."  He argues that those who are truly passionate about writing will do so for a living no matter whose name is credited with composing the text. One autobiography that he ghostwrote, Sold, was for a successful business person named Zana Muhsen, who immigrated to the U.S. from Yemen when she was a girl after spending her first 8 years of life in slavery.  Even projects that you may expect to be boring in the beginning often turn out to be educational and provide incredibly valuable experience.

There are other traits and skills that are important to possess and cultivate in the field of ghostwriting. Not only must you accept the anonymity, write in a voice that isn't your own, and write powerfully and quickly, but also have the ability to make your subject feel confident in divulging intimate details about their life. The interview skills required are slightly different than those of a journalist. A ghostwriter does more listening than asking questions. Long time ghostwriter Clifford Thurlow says that in many ways it is akin to being a psychiatrist or a priest. You must listen without judging your subject or seeming argumentative, but also ask questions that trigger insightful responses without disrupting the flow of consciousness within the subject. Thurlow believes that one of the most important qualities of a ghostwriter is to ask the awkward questions. If you're writing the memoirs of a politician whose notoriety involved adultery or substance abuse, it would be irrational to avoid discussion of those topics because that may be the only reason many people would buy their book to begin with.

While a ghostwriter must aim to speak as though they are their subject, it would be foolish to believe that the ghost's voice isn't constantly present.  Thurlow says "it may seem paradoxical, but at the same time, the ghost should have his own firm sense of style--he will take the subject's voice, the subject's turn of phrase, the subject's story, but then mold it like clay into something perfect."  The subject would write their book themselves if this wasn't the case.  Thurlow remembers his time spent with the actor John Le Mesurier, a subject who desperately wanted to pen his own autobiography, but the pages he typed consisted of dinner party jokes.  The actual research and work was done while Thurlow interviewed an inebriated Mesurier during the afternoon at his apartment.


Successful ghostwriters advise newcomers in the field to find a subject that has notoriety with the public, whether it is good or bad, who would not have the skills necessary to pen their own work. Another kind of subject sought by ghostwriters is the ordinary person that has been through some kind of extraordinary experience. Read and watch the news, and when you learn of a person that seems that they have an incredible story to tell, contact them and express your interest in helping them put it into words and sell it to a publisher.

Most ghostwriters feel that it is important to seek out subjects that specialize in fields that you are knowledgeable about and interested in. Perhaps the most crucial part of any ghostwriting project is the initial interview with the subject. Thurlow claims to have developed a sixth sense in knowing whether or not a subject and himself will have a successful relationship. It is imperative that the subject and ghostwriter like each other or the project will be tortuous and fraught with disagreement and mistrust.

After deciding which field of expertise you would like to seek subjects from, it's important to begin research on your prospects. Keeping current on notable people coming to your area for events they're to attend is a good way to set up a meeting. If one of your prospects agrees to meet it's time to start compiling research on what is known of their life and then constructing an outline of the chapters. If they like you, your outline, the direction you express a desire to take the work, and have some way to finance the project, then you've already done the most difficult work. If your subject already has a publisher set up to buy their book you will need to negotiate the percentage you'll earn from the book's royalties, however many more projects undertaken by ghostwriters have no publisher waiting in the wings, and probably never will. If there is no publisher it is imperative that you negotiate a flat-fee for the work that you do before beginning. Because many subjects don't already have an interested publisher, finding one that can finance the project by themselves or through other interested parties is crucial. If there is no publisher financing the project your subject will need an agent to submit the final work to publishers.  Because of the discretion that a ghostwriter must necessarily exercise, and because the career is somewhat of an obscure one, there is little data on the average income of a ghostwriter.  According to figures provided in 2009 the median income for a ghostwriter with at least eight years in the field is $56,900.  Clifford Thurlow charges the equivalent of $1,450 an hour for his time, but he is also one of the most well known ghostwriters living.

The writing process is spent accumulating enough notes and interviews to fill three times the amount of pages you're intending to write. Much of the information will be useless, irrelevant, or tangential in relation to central themes. You will observe your subject at work, record a weeks worth of interviews with them and people that know them, and struggle to fill in any gaps in their narrative by doing research. Stephen Davis immersed himself in Michael Jackson's inner circle while he was writing Moon Walk.  In an interview with the Boston Phoenix newspaper he said "every day I'd go over there, we'd talk for an hour, maybe an hour and a quarter. Sometimes I'd take my wife and kids, and then we'd screen a movie, and we'd be served lunch in his screening room while watching "To Kill A Mockingbird" for the third time."

Your ultimate goal in ghostwriting an autobiography is to record their philosophy of life. Ask them the questions that plague mankind. What are their hopes for themselves and humanity? What is their greatest accomplishment or the most difficult time of their life? These kind of questions lead to answers that the people who have interest in that person would want answered.

Each chapter is submitted to the subject, at which point they review and make revisions or request that some information be omitted. This is often the most difficult part of the writing process, especially when, as an author, you know what will pique the interests of the public and that which won't. After all of the revisions have been made and your subject approves the book to be submitted to publishers, you may have to quell the anxieties or sudden regrets that your subject feels towards the final product. You may personally be blamed when the book isn't immediately, or at all, bought by the publishers, a nuance of ghostwriting that the veterans say is a skill that can only be learned through experience.

Ghostwriting doesn't need to be limited to autobiographies of famous or interesting people. Many scientists and mathematicians recruit ghostwriters to help them write to the layman when they release books on complex subjects. Many politicians or businessmen need ghostwriters to write editorial responses, speeches and presentations. Clifford Thurlow undertook the task of finishing the last third of an author's novel after they had died, remarking that "there was no one except the real ghost looking over my shoulder while I maneuvred my way through his world."

Families compiling genealogy information often recruit ghostwriters to write their family's history and self-publish books to be distributed within the family.  Thurlow says "I have written family memoirs for people that want to self-publish and keep the record for future generations; with inexpensive printing costs. This is becoming quite common; and the advantage of employing a professional ghostwriter is that, first, they get a professional product, and second, they can then distribute the book if they think it is worth it."

If you're willing to expand your definition as a writer, there are plenty of avenues that ghostwriters can undertake when there isn't a scandal-attracting politician or everyman hero to pen a legacy for.  But if there is a public bathroom perusing, drug consuming, solicitor of prostitutes who desperately wants to give you their pilfered funds to tell their story then why wouldn't you?  And how much easier will it be to have your novel published or to work as a journalist for a news outlet when you have such incredible experience to apply?  For those that truly love to write, there are few writing careers that are as encompassing as ghostwriting.





Works Cited:


Nemko, Marty.  "Best Careers 2009: Ghostwriting." US News & World Report.  11 Dec. 2008. Newspaper Online.  Available from
http://library.duke.edu/research/citing/workscited/onlinenewspaper.html


Duriaud, Aline.  Interview with Andrew Crofts.  Suite 101. 20 June 2008
http://freelancewriting.suite101.cm/article.cfm/an_interview_with_andrew_crofts

Bishop, Nicole.  Interview with Clifford Thurlow. Writer Find. 3 May 2007
http://www.writerfind.com/resources/ghostwriter.htm


Carioli, Carly.  Interview with Stephen Davis.  The Phoenix.  25 June 2009
http://thephoenix.com/BLOGS/onthedownload/archive/200/06/25/interview-stephen-davis-ghostwriter-of-michael-jackson-s-autobiography-remembers-the-king-of-pop-and-his-monkey.aspx







"Pay Scale". PayScale, Inc.. 06/01/2010 .