On January 15, 2009, geese struck and disabled the engines of US Airways Flight 1549, forcing captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger to perform an emergency landing on the Hudson River. The smooth landing resulted in no casualties and remarkable pictures of the passengers and crew waiting on the plane’s wings in front of the Manhattan skyline. The “Miracle on the Hudson” received heavy media coverage that lifted Sullenberger to American hero status.
Nine months later, William Morrow published Sullenberger’s memoir Highest Duty: My Search for What Really Matters. Although one reviewer called the writing style “as methodical as one of Sully's checklists,” the book received high marks. But how did an amateur writer with a full schedule as a pilot, crash investigator, and CEO of a safety management consultancy find time to write a book in under nine months?
Just as he received assistance landing Flight 1549, Sullenberger had a co-pilot working on his book. On the cover of Highest Duty, just below Sullenberger’s name, it reads “With Jeffrey Zaslow.” Zaslow, who passed away in 2012, was a journalist and author whose name also appears on the cover of the memoirs of professor Randy Pausch and US Representative Gabrielle Giffords. He was, in other words, the person who most likely wrote the book: the ghostwriter.
Writers like Zaslow represent an open secret in book publishing and any content with a byline - that the title of author is often more of an executive position rather than an indication of who wrote the words on the page. Dictionaries define an “author” as either “a person who has written something” or “a person who starts or creates something, such as a plan or idea.” Readers assume the first, while publishers understand it’s the second.
In academia, professors come up with research ideas and analyze results, but research assistants and graduate students write the actual paper describing the outcome. Business executives drive the direction of projects but leave underlings to research and write reports that bear the executives’ names. Marketplaces called content mills allow companies to cheaply fill their websites with ghostwritten articles published under the name of a staff member. And nearly every book authored by a celebrity or politician is ghostwritten by a professional writer.
In book publishing, ghostwriters are no longer complete secrets. Many receive a byline and the more dignified title of contributor or even co-author. Investigating how the industry works, it’s hard to tell whether ghostwriting is becoming more common or just slightly more transparent. Many a writer has worried that publishers’ search for profits will lead them to denigrate all writers to ghostwriting status and embrace anything attached to a celebrity. But that fear seems misguided. Readers don’t seem ready to give up their romanticized view of authors anytime soon.
Ghostwriting 101
When a nonfiction author decides to write a book, she starts hunting for a story and writes up a book proposal. When a celebrity decides to pen her memoirs, she calls her agent.
The motivations for that call may differ. Many celebrities see dollar signs in book publishing. Authors receive an advance when they sign a book deal - essentially a guarantee on the expected royalties from book sales.1 Hillary Clinton received an $8 million advance for her memoir while Bill Clinton inked $15 million. Agents often auction the right to publish the book or memoir of a major figure to drive up the price. A bidding war between three publishing houses over Angelina Jolie’s memoir isrumored to have driven her advance up to $50 million. To avoid this, publishing houses sometimes make a large “pre-emptive bid” to secure a celebrity’s book without facing an auction. (...)
Ghostwriters exist for the same reason that Bill Gates doesn’t mow his own lawn: It’s just not worth his time. As the president of the Jenkins Group put it to us:
by Alex Mayyasi, Pricenomics | Read more:
Image: uncredited
Nine months later, William Morrow published Sullenberger’s memoir Highest Duty: My Search for What Really Matters. Although one reviewer called the writing style “as methodical as one of Sully's checklists,” the book received high marks. But how did an amateur writer with a full schedule as a pilot, crash investigator, and CEO of a safety management consultancy find time to write a book in under nine months?Just as he received assistance landing Flight 1549, Sullenberger had a co-pilot working on his book. On the cover of Highest Duty, just below Sullenberger’s name, it reads “With Jeffrey Zaslow.” Zaslow, who passed away in 2012, was a journalist and author whose name also appears on the cover of the memoirs of professor Randy Pausch and US Representative Gabrielle Giffords. He was, in other words, the person who most likely wrote the book: the ghostwriter.
Writers like Zaslow represent an open secret in book publishing and any content with a byline - that the title of author is often more of an executive position rather than an indication of who wrote the words on the page. Dictionaries define an “author” as either “a person who has written something” or “a person who starts or creates something, such as a plan or idea.” Readers assume the first, while publishers understand it’s the second.
In academia, professors come up with research ideas and analyze results, but research assistants and graduate students write the actual paper describing the outcome. Business executives drive the direction of projects but leave underlings to research and write reports that bear the executives’ names. Marketplaces called content mills allow companies to cheaply fill their websites with ghostwritten articles published under the name of a staff member. And nearly every book authored by a celebrity or politician is ghostwritten by a professional writer.
In book publishing, ghostwriters are no longer complete secrets. Many receive a byline and the more dignified title of contributor or even co-author. Investigating how the industry works, it’s hard to tell whether ghostwriting is becoming more common or just slightly more transparent. Many a writer has worried that publishers’ search for profits will lead them to denigrate all writers to ghostwriting status and embrace anything attached to a celebrity. But that fear seems misguided. Readers don’t seem ready to give up their romanticized view of authors anytime soon.
Ghostwriting 101
When a nonfiction author decides to write a book, she starts hunting for a story and writes up a book proposal. When a celebrity decides to pen her memoirs, she calls her agent.
The motivations for that call may differ. Many celebrities see dollar signs in book publishing. Authors receive an advance when they sign a book deal - essentially a guarantee on the expected royalties from book sales.1 Hillary Clinton received an $8 million advance for her memoir while Bill Clinton inked $15 million. Agents often auction the right to publish the book or memoir of a major figure to drive up the price. A bidding war between three publishing houses over Angelina Jolie’s memoir isrumored to have driven her advance up to $50 million. To avoid this, publishing houses sometimes make a large “pre-emptive bid” to secure a celebrity’s book without facing an auction. (...)
Ghostwriters exist for the same reason that Bill Gates doesn’t mow his own lawn: It’s just not worth his time. As the president of the Jenkins Group put it to us:
“The appeal is pretty clear. If you are an executive making $10 million a year, will you really stop working for two to three months to write a book? Or if you’re an athlete?”Celebrities are also paying for a higher quality of writing than they could ever achieve. Every year, dozens of books are authored by celebrities, politicians, and business executives who haven’t written anything much longer than an email since college.
by Alex Mayyasi, Pricenomics | Read more:
Image: uncredited
