• Micro-publishing emerges
• Book length increasing
• Ghostwriters gain recognition
• Audiobooks remain a hot category
• Supplementary products grow more popular
• Hybrid publishing takes the lead

Now that we’re at the start of an exciting new year, let’s look back at 2024 for indicators as to what we may see in the next 364 days in publishing. Rarely do trends come out of nowhere, so what might we expect?

I don’t have a crystal ball, but I have some predictions based on my work with authors, agents, editors, and publishers. I expect to see:

Micro-publishing emerges

One trend that is just starting to appear on the scene is micro-publishing, or producing short books on a very niche topic.

Just as micro-courses have become the preferred method of online learning, micro-books and workbooks will become popular formats in 2025. They address one small aspect of a larger topic and because they speak directly to a reader’s interests or pain point, they could do very well.

For example, if you’re an artist interested in improving your marketing efforts, you could buy a book all about marketing fine art. Or, if you are specifically interested in learning how to sell your art on Whatnot, you are more likely to buy a less expensive micro-guide to that specific topic.

I think there are going to be big opportunities in this category in the coming years.

Book length increasing

Then, conversely, I think traditional books are going to grow longer.

Yes, we’ve all heard that the human attention span has shrunk significantly. Whether due to the rise of digital media, our increased reliance on technology, the ubiquity of social media, the push to multitask and be more productive, or something else, we have trouble focusing for long periods of time. In response, we’ve witnessed the average length of nonfiction books decline. Where typical business books were typically 75,000-80,000 words long in the early 2000s, that average word count has shrunk to 50,000-60,000 today.

However, I don’t see it declining much more. In fact, I think we may see it start to see that trend reverse.

My rationale is that the books that are selling the best right now are rooted in stories. We want to read interesting stories, and it’s hard to tell a compelling story in only a few words. Some of our favorite fiction authors, such as Stephen King, for example, now break books up into multi-book series because the intricate stories take more time, e.g., The Bill Hodges Trilogy.

Ghostwriters gain recognition

Thanks to celebrity authors becoming comfortable admitting they worked with a ghostwriter to get their books done, we’ve seen an increased willingness to give due credit to ghosts. Part of this may be attributed to the emergence of authenticity as an admired trait, but the other element may simply be a recognition that there is no shame in asking for help.

With the coaching profession growing exponentially in recent years, there are advisors and coaches for everything from health to fitness, to wardrobe, language, negotiation, business scaling, parenting, divorcing — you name it. It makes sense that admitting you had help writing a book should not be a big deal. Unless you already have publishing expertise or an English degree, why wouldn’t you hire a collaborator or writing partner (a.k.a. a ghostwriter)?

In some instances, acknowledging that you have retained a ghostwriter can actually increase your odds of landing a traditional book deal, because the publisher will be reassured that the quality of the writing will be excellent. There is even an awards program for author-ghostwriter pairs.

Audiobooks remain a hot category

Podcasts and audiobooks remain the golden children of publishing.

You’ve probably heard that audiobooks and podcasts have been breakout successes for the last couple of years. Consumers are increasingly listening to books rather than reading the paperback versions. They are also seeking out podcasts for information and entertainment.

This new preference for audio content may stem from the popularity of fancy headphones of the last couple of years (Beats by Dr. Dre anyone?), but perhaps an even bigger driver could be the push to get employees back to their desks.

With employers looking to reduce or eradicate hybrid work situations, employees are being called back into the office. With that requirement frequently comes a commute. With more workers spending more time in transit, it makes sense that finding audio content to listen to would become popular.

Supplementary products grow more popular

Another type of content that became all the rage in 2024 was workbooks. I expect workbooks and supplementary guides to grow even hotter in 2025.

Demand for products that support the application of new information has grown in parallel to reader demand for takeaways and next steps in nonfiction books. For the last few years, readers of business and prescriptive nonfiction books especially have given high marks to titles that hold their hand and help them apply what they just learned. Readers have bought books in search of information they want or need and appreciate instruction in what they can do to start using what they now know.

That’s where workbooks started popping up on Amazon as ancillary materials, and sales have been brisk. Unfortunately, some workbooks are being created by unauthorized individuals trying to ride the coattails of popular authors, so don’t do that. Stick with creating extra products to support your own books. These supplementary products could include journals, checklists, blueprints, or guides to applying the lessons learned to other target audiences, for example.

Not only do these create an additional income stream but they also increase the value of the original book.

Hybrid publishing takes the lead

If you look at which companies are publishing books, you’ll see that hybrid and independent publishers took the lead numbers-wise several years ago. No longer are traditional publishers responsible for producing the majority of books each year, which topped 4 million at last count.

While many authors prefer to work with traditional publishers — long considered the industry’s gatekeepers — an increasing number are recognizing the benefits of partnering with publishers that use a different business model.

Although authors do not pay for production with traditional publishers, which is the big appeal, increasingly they are being asked to commit to a buy-back that effectively requires some payment to the publisher. Given this dynamic, many authors are shifting to exploring contracts with hybrid publishers, where payment for production is required, but potential profits on the backend are much larger.

Perhaps the biggest draw for hybrid publishers is speed, however. Given the pace of change at which the world is currently operating, the chance of information obsolescence is much greater. And for that reason, authors whose information is time-sensitive are opting to publish through independent presses that can release their books in a few months, versus the 18-24 months typical of traditional presses.

Both are terrific options, but unless you already have a massive following and are an established leader in your field, you are less likely to qualify for a traditional deal. Since many thought leaders are well-known in their niches but don’t necessarily have hundreds of thousands of social media followers, hybrid publishers are becoming a leading choice.

What other publishing trends do you foresee for 2025?

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The post 6 Publishing Trends Authors Can Expect in 2025 appeared first on Marcia Layton Turner.

• New publishing opportunities
• Follower size matters
• Does publisher prestige matter today?
• Shifting publishing priorities

Esteemed copywriter Bob Bly, who is also someone I consider a friend, recently penned a message to his Direct Response Letter subscribers regarding the traditional book publishing process.

Reacting to an email from hybrid publisher Amplify Publishing Group letting aspiring authors know that they should expect to pay for the publication of their book, Bly reflected on his own publishing journey.

“As an author back in the golden days of book publishing, I didn’t spend ANY money on the publication of my books,” he explained. “…the money flowed from publisher to writer…NOT the other way around. The publishers paid ME and other authors both a book advance and royalties,” he said.

And he’s right. Back in 1982 when McGraw-Hill published his first book, the only way to become an author was to pitch an idea for a book to a major publisher and demonstrate that you had the smarts to deliver on your concept in a timely manner. (I’ve written and published many books the same way.) Traditional publishers were gatekeepers and if they didn’t think they could sell enough of your book to make it profitable, they declined to produce it.

That is still true today, though the dynamics of book publishing have dramatically changed. It is nearly impossible to land a traditional deal that does not involve investing some amount on publishing.

New publishing opportunities

As new technologies such as print-on-demand (POD) entered the marketplace in the last 20 years, eliminating the need to print large quantities of books, almost anyone can now publish a book.

No longer do you have to get the buy-in of an acquisitions editor to release a book – you could pay to produce it yourself. This then led to the establishment of new publishing firms, including independent presses and hybrid publishers like Amplify, Greenleaf, and Jenkins Group.

The democratization of publishing has resulted in millions more books being published by people who might never have had a chance in the “golden days,” when mere thousands of new titles were published each year.

That’s the good news for experts, thought leaders, founders, and executives – more opportunity, although Bly suggests that paying to produce your book indicates your book is less worthy, less prestigious.

I disagree with him there.

Follower size matters

What he doesn’t mention is that the traditional publishing world has changed as well, including the requirements for landing a publishing contract. Where a great idea or strong storyteller might have had a decent chance of enticing an editor to buy their book idea in the 1980s and 1990s, today you need much more than just a great idea. You either need a track record of sizeable sales of a previous book, a massive social media following, or future public speaking commitments that have a great likelihood of leading to book sales.

Not many people have the numbers, even if their book topic is important or just plain interesting. And if the expert can’t demonstrate they have a large audience waiting eagerly to buy their book, the publisher may request a buy-back, where the author is required to commit to purchasing thousands of copies of their own books to make the publisher’s numbers work.

Does publisher prestige matter today?

The bar to secure a traditional publishing package is much, much higher today.

Which is why visionaries, business owners, memoirists, novelists, children’s book authors, and thought leaders are increasingly turning to hybrid publishers and independent presses to produce their books. They want to spread their message, share their story, or educate the masses, and they care much less about the prestige that Bly says traditional publishers offer. (The only exception here may be academicians and scholars who need a traditional publisher to be considered for tenure.)

After all, do most readers pay attention to publisher names? I suspect not. Does prestige even really matter to today’s book buyer? Again, I suspect not.

A reader buys a book because of the promise of what’s on its pages, whether it’s a business memoir that will entertain them, a self-help title with professional development hacks, or a how-to that will instruct and inform. As long as they trust the name of the author on the cover, the name of the publisher becomes almost irrelevant.

Shifting publishing priorities

Historically, the singular goal for a book was to sell as many copies as possible. That’s what traditional publishers certainly want, but for many business leaders that goal is secondary to packaging their expertise and raising their visibility, which can be done without selling hundreds of thousands of copies.

And that’s why so few traditional publishers are willing to publish books by industry leaders – not because the idea is bad, the writing poor, or the market too small. They decline to publish it because their purpose for releasing the book may not be aligned with the author’s goal of creating new opportunities for themselves and their organization.

Where a traditional publisher’s goal, first and foremost, is always to earn a profit through book sales, that is not necessarily the top goal for business leaders, because they can earn profits through their business in myriad other ways beyond selling copies of their books.

Which is why hybrid publishers and independent presses are thriving today, along with ghostwriters, author services companies, editors, proofreaders — you name it. These companies exist to help leaders write, publish, and distribute books that may or may not become New York Times or Wall Street Journal bestsellers, and the authors are okay with that.

But does that mean the book isn’t worth writing? Hardly. There are so many benefits to an author that extend beyond a semi-annual royalty check that may never come.

Bly is a high profile copywriter and very well respected in his niche, but to suggest that anyone who isn’t at that level of prominence can’t benefit from writing and publishing their own book is at best misguided and at worst just plain wrong.

Want to hear my assessment of the pros and cons of your various publishing options? Email me at marcia at marcialaytonturner.com.

The post Is Self-Publishing a Legitimate Alternative to Traditional Publishing? appeared first on Marcia Layton Turner.

• Position yourself as an industry leader
• Build a community
• Pursue publicity
• Explore public speaking
• Start a podcast
• Develop an email list

Many business authors don’t invest much time thinking about marketing their book before it is written. In fact, most first-time authors assume their publisher will handle all of the marketing and promotion activities. Or if they do begin to think about what they can do to promote it, it’s not usually until the manuscript is in their publisher’s hands for production.

That’s too late.

Marketing your nonfiction book needs to start today or, ideally, before you even start writing it.

Also, I hate to tell you but you’ll be responsible for marketing it no matter which publisher you choose to print and distribute it. Although publishers do invest heavily in the promotion of well-known
bestsellers with a track record of success, the most marketing support many authors receive is an announcement press release. That’s okay though, because being in control of marketing can be a good thing long-term.

Since marketing is up to you, where do you begin?

Here are some ideas, but a terrific resource is Stephanie Chandler’s book, The Nonfiction Book Marketing and Launch Plan.

Position yourself as an industry leader

Being able to claim the title of author can be a major boost to your career and personal brand, but the credibility and authority that come with being an author are closely associated with being seen as a leader in your space.

Before your book is done, it’s important to begin to associate your name with your field. That is best done by producing content that demonstrates all you know about your specialty.

Although you have a wide range of platforms on which you can share your content, choose one at the start and go all in.

That one platform might include setting up your own blog on your company’s website if you’re a business owner or creating a totally new one devoted to your topic. Or if you prefer video to writing, you could set up a YouTube channel or an Instagram account to share what you know. LinkedIn is another option, though it’s harder to get noticed without your own named place where you disseminate your content.

Creating and sharing original content in your topic area is step one.

Build a community

Another way to build a tribe of followers is by creating a community where like-minded people can gather to discuss popular topics in your area of specialization.

One of the easiest platforms on which you can create a new group is Facebook. LinkedIn also has groups, but they seem to be providing less support for that feature. And there are paid platforms like Mighty Networks, where you can bring together people.

Setting up the group is the easy part, however. Consistently giving members a reason to return and encouraging their friends and colleagues to join is the challenge. To do that, you’ll want to regularly share relevant content – some you’ve created and some that others have but that you appreciate – and encourage discussions. Ask questions, sponsor contests, and hold live events like webinars.

This all helps your community to see you as a leader and visionary.

Pursue publicity

Another way to enhance your reputation and prestige is to be quoted in the media. The good news is it’s not hard if you know where to find opportunities.

Granted, not every opportunity to be quoted will be totally related to your niche or specialty, but every media mention is valuable. For example, I was once featured in a New York Times article about a home our family considered but didn’t end up buying. Did it mention my ghostwriting business? No. But did it use my name? Yes. That mention adds to my credibility because I can say I have been quoted in the New York Times.

Likewise, you’ll want to broaden the scope of topics you’re willing to talk about with reporters. If you limit your area of expertise to your field, you may rarely come across opportunities. But if you expand the list of subjects you’re qualified to speak about, it’s likely you’ll regularly come across requests to weigh in on TV and article interviews.

For example, look for articles that have to do with where you live, your hobbies, the sports you play, how you’re saving for retirement, and where you shop. As long as what you have to say is useful and positive, it’s likely a good way to add to your list of outlets that have quoted you.

Now, you’ll find a list of articles, blog posts, books, TV, radio, and podcast topics in need of sources through websites that offer to match reporters and writers with people who have information (a.k.a. “sources”). You’re a potential source.

Those services are:

• Help a B2B Writer
• Qwoted
• Source of Sources

You’ll want to register at each of those websites – they’re free to use – and then scour the daily emails you receive to try to spot topics for which you can be a source.

The only time when it might not be in your best interest to respond is if the topic is negative or could paint you in a bad light.

Explore public speaking

Anyone standing at the front of the room is seen as the expert, so the more places you can find to speak to audiences, the faster your reputation will grow.

Develop a 15- and 30-minute talk you can give related to your area of specialization and then reach out to potential organizations that might be interested in having you present to their members or workers.

You could speak locally to service organizations like Rotary, Kiwanis, and Knights of Columbus, or to Junior Achievement or the Boys and Girls Clubs. You could speak to classes at area colleges and universities, as well as elementary and high schools, depending on your subject. Public libraries are regularly in need of speakers, as are trade shows and conventions.

The potential opportunities are virtually unlimited, and we haven’t even explored remote speaking gigs or summits.

If you’re comfortable speaking to groups, this could be a way to quickly elevate your personal brand.

Start a podcast

Podcasts and audiobooks are currently some of the most popular ways that people consume information. For that reason, you may want to consider creating your own podcast where you talk about your topic in a way that serves your target audience. That may require that you brainstorm how to discuss your topic in a way that is interesting and helpful.

For example, if you’re a graphic designer, you could explore trends in design, share examples of great design that you’ve seen out in the wild, interview other graphic designers, and even debate what good design looks like. The common theme across each episode should be that you are the expert and you’re trying to help anyone interested in learning more about it.

On the other hand, if you’re, say, a recruiter, you’ll want to think about what your audience wants to know. Mainly, they want to know how to land a new or better job. If your podcast can give them that kind of guidance, you will attract attention. But if you decide to talk instead about what not to mention on your LinkedIn profile or what webcam to buy for Zoom interviews, you may quickly run out of ideas for content and you may have difficulty gaining any traction with your audience.

If you don’t have the time or interest to create your own podcast, you can still pitch yourself as a podcast guest. The advantage of podcast interviews is that you don’t typically have to prepare a presentation – it’s more off-the-cuff and conversational.

Develop an email list

Building your own email list is another valuable marketing tool. And since it takes time to amass large numbers of followers and fans, start now.

One of the most effective ways to quickly grow an email list is to create a lead magnet and offer it in exchange for people’s names and email addresses. The lead magnet (a.k.a. freebie) needs to be of great interest to your people. If it is, they will gladly identify themselves and allow you to stay in touch.

You want this so that you can reach out once you begin to accept pre-orders of your finished book.

So, think about what information you can give your target audience that they really want right now. Don’t focus as much on what you want to tell them but, rather, what they’re looking for. In the small business world, entrepreneurs frequently want to know how to land more customers or scale their business. Ambitious career professionals often want to know how to land their next, more lucrative job. Parents frequently want tips to overcome common challenges, such as encouraging their child to eat healthy or develop a normal sleep routine.

If you’re not sure what your target market wants, do some Google research. What are some of the most searched words and phrases? What are members of your community after information-wise? You could also run a poll in your Facebook group to gather some of this information.

This is only a partial list of the many approaches you can take to get people talking about you and your book’s topic long before it is published. Ideally, you’ll spend the next few months educating your market and sharing your perspective so that when your book is released, people will be clamoring for it.

The risk if you don’t do any marketing in advance is that it will be released and no one will notice.

Strategizing what you can do to market yourself and your book while it’s being written is part of the service I provide to my clients. If you’d like to chat about having me ghostwrite your business book, please get in touch at marcia at marcialaytonturner.com.

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The post The Key to Marketing Your Business Book appeared first on Marcia Layton Turner.

• Lack of copyright protection
• Potential for plagiarism
• Hallucinations
• Inaccurate information
• No new ideas

You might think that I’m against using artificial intelligence (AI) or machine learning to write a book because it threatens my work as a professional ghostwriter, but you’d be wrong.

Right now, AI is not impacting demand for my work, though smart clients have added a clause to our agreement that prohibits me from using it. Since I don’t use it, I have no issue agreeing to that stipulation.

However, the number of times I’ve heard someone tell me, “I’m just going to use AI to write my book” is rising quickly as we all become more familiar with it.

When I caution authors against it, I get the distinct impression they think it’s a negotiation tactic designed to persuade them to hire me.

It’s not.

I caution them against it because there is very little upside beyond speed. And for nonfiction authors, there are plenty of reasons they shouldn’t consider it.

Sure, using AI may seem like an efficient way to make serious progress on your book in mere minutes, but there are huge downsides you need to be aware of before you attempt to do that. Granted, I am not an AI expert — at all — yet I know the current problems with its use include:

Lack of copyright protection

One of the big advantages of publishing your ideas in the form of a book is that it grants immediate copyright protection. If anyone tries to claim your ideas or words as their own, you can sue them for damages. When you hold the copyright, you control how your content is used and who has permission.

When you use AI to generate your book, you have no copyright protection because AI-generated content is not copyrightable.

As of March 16, 2023, according to the U.S. Copyright Office, “If a work’s traditional elements of authorship were produced by a machine, the work lacks human authorship and the Office will not register it.”

That should stop you right there. However, there are more reasons to consider on top of the lack of copyright protection.

Potential for plagiarism

As part of getting AI platforms like ChatGPT, Bard, and Claude up to speed, existing books, articles, blog posts, speeches, videos, music, and other human-generated content were used as input into the system. The software was then programmed to make connections between the material it has access to. So, when you ask it questions, it is effectively regurgitating information based on what it has received as input.

It is rehashing other works.

In some cases, that regurgitation is plagiarism. If the AI-generated output is verbatim from something that exists and is protected by copyright, or if the AI tool has rephrased the data without attribution, such as with an article spinner, both can be considered a form of plagiarism.

To avoid plagiarism claims, you must cite the original source. However, that is difficult when AI does not identify it as such.

Using material that was generated based on existing published works opens you up to expensive lawsuits. If your work violates a copyright, you are liable to pay damages that typically start at $10,000. That can get pretty expensive pretty fast. And since you have no way of knowing whether AI has plagiarized, it’s best to steer clear of it for content generation.

Hallucinations

I’ve heard that more recent updates of AI platforms have reduced the incidence of hallucinating, or when AI produces content that is completely fictional, but it’s still important to be aware that it happens.

Recently a classmate of mine used AI to do some background research on their dissertation topic, as a final check to be sure they had found all relevant journal articles. Imagine their astonishment after months of research when ChatGPT provided a list of 11 new journal articles that were exactly on point for their topic. In addition to being surprised, they were also excited to have come across new research they could cite.

However, when they went to read the alleged journal articles, it became clear they did not exist. ChatGPT had made them up.

Fortunately, my classmate took that extra step of checking each and every citation and quickly discovered the research was fake. However, this is a risk you take if you do not double-check everything AI generates. It’s possible quotes provided or statistics cited may be completely made up.

Inaccurate information

Beyond making information up and presenting it as fact, AI can also be wrong. If the information it has been fed is incorrect, it will present it back to you as if it is right when it is not and you may or may not be aware of the error.

This could happen because the platform interpreted satire or sarcasm as truth when it was meant as a joke; just look at The Onion. Or because the website it relied on for information was, pure and simple, wrong.

This could happen with user-generated content that is not reviewed by an outside expert, such as on Quora, Reddit, or Wikipedia. Much of the information is useful – even fascinating – but it is not always right. And AI can pull from those sources just as easily as it draws from an encyclopedia or dictionary.

No new ideas

Finally, if you rely on AI to spot trends or emerging concepts, rather than developing your own ideas, you are using AI as a crutch. It will be more difficult for you to position yourself as a thought leader or expert when you can’t or don’t conceive of your own original ideas.

Similarly, since AI can only make connections between what it has received as input, it is always behind the times. You have access to information as of this second, but AI programming does not occur in real-time.

Yes, AI can be a useful tool for tasks such as organizing information, but be careful if you begin to rely on it too much for idea generation or writing. The content it produces for you may replicate content it has produced for others on the same topic, which, at a minimum, will be flagged as duplicate content by Google. This is bad for your search rank and, worst-case, can open you up to plagiarism claims.

Instead, if you hire a professional ghostwriter, who can work alongside you to help you crystallize and express your unique ideas and perspective, you can be sure that it does not already exist and the chance of plagiarism claims is negligible.

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The post 5 Reasons Having AI Write Your Book Is a Very Bad Idea appeared first on Marcia Layton Turner.

• My first ghostwriting project
• Ghostwritten books

I had the honor and pleasure of being interviewed by the Nonfiction Authors Association last week about mFy career as a ghostwriter.

https://nonfictionauthorsassociation.com/careers-in-publishing-publishing-professional-interview-dr-marcia-layton-turner-president-layton-co-inc-and-executive-director-association-of-ghostwriters/

Ghostwriting as a profession has been getting a lot of attention lately, primarily because celebrities and experts are becoming more comfortable admitting they had help with the writing of their books. However, getting started is the most challenging part for writers who want to enter the profession.

My first ghostwriting project

I was very fortunate to have been handed a ghostwriting gig about 20 years ago, before I even knew what ghostwriting entailed.

My agent at the time, Lisa Swayne, called to ask if I wanted to work with a well-known business expert, to help him “finish” his book. Only it turned out he hadn’t started it — hadn’t written a word.

He had a publisher-approved outline, years of notes and articles he had filed away for this purpose, and a clear vision for what needed to be said. He was the ideal client.

He boxed up his files and shipped them to me via FexEd, so that I could get up to speed on the content.

Over the next six weeks or so, we spoke regularly by phone, talking through what belonged in each chapter, adding stories to make the instruction come alive, and brainstorming charts and illustrations to supplement the writing.

Given the book was several months overdue, we didn’t have a lot of time to debate individual word choices or trivial details and he was happy with what I produced. We submitted it to the publisher, who was also delighted that we had managed to draft the book as quickly as we did.

Once the book was submitted, I called to tell my agent, “I don’t know what that kind of project is called, but it was fantastic!”

Being paid to collaborate with a leader in his field, to learn from him, and to make suggestions for improvement that the author took seriously was a dream come true. The fact that my name wasn’t on the cover didn’t bother me in the slightest.

“That,” she told me, “is ghostwriting.”

Ghostwritten books

Since that first project, I’ve worked on a business textbook, a book related to DEI, a guide to investing, a few corporate histories, a bunch of thought leadership titles, several leadership, marketing, and real estate books, and the occasional self-help or professional development book. I look for smart business leaders who want to write a book to promote their company or its products or services, or to position them for new business opportunities, such as speaking or consulting.

But my ghostwriting career started with a publisher who was willing to hand me responsibility for producing a manuscript on behalf of one of their important clients. And I suspect they were willing to do that because I had the experience and the expertise they needed at that moment.

The post Ghostwriting as a Career appeared first on Marcia Layton Turner.

The post Why Outsourcing Makes Me a Better Ghostwriter appeared first on Marcia Layton Turner.

• Why is ghostwriting illegal?
• Ghostwriters are collaborators
• Hiring a ghostwriter is outsourcing
• Plagiarism is illegal
• FAQs

Or is ghostwriting illegal?

Book ghostwriters are legal everywhere, as far as I know. It is totally acceptable to pay for help in developing, organizing, and drafting your book, just as it’s legal to hire a consultant, advisor, or coach to help with other tasks.

There are limitations on the use of ghostwriters in some industries, such as legal and medical, where there has been concern that non-lawyers and non-doctors are crafting reports. However, it is not illegal.

Why is ghostwriting illegal?

Ghostwriting is not illegal, with one exception.

The one type of ghostwriting that is illegal in some places is academic ghostwriting. That’s where students pay someone else to prepare assignments for them or submit someone else’s work as their own.

In that case, the ghostwriter is doing the majority of the thinking, analysis, and writing that an educator has asked the student to do. Submitting work that someone else has done defeats the purpose of the school assignment, which is why schools don’t want students paying ghostwriters to complete their work.

As of 2022, academic ghostwriting is illegal in the U.K., Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, and in 17 U.S. states, to varying degrees.

In countries that have not yet deemed academic ghostwriting illegal, it is at least unethical. Paying someone else to complete classwork and assignments is cheating. At many schools, not completing your own work constitutes academic misconduct or dishonesty and can be cause for expulsion. There can be serious ramifications for hiring an academic ghostwriter.

But that’s not what we’re talking about here. At all.

Book ghostwriting is both legal and ethical.

People who think otherwise generally don’t understand how ghostwriting works, especially with respect to nonfiction ghostwriting.

Ghostwriters are collaborators

For one, in most cases a ghostwriter is a writing partner or collaborator, not a surrogate writer.

They work with and alongside their client, who is typically the person who came up with the idea for the book in the first place.

It is the client who has the expertise and relevant knowledge, not to mention the stories, examples, and connections on the subject. The ghostwriter could not have written the client’s book without the input of the subject-matter expert, although the client certainly could have, given enough time.

That division of labor may be less true with works of fiction, where the author has an idea for a story and wants to hand it off to be developed and polished. In that case, a ghostwriter might have enough information to take the idea and run with it even without ongoing guidance and input from the client.

Hiring a ghostwriter is outsourcing

Paying a ghostwriter to complete writing work for you is an example of outsourcing or delegation. It is typical and even expected in many corporate environments. If writing is not the best use of your time, you shouldn’t be the one doing it.

If you’re not the best person to complete the task, it makes perfect sense to find someone who has the skills you lack. It’s why business leaders hire speechwriters, graphic designers, and video teams — because the other professionals have specialized skills.

As a leader, you aren’t expected to know everything or have experience in everything, which is why many experts “farm things out.” They turn tasks over to people who will do a better job than they would or could.

Even if you’re a skilled writer, hiring a ghostwriter could make a lot of sense if you lack the time required to get the job done by your deadline. Or you lack the time, period.

For example, if you have a conference or keynote coming up for which you want to have books available, you may want to hire a ghostwriter to ensure the book can be drafted and published in time. Professional writers typically work faster than average writers and may be able to complete a task in less time than it would take you.

Or, you may be a skilled writer who is also a perfectionist, so if it’s torture to get even a paragraph written, you should consider having someone else work with you so that you can pick up the pace of production, which, in this case, is writing. Hiring a ghostwriter to assist you will free up time you can invest in other tasks and will reduce your stress level by knowing a professional is on the job.

Plagiarism is illegal

Besides academic ghostwriting, which we’ve established is almost always unethical and illegal in some areas, copying someone else’s work and presenting it as your own is also illegal.

That’s plagiarism.

Claiming someone else’s work as your own may violate intellectual property and copyright law (I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice).

But that’s not what ghostwriters do. Ghostwriters do not plagiarize.

A ghostwriter takes what their client, the aspiring author, knows and wants to share and organizes and presents that information in such a way that it benefits the reader.

Along the way, they may also provide marketing advice and publishing guidance as part of the assignment, too.

However, they are not involved in illegal activities.

Ghostwriters are writing helpers, just as therapists help heal trauma, doctors help improve health, and sports coaches provide guidance and instruction. It’s the client who requests help and the professional who works to support them in achieving the results they’re after.

All of which is totally legal.

FAQs

Other questions that often come up include:

How do you know if a book is ghostwritten?

If you see two names on the cover and one has a “with” in front of it, that person may have been a collaborator or ghostwriter on the project. You can also read the book’s acknowledgments to see if a co-writer, researcher, or collaborator is named.

What is the point of being a ghostwriter?

Ghostwriters help experts, leaders, and people who have something to say share that information in the author’s voice. That means that the book, article, or blog post reads like the expert wrote it. Ghostwriters typically enjoy learning alongside learned professionals and being paid for it.

Why don’t ghost writers publish their own books?

Many ghostwriters are also authors and they do publish their own books. However, there is a growing demand for ghostwriting services and it’s frequently more lucrative to write someone else’s book than to publish one’s own.

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Table of contents:

• A Ghostwriter’s Real Value
• Beyond Transcript Editing

The best books are filled with information that is interesting, entertaining, informative, and maybe even surprising. To gather those details requires the skills of a great writer, or, alternatively, a great ghostwriter.

The benefit of hiring a talented ghostwriter is as much their writing ability as it is their curious mind. They ask great questions that get at material that is new and sometimes even controversial.  Without a skilled ghostwriter, you wind up with a book that is dull, boring, and filled with old information everyone’s already heard before.

Good ghostwriters are skilled at asking questions that elicit often fascinating facts.

A Ghostwriter’s Real Value

Although a ghostwriter may ask to record a phone or video interview and transcribe it later, often to avoid a hand cramp as they try to take comprehensive notes fast, the value they bring to the project begins long before the interview starts.

Each and every book requires a ghostwriter to conceive of and compile relevant questions that explore in depth the topic the author is writing about. Sometimes that requires the ghostwriter to conduct background research, read books, articles, blog posts, and study scholarly research to get their arms around a subject. That research helps them prepare a list of questions that goes beyond your standard who, what, where, why, when, and how.

The ghostwriter’s genius is in their interview questions.

Some authors attempt to replicate this process by dictating their thoughts and having them transcribed and then edited, but it doesn’t deliver the quality product that you can get with an experienced ghostwriter. Because experienced book ghostwriters know the questions to ask that will elicit the most interesting material.

Among other things, questions posed help to:

• Express the author’s emotions about a particular event
• Provide context for the author’s discovery or epiphany described
• Explain why the author’s perspective is so different from existing opinions
• Tell a relevant, previously unheard story to illustrate a point or justify an action
• Set the stage for events covered later in the book
• Prove the author’s authority and expertise
• Explore other characters who were present or who played an important role
• Fill in background details
• Link other theories or stories with the one being told
• Offer analyses and findings to support the author’s position
• Educate the reader about the author’s process or strategy

Each question builds on the last, helping the ghostwriter to better understand the material so that he or she can relate it to the reader in a new way. Or to explain it in such a way it helps the reader better comprehend it.

Beyond Transcript Editing

There are some ghostwriting services that promise to produce a published book from recorded telephone interviews.

For many articulate aspiring authors, this approach sounds quite appealing, both because the process isn’t overwhelming and the cost is fairly low. After all, if an author already knows what they want to share, a ghostwriter becomes little more than an editor working from a transcript of the call.

Since the work completed is more editing than writing from scratch, the fee charged is typically only a few thousand dollars.

Before you opt to go this route, think about what it is your book needs to really shine. Do you need someone to polish words you’ve already written? Or could you benefit from a professional writer who will help you uncover the real gems in your message, and clarify your thinking? Someone who will push back and ask for details?

Better questions result in better stories and better writing. Ultimately, better questions result in a better book.

So if you’re going to hire a ghostwriter to support you in writing your book, choose the one with the most inquisitive mind. Your book will be so much better for it. If you’re looking for a ghostwriter, the Association of Ghostwriters would be happy to help you find one for your project.

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