The Ghostwriters Behind the Books: An Inside Look at Publishing’s Invisible Authors

Have you ever read a celebrity memoir or motivational business book and wondered if the famous name on the cover actually wrote it? The world of publishing has a long tradition of ghostwriting — writers who author books officially credited to someone else. On a recent episode of Missing Pages, host Bethanne Patrick pulls back the curtain on the controversial practice of ghostwriting.

Bethanne maintains a storied place in the publishing industry as a critic and as @TheBookMaven on Twitter, where she created the popular #FridayReads and regularly comments on books and literary ideas to over 200,000 followers. Her work appears frequently in the Los Angeles Times as well as in The Washington Post, NPR Books, and Literary Hub. She sits on the board of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation and has served on the board of the National Book Critics Circle.

The Business of Ghostwriting

Ghostwriting is big business in book publishing. Celebrities, business leaders, politicians, and other public figures often lack the writing skills or time to pen an entire book themselves. By hiring an…