Ghostwriters! The hired guns of the publishing world – they are paid to produce and then remain in the shadows. Words for cash – no questions asked. There is plenty of work – there are the high profile politicians who have not picked up a book since kindergarten but now need a memoir and the estates of dead authors, like V.C. Andrews and Robert Ludlum.
Perhaps the most famous ghostwriter is Carolyn Keene but Carolyn herself is as fictional as her teen sleuth heroine, Nancy Drew. A group of writers have written these books over the years according to a strict template and style.
In the UK, Hunter Davies – author of the wonderful insider’s view of Tottenham Hotspur, The Glory Game – makes a very nice living ghosting autobiographies for famous footballers, including the likes of Wayne Rooney, Paul Gascoigne and Dwight Yorke.
I imagine writing ghosted memoirs and autobiographies is actually a very interesting profession…. if you are writing on behalf of interesting people. It might be a little dull writing for about the 15 minutes of fame enjoyed by a reality TV star or a member of a boy band.
Top 10 Ghostwritten Books
1. The Curse of Yig by Zealia Bishop (ghosted by H.P. Lovecraft)
Lovecraft did a large amount of ghostwriting for various patrons, including Under the Pyramids (also known as Imprisoned With the Pharaohs) for Harry Houdini.
2. Daughter of the Tejas by Ophelia Ray (ghosted by Larry McMurtry)
McMurtry was a frequent ghostwriter in his early career before winning Pulitzer and Academy awards.
3. Tennis As I Play It by Maurice McLoughlin (ghosted by Sinclair Lewis)
Lewis wrote this book for McLoughlin 15 years before he won the Nobel Prize for Literature.
4. Old-Soldier Sahib by Frank Richards (ghosted by Robert Graves)
War poet Graves wrote the forward for Richards but it’s also believed he wrote the entire book. Richards served with Graves in WWI.
5. Inside the Medium’s Cabinet by Joseph Dunninger (ghosted by Walter B. Gibson)
Gibson had already created his best known character, The Shadow, but still took time to write a number of books and articles on magic for Dunninger, a famous mystic.
6. The Player on the Other Side by Ellery Queen (ghosted by Theodore Sturgeon)
Queen (a pseudonym for Frederic Dannay & Manfred B. Lee) contribution has been described as one of the best in the series. Sturgeon apparently said: “90 per cent of everything is crud.”
7. The Madman Theory by Ellery Queen (ghosted by Jack Vance)
Vance wrote three contributions to the Ellery Queen series. The other two Vance works were The Four Johns and A Room To Die In.
8. My Chinese Marriage by Mae T Franking (ghosted Katherine Anne Porter)
Porter’s first published book, in a career that would eventually lead to a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Award, was this biography.
9. Tiger of the Snows (later called Man of Everest) by Tenzing Norgay (ghosted James Ramsey Ullman)
Ullman was a mountaineer who wrote Sherpa Tenzing’s autobiography in the same year as he won the Newbery Award for Banner in the Sky.
10. Ecstasy and Me: My Life as a Woman by Hedy Lamarr (ghosted by Leo Guild)
Guild has been labelled the worst pulp novelist ever. His artistic liberties caused Lamarr to sue her publisher over inaccuracies in her own autobiography.
More details on the top 10 ghostwritten books.