I'm really serious about this. We should start a movement and embarrass celebs into being honest. If it's 'co-written' (i.e. ghosted), at least put that person's name on the cover too. The @societyofauthors.bsky.social should get much more involved. What do you think? - ThreadSky

alexreeve.bsky.social • 84 days ago

I'm really serious about this. We should start a movement and embarrass celebs into being honest. If it's 'co-written' (i.e. ghosted), at least put that person's name on the cover too. The @societyofauthors.bsky.social should get much more involved. What do you think?

Reposted from Alex Reeve (storyjoy)

We need a campaign for real fiction. I have no problem with celebs who write books. I have no problem with ghosted memoirs, etc. But ghosted fiction novels with a celeb’s name on the cover are just plain wrong. It’s cynical, branded merch, nothing more.

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davidbeckler.bsky.social•84 days ago

100% this.
It's worst in children's fiction.

alexreeve.bsky.social•84 days ago

People seem to think writing for kids is easier (and they couldn’t be more wrong). Most of the celeb stuff is derivative merch designed to be given as a gift, not actually read more than once.

davidbeckler.bsky.social•84 days ago

Or ghost written as I'm sure you know.

stephmerritt.bsky.social•84 days ago

💯 If it’s ghosted that should be made clear, but I doubt readers would care much, any more than they think J-Lo blends her perfume with her own hands

alexreeve.bsky.social•84 days ago

Yeah, we’ve all grown kind-of accustomed to the celeb branding thing. People are inured to it. And I’m not trying to kill publishers’ businesses. But they could find a form of words that still allows the big, famous name on the cover, without being dishonest.

neemashah.bsky.social•84 days ago

Totally agree. If a single production team member was left off film end credits there'd be uproar and yet the person who arguably contributes more than anyone else to a book is lucky to get an acknowledgement on the last page of the book, if that.

alexreeve.bsky.social•84 days ago

This is a very good point.

sarahwardcrime.bsky.social•84 days ago

Completely agree

alexreeve.bsky.social•84 days ago

I get the value of name recognition, but publishers need to find a form of words that’s somewhat honest. ‘Inspired by’ or ‘Written with’. Just don’t pass it off as something it’s not.

alexreeve.bsky.social•84 days ago

Writing a novel is hard. It takes months of work, mostly alone at a keyboard. It’s mentally and emotionally taxing. If you didn’t personally do that work, don’t say you did. It’s dishonest, plain and simple.

alexreeve.bsky.social•84 days ago

It’s a balance of probabilities. Did the celeb come from a script-writing, journalistic or comedy background? Do they seem to choose their words carefully and have an ear for language? Do they care about words? If so, there’s a reasonable chance they did the work.

alexreeve.bsky.social•84 days ago

But if their job is reading an autocue, kicking a ball, cookery, politics or modelling - or they’re the Hawk Tuah girl - there’s a lower chance.

wrathofgodherself.bsky.social•84 days ago

In principle I agree with you - though also 1) i don't read the most common kind of ghost-written books, 2) being 'in the business' feel i would never want to, and 3) wonder if 'the public' who do read them care about the quality of the writing/life of authors? Dunno. Worth thinking about.

alexreeve.bsky.social•84 days ago

True, of course, and the books may actually be great. But can’t they be honest anyway?

aptshadow.bsky.social•84 days ago

I think it would be right and just. I also think that it would strip the project of its desired kudos for the celebrity, so it won’t happen.

jonnynexus.bsky.social•84 days ago

It’s weird how only writing is treated this way. You can’t imagine celebrities using “ghost painters” to paint artwork. And when it was found that Milli Vanilli hadn’t sung on their records they were stripped of their awards and the backlash drove one of them to suicide.

alexreeve.bsky.social•84 days ago

Agreed, most likely, and sadly.

lukedeckard.bsky.social•83 days ago

I agree! I recently wrote about it on Substack. The slowness with which the SOA have gone with this is baffling. I also think the Writers Guild, CWA, and any other major writers union/associations should step up to.

alexreeve.bsky.social•83 days ago

I agree. I truly don’t want to cut off a revenue stream for publishers, but they should be clear when a work is written to a great extent by someone else. As you say, this should be addressed more strongly by SoA, CWA, etc.

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