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"You are producing the book that they would write if they could" I say if a person can't write a book, they should either learn to write or not write at all. G
by clock_tower 9y ago
"You are producing the book that they would write if they could"
I say if a person can't write a book, they should either learn to write or not write at all. Ghostwriting degrades the idea of authorship; "having written a book" becomes just one more thing you can buy with money, instead of the product of genuine effort and skill.
- pcunite 9y agoI think it should be described differently. Kinda like how a product designer does not truly build the car or software product. Engineers are given the scope, the layout, and work together with the designer to build the end result. Perhaps noteworthy books should be written this way.
- clock_tower 9y agoAuthors are prestigious because it's assumed that they've written their books -- with help from friends and editors, of course, but still, they're the one who structured their thoughts and churned through a few hundred thousand words of drafts and revisions. (Ever tried to write? I have, but I've never created anything publishable; this is why I have so much respect for those who do, and so little patience for those who don't but pretend they did.) If such-and-such a person can't write a book, they shouldn't get the credit for having written one; there was a time when a politician or general had to either write his own memoirs, or live with their not existing.