Rachel Vane

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Red Flags That This Ghostwriter May Not Be the One for You

We asked California intellectual property attorney Dana Newman for her thoughts about what makes a good ghostwriting relationship.

“Two things are particularly important to a good author/ghostwriter relationship: sharing the same vision for the book, and having a clear written agreement in place covering delivery, approval, payment and ownership.

Red flags that this relationship may not work include:

A ghostwriter who wants to fundamentally change the voice, structure, or purpose of the book (and the author does not).
A ghostwriter who doesn't agree to give the writer access to all the research materials he or she has gathered.
A ghostwriter who doesn't turn in work on an agreed schedule.
A ghostwriter who doesn't address changes the author wants to make in the substance or style of the manuscript.
A ghostwriter who expects payments for writing services or expense reimbursements that weren't agreed to in advance.
A ghostwriter who wants credit and/or demands an interest in the book's proceeds when the arrangement was supposed to be a flat fee work-for-hire, not a co-author collaboration."

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