Editing Ghostwriter (section)

{{Short description|Writer who writes for the credited author}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Redirect|Ghostwriters|the Australian band|Ghostwriters (band)}}
{{distinguish|ghost riding}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2020}}
[[File:Tom Clancy at Burns Library, Boston College.jpg|thumb|The popular demand for [[Tom Clancy]]'s action novels exceeded his ability to write new books. As a result, his publisher hired ghostwriters to write novels in the Clancy style.]]

A '''ghostwriter''' is a person hired to write [[literature|literary]] or [[journalism|journalistic]] works, speeches, or other texts that are credited to another person as the author. Celebrities, executives, participants in timely news stories, and political leaders often hire ghostwriters to draft or edit [[Autobiography|autobiographies]], [[memoir]]s, magazine articles, or other written material.

Memoir ghostwriters often pride themselves in "disappearing" when impersonating others since such disappearance signals the quality of their craftsmanship.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Anteby |first1=Michel |last2=Occhiuto |first2=Nicholas |title=Stand-in Labor and the Rising Economy of Self |journal=[[Social Forces]] |year=2020 |volume=98 |issue=3 |pages=1287–1310 |doi=10.1093/sf/soz028}}</ref> In music, ghostwriters are often used to write songs, lyrics, and instrumental pieces. [[Screenplay]] authors can also use ghostwriters to either [[script doctor|edit or rewrite their scripts]] to improve them. Usually, there is a confidentiality clause in the contract between the ghostwriter and the credited author (or publisher) that obligates the former to remain anonymous, or obligates the latter to not reveal the ghostwriter. Sometimes the ghostwriter is acknowledged by the author or publisher for their writing services, euphemistically called a "researcher" or "research assistant", but often the ghostwriter is not credited.

Ghostwriting (or simply "ghosting") also occurs in other creative fields. Composers have long hired ghostwriters to help them to write musical pieces and songs; [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart]] is an example of a well-known composer who was paid to ghostwrite music for wealthy patrons. Ghosting also occurs in popular music. A pop music ghostwriter writes lyrics and a [[melody]] in the style of the credited musician. In [[hip hop]] music, the increasing use of ghostwriters by high-profile hip-hop stars has led to controversy.<ref name="bbc.com">{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-28551924|title=The secret ghostwriters of Hip Hop|work=BBC News|date=August 6, 2014 }}</ref> In the visual arts, it is not uncommon in both [[fine art]] and [[commercial art]] such as [[comics]] for a number of assistants to do work on a piece that is credited to a single artist; [[Andy Warhol]] engaged in this practice, supervising an assembly line [[silk screen]] process for his artwork.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/warhol/story/0,11478,648898,00.html |title=My 15 minutes | work=[[The Guardian (newspaper)|The Guardian]]|date=February 12, 2002 |access-date=October 5, 2014}}</ref> However, when credit is established for the writer, the acknowledgment of their contribution is public domain and the writer in question would not be considered a ghostwriter.