Gina Rae Mitchell

5 Popular Books You Didn’t Know Were Written by Ghostwriters

People are often surprised to hear that a profession like ghostwriting exists. However, many best-selling authors actually employ ghostwriters – whether it’s because they have great ideas but not the skills to put pen to paper or just don’t have the time to hash out a full novel– and the market for ghostwriters is enormous.

Ghostwriters can run their businesses from just about anywhere, giving them the freedom to be true digital nomads. The ease of accessibility to this profession has reportedly encouraged a new wave of fiction ghostwriters, as Dr. Jennifer Banash, a New York Times-bestselling ghostwriter and director of the Creative Writing group explains: “…the practice has shifted from being the brainchild of publishing houses or packaging companies, who routinely farm out successful series on the down-low, to everyday people who have either harbored dreams of making it big in the publishing world or who just want to simply get their story out there.” Becoming a ghostwriter requires very minimal startup costs, and success relies mainly on how prolific you are as a writer and the quality of your work.

When we think of the literature industry as a whole, it’s not surprising to see why some estimates say that over 50% of today’s best-sellers are actually ghostwritten. Authors and publishing companies will want to take advantage of upcoming trends by continuously churning out books that are sure to sell. So not all best-sellers are written by the person whose name is on the cover. Here are some novels that were actually written by ghostwriters:

1. The Babysitter’s Club

The original author, Ann M. Martin, wrote the first 35 books of the series herself, but Peter Lerangis ghostwrote the succeeding books. Before he agreed to take on the series, he wanted to write sample chapters first, so the head editor could see if he was worthy of taking over the job.

2. Goosebumps

R.L. Stine denies hiring ghostwriters for any of the published 160 Goosebumps books. However, Scholastic suggests otherwise, saying that Stine really had ghosts write many of the books. Whoever you choose to believe, you should also know that in 1993, the series was releasing two books a month – something a single writer would have to be talented to do.

3. Nancy Drew

The “Carolyn Keene” that you see on the covers of this series is not a real person. Nancy Drew is being written and has been written for quite some time, by ghostwriters who were simultaneously contracted to work. The first “Carolyn Keene” was a woman named Mildred Wirt Benson, who was born in 1905 and wrote 23 of the very first set of Nancy Drew books.

4. and 5. The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers

These two are Alexandre Dumas’s most famous works, and he did write everything that had his name on it, but he had a co-author for eighteen of his novels: his friend Auguste Maquet. Sadly, they had a dispute regarding money and bylines and went their separate ways.

Bonus: Some of Shakespeare’s plays

These aren’t books, but it might still be of interest. If you watched a play in early modern England, Shakespeare most likely wrote it. But for people to keep coming back to the theatre, he had to keep producing new plays, and the Queen herself even commissioned some works. To keep up with the demand without going insane, some of his plays were ghostwritten.

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A ghostwritten work doesn’t mean it’s worse than books that are not written by ghostwriters.

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If you’re in search of book recommendations, take a look at my archive of book reviews to help you decide your next read.