The SoA’s Ghosts Are Real Campaign, aims to encourage publishers and agents to champion the ghostwriter’s role, making their contributions more evident and recognised.
Our Children’s Writers and Illustrators Group, has developed and published a set of new guidelines, aimed at agents and publishers, and detailing processes for working with ghostwriters. The guidelines, with a cover illustration by illustrator and CWIG committee member Lydia Monks, invite publishers, agents, celebrities, and ghostwriters to help build a more transparent, collaborative, and celebratory culture in children’s publishing.
“Ghostwriters are the unsung heroes of many celebrity-authored children’s books,” said Abie Longstaff, Chair of the Children’s Writers and Illustrators Group at SoA. “Alongside the celebrity, ghostwriters are a valuable resource to inspire and encourage children to read, helping establish a love of books that lasts a lifetime. We’d like to see publishers promoting greater visibility when it comes to the celebrity and ghostwriter partnership.”
The SoA’s new guidelines encourage publishers and authors to:
- Ensure fair contract terms, including royalties or bonus payments, rather than only flat fees.
- Establish clear working processes between the celebrity and ghostwriter from the outset.
- Credit ghostwriters on covers, unless they ask otherwise, and provide accurate metadata to showcase their skill and strengthen their careers.
- Include ghostwriters in marketing and publicity, from social media mentions to school visits and festival events, highlighting the teamwork that goes into creating a book.
- Avoid conflicts of interest where the same agent represents both the celebrity and ghostwriter.
“Whilst the SoA acknowledges that each contract and situation is unique, these Best Practice Publishing Guidelines aim to encourage publishers and agents to take certain steps to achieve greater transparency and fairness around the ghostwriter’s role,” said Abie.
Transparency brings many advantages such as reinforcing a book’s authenticity and craft, which has come into sharp focus following the rise of AI generated texts. The campaign also hopes that increased transparency will help to inspire children to value writing and boost the careers of children’s ghostwriters whose contributions are often hidden or downplayed.
Encouragingly, celebrities are increasingly embracing transparency themselves by acknowledging their collaborators, with sporting figures such as Chris Hoy publicly crediting author Joanna Nadin who worked alongside him on the Flying Fergus series.
