Ghostwriter Code of Conduct

This personal Code of Conduct sits alongside the Eleven Commitments, a shorter standard any ghostwriter can adopt. I authored that code and am a signatory to it. This document is how those principles work in practice on every project I take.

Truthful promotion. I promote my services honestly. I do not misrepresent my abilities, experience, credentials, or past results. I do not use deceptive SEO, fake reviews, manufactured testimonials, or any tactic that misleads prospective clients about who I am or what I deliver.

Realistic capabilities. I tell prospective clients honestly when a project falls outside my experience. If your subject matter, format, or goals do not match what I do well, I will say so. Referrals to other professionals are made on suitability, not on referral fees.

No guaranteed outcomes. I do not promise bestseller status, specific sales figures, media coverage, agent or publisher acceptance, or any outcome that depends on the market, the reader, or third parties. I provide accurate context about what books typically accomplish for authors in similar positions, and I will share the data behind that context.

Written Statement of Work. Every engagement begins with a signed Statement of Work specifying scope, deliverables, fee structure, timeline, intellectual property terms, AI use, and confidentiality terms. Work does not begin until the agreement is fully understood and signed by both parties.

Scope changes require written approval. If circumstances change the scope of work mid-project, the change is documented in writing, additional fees (if any) are agreed in writing, and the new scope replaces the prior version. No work resulting from scope changes is performed without that approval.

Payment terms. Payment is due in advance of services rendered. Monthly advance schedules are standard for word-rate projects. Fees and payment terms are documented in the Statement of Work. No refunds of fees already paid for completed work; this is consistent with standard practice for custom creative services where the work cannot be returned.

Termination rights. Either party may terminate the agreement in writing at any time, unless the Statement of Work specifies otherwise. The client is not responsible for fees beyond work already in progress. The client receives all completed work to the point of termination, regardless of the reason for ending the engagement.

Realistic schedules. I do not commit to deadlines I cannot meet. Project timelines reflect the actual time required for interviews, drafting, revision, and review cycles. If circumstances threaten an agreed deadline, I notify the client immediately and propose options.

Professional treatment. Clients are treated with respect, courtesy, and integrity. The relationship is professional throughout. My personal circumstances are not the client’s concern; my professional commitment to your project is consistent regardless.

Mutual respect required. Professional engagements require mutual respect from both parties. If a working relationship becomes abusive, I will identify the issue clearly, attempt to resolve it, and if necessary terminate the engagement under the terms of the Statement of Work. This is rare and disclosed up front so expectations are clear.

Confidentiality is the default. All client information, including interviews, drafts, business details, personal history, and strategic plans, is confidential and disclosed only with written client permission or where required by law. This applies whether or not a non-disclosure agreement is signed, and whether or not a project is ultimately accepted after pre-sales conversations.

Conflicts of interest disclosed. If I am working with a direct competitor of yours, or if any other conflict of interest exists, you will be told before the engagement begins. I do not take on competing projects in the same narrow market without explicit disclosure to all affected parties.

Project pacing across clients. Work for one client never interferes with work for another. Each project receives the time and attention specified in its Statement of Work. I do not take on more concurrent projects than my capacity allows.

Scope: This Section Governs Ghostwriting Work

The standards below apply to ghostwriting engagements where a client is the named author. In that context, the client has full visibility into how their book is produced, including any AI use. Work I publish under my own name or a pen name is governed by the disclosure terms of the publishing platform involved, not by this section.

Disclosure to Clients

Every Statement of Work includes a written description of how AI will be used in the project. Specific tools are not enumerated unless the client asks or the project requires it. If the scope of AI use changes mid-project, the client is notified and approves the change in writing before the change takes effect.

What AI Is Used For

Acceptable AI tasks in ghostwriting work include:

• ► Research synthesis and source summarization
• ► Interview transcript cleanup and indexing
• ► Brainstorming and ideation in dialogue
• ► Structural feedback on outlines and drafts
• ► Identifying logical inconsistencies and weak transitions
• ► Finding alternative word choices and phrasing variations
• ► Reference formatting and citation management
• ► Reading-level and accessibility assessment

What AI Is Not Used For

AI is never used in ghostwriting work to:

• ► Generate the manuscript’s prose voice or narrative
• ► Imagine or fabricate what the client might say in place of conducting real interviews
• ► Replace the structural, creative, or editorial judgment that the client is paying me to provide
• ► Fact-check itself (AI output is verified against original sources, not against other AI)
• ► Perform any task that the client has not been informed about

Confidentiality and AI

Client interviews, drafts, business information, and strategic discussions are never entered into AI tools whose terms permit training on submitted content. Where AI tools are used in client work, the configuration is selected to prevent inputs from entering training data, and the specific tools and settings are documented and available for client review on request.

If a client requires zero AI use of any kind on their project, that is honored in writing and the Statement of Work reflects it.

Hallucination Prevention

The Gotham/Bernoff survey found 91% of writers concerned about AI hallucinations, including fabricated facts, invented quotes, and false citations. Standard practice in my work: any factual claim, statistic, quotation, date, citation, name, or case reference that originates from or passes through an AI workflow is independently verified against the original source before reaching the client review. This is non-negotiable. AI does not fact-check itself.

Voice Authenticity

The client’s voice is captured through interviews, which are real conversations, recorded with consent, transcribed accurately. AI is not used to generate what the client “might” say or to invent the client’s voice. AI may organize what the client has actually said, but the words attributed to the client originate with the client.

Training Data and Copyright

The Gotham/Bernoff survey found 80% of writing professionals concerned about AI tools trained without permission on copyrighted content. I cannot control what was used to train the foundation models. What I can control is what enters those models from my practice: client work does not train public AI tools, and AI output that mirrors recognizable third-party voices or copyrighted material is identified and removed in editing.

Platform Disclosure Compliance

When a publishing platform (Amazon KDP, IngramSpark, others) requires an AI use disclosure as a condition of distribution, that disclosure is provided accurately. Platform disclosure is a contractual obligation between the uploader and the platform, honored as such.

Original work. All work I deliver is the product of my own effort, structured through the interview and drafting process described in our Statement of Work. I do not plagiarize, recycle prior client work, or reuse copyrighted material without proper licensing.

Sourcing and citation. Sources are properly cited. Trademarks and logos of other businesses are used in accordance with their permitted-use terms. Any reused third-party material is documented and licensed.

Copyright transfers to the client. Copyright in the finished manuscript transfers to the client upon final payment. You own the work. I retain no rights to publish, repurpose, or claim authorship of the manuscript.

Client receives complete files. Clients receive electronic copies of all completed work, even if a project is terminated before completion. You always have the work product you have paid for.

FTC compliance on reviews. I follow FTC regulations on testimonials, endorsements, and disclosure of business relationships in any review or recommendation of client products and services.

Interviews are remote by default. Interviews are conducted over Zoom or equivalent video conferencing. Off-site in-person interviews are arranged on request and charged at an hourly rate plus travel and any other expenses, payable in advance.

Recording. Interviews are recorded for accurate transcription and reference. Recording is established in the Statement of Work.

Focused conversations. Interview time is the client’s investment. Sessions stay on the topics that serve the book. Tangents are noted briefly and revisited only if they prove relevant.

Clear documentation. Interview notes, drafts in progress, and project decisions are documented and accessible. The client knows where we are at any point in the project.

Minors and guardians. If the client is a minor, all engagement decisions are made with the agreement of and communication through a parent or guardian.

Referrals on merit. When work falls outside my practice, I refer to qualified professionals based on suitability, not on referral fees. Any referral fees are disclosed to the client.

I do not accept projects that:

• ► Promote illegal activities
• ► Promote human trafficking, exploitation, or abuse
• ► Promote drug abuse
• ► Promote violence
• ► Slander identifiable individuals using actual names and situations
• ► Promote violations of human rights
• ► Disparage religious beliefs as a hostile attack rather than a reasoned critique
• ► Constitute academic dishonesty (term papers, dissertations, school assignments)

Legal compliance. I do not knowingly violate the law in the performance of services. I do not knowingly violate copyrights.

Personal ethics override commercial interest. I decline projects that conflict with my ethics, regardless of fee. This is disclosed in initial conversations rather than after engagement.

1. Confidentiality is absolute

What a client shares stays private. That covers the obvious things, like trade secrets and personal history, and the less obvious one that matters most: the fact that a ghostwriter was involved at all. A ghostwriter does not reveal who their clients are without permission. They do not use a client’s name as a credential, drop it in conversation, or list it in a portfolio unless the client has agreed in writing. The work is the client’s. So is the silence around it.

2. The credit belongs to the client

The client is the author. Their name goes on the book. The ghostwriter does not claim authorship, does not expect a byline, and does not later assert that the work was “really” theirs. If the client wants to acknowledge the writer, that is the client’s choice to offer, not the writer’s to demand. A ghostwriter who needs public credit is in the wrong line of work.

3. The work belongs to the client

The finished work is the client’s property. The ghostwriter transfers all rights to the manuscript to the client and keeps none. The writer does not republish it, repurpose it, sell it again to someone else, or hold any part of it back as leverage. Once the client has paid for the work, it is theirs to do with as they please, and the writer has no further claim on it. The terms of that transfer are settled in writing before the work starts, not improvised at the end.

4. The voice is the client’s, not the writer’s

The job is to sound like the client, not like the writer. A ghostwriter captures how the client thinks and talks and makes the book read as something the client could have written on their best day. The goal is not to show off the writer’s range. It is to disappear into the client’s voice so completely that readers never suspect anyone else was there.

5. Honesty about what the work will and will not do

A ghostwriter tells the truth about outcomes. A good book opens doors, but it does not guarantee sales, fame, or a bestseller list. Anyone promising those things is selling a fantasy. The writer is honest about timelines, about what the budget will and will not buy, and about the parts of the process that are genuinely hard. A client who is misled into the work is a client who ends up disappointed, and a disappointment that was avoidable is the writer’s fault.

6. The facts have to be real

A ghostwriter does not invent credentials the client does not have, fabricate research, or manufacture stories that did not happen and present them as true. Memoir involves memory, and memory is imperfect, and reasonable reconstruction of a real life is part of the craft. Inventing achievements, faking expertise, or building a book on claims the writer knows to be false is not. The writer’s name is hidden, but their judgment is not. They are responsible for not helping a client lie.

7. Some work gets refused

A ghostwriter turns down projects that cause harm. That includes books designed to defraud, to defame a real person, to spread deliberate misinformation, or to launder a dangerous reputation into something respectable. The money is good and the temptation is real, and the answer is still no. A writer who will put their craft behind anything for a paycheck has no standard at all.

8. The agreement is in writing, before the work starts

Scope, price, payment schedule, revision rounds, ownership, and confidentiality are settled in a written contract before a word is written. The client knows what they are buying. The writer knows what they are delivering. Surprises in a ghostwriting relationship are almost always the writer’s failure to set expectations, and a written agreement is how an honest writer prevents them.

9. Pricing is honest and transparent

The writer quotes a real price for real work and does not pad it with vague fees that appear later. If a project is outside the writer’s ability or capacity, they say so and decline or refer it out, rather than taking the money and delivering something thin. A fair price for skilled work is not the problem. Hidden costs, bait pricing, and selling more than the writer can deliver are.

10. The client is treated as a partner, not a mark

The relationship is collaborative. The writer listens, takes direction, and treats the client’s goals as the point of the work. They do not talk down to clients, do not exploit a client’s inexperience to cut corners, and do not disappear once the deposit clears. The client is trusting the writer with something that matters to them. That trust gets returned with care.

11. AI use is disclosed and stays under the writer’s control

A client has the right to know whether and how AI tools are part of their project, and to set limits on it. A ghostwriter discloses their use of AI rather than hiding it, the same way they would disclose any other part of how the work gets done. The disclosure happens in writing, before the work starts, so the client agrees to it rather than discovering it later.

AI can help with the supporting work: research, organizing notes, cleaning up transcripts, checking a draft for weak spots. It does not write the book. The writer’s judgment, the voice-matching, and the responsibility for what gets delivered cannot be handed to a machine, because that judgment and that responsibility are what the client is paying for. A writer who runs a prompt and bills for craft is selling something they did not provide.

A client’s confidential material does not go into AI systems that could train on it or expose it. Confidentiality covers the tools as much as the conversation. And a client who wants a book written entirely by a human hand is entitled to that, and to know for certain that is what they are getting.

The specifics of AI disclosure get detailed fast, and a strong industry framework already exists for them. Gotham Ghostwriters and a working group of ghostwriting professionals published the AI Guidelines for Ghostwriting in 2026, including a recommended-disclosure checklist a writer can post and apply to their own work. A signatory to this code is encouraged to read those guidelines and use them as the practical tool for disclosing exactly how AI fits into a given project. This code states the principle. Those guidelines are a good place to work out the practice.

Version 2.1, July 2026. Merged the Eleven Commitments from the former Ghostwriter Code of Ethics into this document. Added FAQ section with structured data. Converted the page from Elementor to plain HTML.

Version 2.0, May 2026. Comprehensive rewrite. Added detailed AI Use section anchored in the 2025 Gotham/Bernoff industry survey. Restructured into seven thematic sections. Added citation information for peer and industry adoption.

Version 1.0, 2018. Initial Code of Conduct published.