The Book I Turn Down
September 1, 2026
Some books I turn down in the first conversation. The revenge memoir has a sound: I am a victim, I am a victim, I am a victim. It fails on the page and in court, and sometimes a better book…
Tag: Ghostwriting Ethics & Legality
Is ghostwriting ethical? Is it legal? Who gets the credit? These posts answer the doubts that stop people from hiring a ghostwriter — covering the ethics, the law, confidentiality, authorship, and the contracts that protect everyone involved.
AI and WritingThe AI Op-Ed Argument Is Aimed at the Wrong Question
August 28, 2026
Stanley Druckenmiller used AI to write a Wall Street Journal op-ed and admitted it. The argument that followed was about disclosure, and disclosure was never the question. Ghostwriting settled this a century ago: authorship lives in having the thought, not…
AI and WritingSuperintelligence for Everyone: What Zuckerberg’s Argument Misses About Books
July 30, 2026
Mark Zuckerberg argues in the Wall Street Journal that superintelligence should be widely distributed, and builds the case on a thought experiment about lawyers. The argument holds in a courtroom, where a judge must decide. It breaks on a bookshelf,…
AI and WritingWhat the Anthropic Settlement Means for Ghostwriters
July 21, 2026
Anthropic settled for $1.5 billion over pirated books. The court found the acquisition was the problem, not the training, and that distinction is the one that matters to anyone who writes as someone else. What it changes for the ghostwriting…
AIWill My Ghostwriter Secretly Use AI on My Book?
July 7, 2026
You're paying professional rates. Is the work professional, or is it ChatGPT with a markup? How to find out, what to demand in the contract, and my own policy in plain terms.
DelegationWhat Will People Think If They Find Out I Used a Ghostwriter?
July 7, 2026
Not 'is it ethical' but 'what will colleagues think.' Who actually finds out, what actually happens when they do, and the open secret about the peers whose judgment you're fearing.
Ghostwriting Ethics & LegalityEthics Is the Voice That Says Maybe I Should Not Take Credit for This
June 22, 2026
Ethics at work is not the big dilemma. It is the small voice you can overrule without anybody ever finding out, which is exactly why it matters.
Authority Through AuthorshipPastor Davis and the Book He Had Been Avoiding for Seven Years
May 27, 2026
Faith leaders face a question other professionals do not: is making money from a book at odds with the mission, and is using a ghostwriter honest? This is a short parable about Pastor Davis, who avoided the book he was…
Authority Through AuthorshipCan a Therapist Write a Book Without Breaking Confidentiality?
May 27, 2026
Therapists assume confidentiality makes a book impossible. The constraint is real; the conclusion is wrong. The composite case technique, used by every published therapist from Yalom onward, lets you write authentically about clinical work without betraying a single client. Here…
DefamationThe Revenge Memoir: Who Shouldn’t Write One
May 27, 2026
A revenge memoir is a bad idea for the writer and a worse one for the ghostwriter. I once turned down a former mob informant who wanted to name names and settle scores, then promised to keep my role secret,…
Ghostwriting ConfidentialityWhat a Ghostwriting Statement of Work Should Include
February 12, 2026
Most people have never seen a ghostwriting agreement, so the Statement of Work feels like a black box. It should not. Before I write a word, this document settles deliverables, payments, ownership, scope changes, and what happens if things go…
Book CoachingDo Ghostwriters Get Credit? How Authorship Works in Professional Ghostwriting
February 12, 2026
The word ghost is right there in the name. The entire point is that the client is the author and my name never appears, and across 54+ projects that has been true every single time. Here is how authorship and…