If you’ve been thinking about hiring a ghostwriter to write your next book, you’re probably wondering: is ghostwriting legal?
In general, ghostwriting is legal because it’s an outsourced service. That being said, whether ghostwriting is legal may depend on the context of the work and the jurisdiction. There are actually no specific laws that address the practice of ghostwriting directly.
So that can still leave you with the question: “Is ghostwriting legal?”
Today we will discuss in depth whether ghostwriting is legal and tell you everything you need to know about setting up an official ghostwriting contract.
What is Ghostwriting, Exactly?
Obviously, ghostwriting doesn’t involve actual ghosts. If it did, we probably wouldn’t be discussing the legal rights of the deceased!
Ghostwriting is simply asking another writer to write your work for you – and allow you to take credit for it.
So that’s where the tricky part comes in.
Is ghostwriting legal if you are taking someone else’s work?
People have always wanted to get their ideas out into the world, and not all of them are great writers. Even fewer of them have the time to sit down and write a book without any guidance.
We would love to hear the insights of a self-made billionaire, but what billionaire has time in their schedule to write a book? That’s where ghostwriting comes in.
Ghostwriting has been used legally for hundreds of years, but today there is a lot of emphasis on intellectual property rights and copyright issues. So is ghostwriting legal today? Or is it too risky in the modern age?
Will your ghostwriter use their content under their own name? Will they sue you down the line if they don’t like what you are doing with their content? What are the implications of ghostwriting today?
So let’s talk more in detail about ghostwriting, including if ghostwriting is legal, how to draft a ghostwriting contract, and the ethics of ghostwriting as a practice.
Is Ghostwriting Legal?
Is ghostwriting legal? The short answer is yes.
Ghostwriting is legal, but you have to be careful how you carry out your business, or you can be subject to litigation and legal liability.
So the longer answer has to do with ghostwriting contracts.
With ghostwriting, you need to be careful with the ethics of everything. Obviously, it’s unethical to steal. And, in fact, theft is a criminal act. So is ghostwriting legal if you are taking the intellectual property of another writer?
First, let’s discuss whether ghostwriting is legal – then we’ll dive into the ethics.
Ghostwriting is legal specifically because it is an agreement that is willingly entered into by two parties. You aren’t tricking the ghostwriter into writing for you. They know exactly what they are getting into. But you need that in writing.
That’s where the ghostwriting contract comes into play.
The Importance of a Ghostwriting Contract
When you write up a contract with a ghostwriter, the ghostwriter agrees to create content within the constraints requested by the contractor. In return, the contractor agrees to pay the ghostwriter for their work.
But there need to be more specifics than that in the contract to protect yourself from legal issues.
Here are a few of the things you need to include in your contract to ensure that the practice of ghostwriting is legal:
- Compensation: How are you going to compensate the ghostwriter for their work? This needs to be written clearly in the contract so there is no confusion or upset on either side. How much are you going to pay your ghostwriter? Are they getting a set fee? A percent of proceeds? Make sure this is agreed upon in advance.
- Intellectual property rights: Your contract shouldn’t just be about selling the content to you – it needs to also sell you the rights to the content. If your ghostwriter retains intellectual rights to the content they wrote, they can sue you for using it or choose to use it themselves. You may even want to include a nondisclosure agreement with agreed upon penalties for breaching the agreement.
- Protection from plagiarism: One would hope that your ghostwriter is writing honest work, but there is always a chance that they will plagiarize for easy money. You may want to pay for a plagiarism checking service to guarantee your ghostwriting is producing original work.
- Termination agreements: Sometimes a ghostwriting partnership simply doesn’t work out. Maybe they can’t keep up with deadlines. Maybe they can’t get your voice down properly. Maybe there was a family emergency on either side and the contract simply can’t go on! In case one of you wants to terminate the contract, who gets what? Make sure you have this worked out in advance.
The most important thing on that list is intellectual property rights. While the ghostwriter owns the copyright to the content they write, when they sell the content to you, you are not only buying the content, but also the rights to own, reproduce, publish, edit, and use the content in any way you wish.
If you aren’t sure how to draft up a contract so that ghostwriting is legal and you are protected from liability, you can hire a lawyer to help set up the contract for you.
Now that you understand the answer to the question, “Is ghostwriting legal?” let’s discuss whether or not ghostwriting is actually ethical.
Is Ghostwriting Ethical?
Whether ghostwriting is ethical is a highly debated topic. It is generally thought that as long as the ghostwriter enters into the contract willingly, and the contractor takes some part in the production of the content, then it is, in fact, ethical.
If the contractor has absolutely no involvement in the creation of the book, and publishes it under their name, that’s where the ethics start to become questioned.
If you want your ghostwriting services to remain ethical, you need to compensate your writer well, treat them fairly, and work with them regularly on mind melding and editing rounds. You can’t expect your ghostwriter to be psychic. Nor should you treat them like a servant underfoot.
The ethics of the practice also depend on how you go about obtaining the content. If you are already an expert in your field, and have given your ghostwriter voice note transcripts to turn into a thoughtfully worded book, this is simply a way for you to save time.
On the other hand, if you want to pretend you are an authority and make your ghostwriter do all the research and groundwork for you, this is frowned upon at best. You need to give the writer something to go on based on your own expertise.
Do You Need a Ghostwriter?
Today you’ve learned that ghostwriting is legal as long as you go about your contract in the right way. But do you even need to hire a ghostwriter in the first place?
To ethically go about the practice, you need to be involved in regular rounds of edits and revisions, and that doesn’t include the work that goes into choosing your ghostwriter in the first place!
When you consider how much time it takes to go through the ghostwriting process properly, it might actually be faster to write the book yourself. After all, who knows about your expertise better than you
Did you know you can write and publish a book by the end of this year with a ghostwriter and the help of an experienced team?
At selfpublishing.com, we help thousands of authors (many of which claim to be “non-writers”) to write, edit, market, and self-publish their books. It all starts with our ghostwriting services.