Ghostwriting is one of the oldest professions, dating back to the ancient Greeks and Romans when hired hands wrote speeches and correspondences for the ruling classes.
Of course, the industry has evolved many times, eventually developing from the first printing press in the 15th century to the digital age starting way back in the 1970s, to where the written word is distributed instantly via the internet.
The main threat to those working in the industry today, of course, is the rise of AI, which can produce pretty convincing copy that mimics the talents of experienced copywriters. But it’s not all doom and gloom — there are plenty of ways the digital age has made ghostwriting more accessible.
This article explores how ghostwriting has changed in the digital age. It includes a robust discussion of AI’s role in the industry and how we can ensure that ghostwriting remains a great way for human writers to earn a living!
A whistle-stop history of ghostwriting
To understand how the industry has changed, it’s useful to consider how the industry of writing under someone else’s name for money has evolved.
Ghostwriting appeared in its earliest incarnation as far back as the 12th century BC when writers were hired to compose public speeches. This practice continues today, of course.
The 18th century
The printing press made published books more widely available from the mid-15th century, but demand for novels reached a fever pitch in the 1700s, leading authors to buckle under the pressure of producing to demand.
At this stage, authors employed ghostwriters to help them meet the demand for their work. For example, Samuel Johnson occasionally worked with ghostwriters to produce some of his notable essays, biographies, and dictionaries.
The 19th century
The publishing industry grew significantly in the 1800s. Book publishers and magazine editors routinely hired writers to create content on behalf of other writers or under a pseudonym.
A couple of the most notable examples of ghostwriting in the nineteenth century were:
- The Three Musketeers, where author Alexandre Maquet collaborated with uncredited (at the time) ghostwriter Auguste Maquet.
- The Memorial of Saint Helena (1823), the life story of Napoleon—ghostwritten by Emmanuel de Las Cases.
The 20th century
Ghostwriting hit its zenith in the early 20th century when publishers widely employed writers to perpetuate popular book series.
Towards the end of the 20th century, the celebrity memoir became a massively popular publishing genre, increasing demand for skilled writers to bring celebrity stories to life.
Some of the more notable autobiographies included those by Princess Diana, Hillary Clinton, and in the UK, Katie Price — all written by ghostwriters.
The internet’s influence on ghostwriting
The World Wide Web was invented in 1989 and opened for public access on April 30, 1993, and slowly crept into domestic households during the mid-to-late 1990s.
In its infancy, blogs and article writing were niche, to say the least, with most users relying on the web in those early days for illegally downloading MP3s, sending emails, buying printed books from Amazon, spreading conspiracy theories, and online messaging.
However, as internet speeds and ease of access increased in the early 2000s, the web expanded exponentially, offering authors and ghostwriters a world of new opportunities.
The rise of self-publishing and indie authors
Self-publishing dates back as far as Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, prompted by the author’s frustration at his publisher’s payouts for Martin Chuzzlewit. Dickens self-financed an initial run of 6000 copies, selling them in weeks for five shillings each.
However, Dickens barely broke even because producing print copies of books relied on large, expensive presses.
And it wasn’t until Desktop Publishing (DTP) that self-publishing became more widely accessible.
Self-publishing in the 1980s
Cue electropop, cellphones that resembled bricks, and back-combed hair. The 1980s didn’t just change music and fashion forever; it was also the decade that made DTP widely available.
And while DTP has existed since the 1970s, applications like Aldus PageMaker (aka Adobe PageMaker) became more domestically available in the 1980s.
Previously, authors were forced to pick up a pen or use a mechanical typewriter to compose their work. But DTP changed publishing forever, transforming how newspapers went to print and how books were written — no longer relying on time-consuming old-school typesetting.
How much did a computer cost in the 1980s?
Personal computers were extremely large and expensive in the 1980s.
IBM launched its first commercial PC in 1981. The entry-level machine cost $1565 and offered just 16KB of memory. This excluded a monitor, which would set you back a further $500—$700. The modern equivalent of the total cost would be around $7,800!
Luckily, the cost of home computing has decreased significantly over the years, and it’s now possible to buy an entry-level laptop for a few hundred dollars.
However, DTP allowed 1980s authors to format their books directly from their own machines, marking the advent of the digital era for writers.
Desktop Publishing Apps
Of course, what we now call “apps” we used to call “programs” or “packages,” and it wasn’t until the release of Microsoft Word that DTP became widely available for domestic users. Originally launched in 1983, Word (and Windows) was principally a business-use application.
But everything changed again in the 1990s, when the World Wide Web opened to the public, sparking a new generation of home PC users—mainly using Windows 3. We stored our work on floppy disks, which could hold a vast quantity of data (at the time) of up to 1.44MB!
How the digital revolution changed things for authors
One of the things we perhaps now take for granted, but it changed everything for authors, was the editability of writing in DTP apps.
Previously, writers created their manuscripts on typewriters, but this made it difficult to make corrections without retyping the entire page or chapter. A typist could make minor corrections with Wite-Out correction fluid and correction tape, but removing (or moving) entire paragraphs or making significant edits meant retyping the page.
Now, with DTPs, a writer was far more in control of the manuscript, and could make major edits without the pain of retyping the surrounding text.
And this made publishing much more accessible for everyone.
So, now, authors were more in the driver’s seat.
How the digital age influenced book formats
Many of us love the feel of a book in our hands, but the digital age has changed how we engage with publications, from newspapers and journals to novels.
The first ebook, published in 1971, was written by Michael Hart. He was given access to his university’s mainframe computer system, which was also connected to a network that would eventually become the internet. This led him to found Project Gutenberg, which offers free downloads of a wide range of public domain books in ebook format.
Publishers experimented with various ways of delivering books in digital form throughout the 1980s, using formats like CD-ROM, which offered a storage capacity large enough to accommodate encyclopedias and atlases.
Then, in 2010, Amazon released the first Kindle, thrusting ebooks well and truly into the mainstream. The Kindle was by no means the first commercially available e-reader, but it was certainly the device that finally outnumbered sales of hardcover books (in 2010).
The rise of digital publishing
One of the most attractive features of the e-reader is their discretion. If you read a book on the train, people can see the cover, but with an e-reader, the book’s title is withheld from nosey fellow travelers.
So, for the first time, people could read racy thrillers, like Fifty Shades of Grey, on the train home without worrying about other travelers judging them.
One of the most popular ebook sellers remains Amazon, and their Kindle Direct Publishing platform (previously CreateSpace) has made it reasonably straightforward for independent authors to self-publish their work.
Some of the writers to have earned millions in royalties from KDP include:
- Amanda Hocking: YA fantasy writer who self-published many novels through KDP before enjoying international recognition.
- Hugh Howey: sci-fi writer who used KDP to release several short stories that helped him build a loyal fanbase receptive to his later novels. His work was initially published by a small press, but he chose to re-publish through KDP due to the freedom of self-publishing.
- M. Ward: a romance/erotica writer who used social media to develop relationships with their audience.
- Rachel Abbott: psychological thriller writer whose well-crafted thrillers have won her worldwide acclaim.
The speed and flexibility of digital writing and publishing tools
KDP is one of many self-publishing platforms offering international distribution of digital books. However, they are one of the only ones that provides a Print-On-Demand (POD) physical copy at a very affordable price.
Other self-publishing platforms include:
- Apple Books: free self-publishing platform that will allow you to reach readers who use an Apple device.
- Barnes & Noble Press: digital service available through the retailer to make publishing books direct to BN.com readers easy.
- Kobo Writing Life: Rakuten Kobo’s self-publishing platform.
- Draft2Digital: an aggregator platform that distributes ebooks to many of the most popular ebook platforms for a fee.
The role of AI in ghostwriting fiction
Artificial Intelligence in 1950s fiction was typically represented as an entity that took over the tedious jobs none of us wanted to do, leaving humanity the time to engage in the arts. That is, before it achieved sentience, became bored, and sought to take over humanity.
However, we can now ask ChatGPT to write us a novel, offering nominal control over the basic plot points and characters. And while it can produce a functional piece of literature in seconds, the storytelling craft is typically immature and questionable.
Humans write better stories
At Relay Publishing, we will always insist on books written by humans because writers have lived and experienced the world of conflict for real. They’ve felt the love, drama, and comedy of the world around them, so they’re always going to write superior content.
We use human editors who work closely with our ghostwriters, ensuring consistency of tone and maximizing the “unputdownability” of our books.
AI can write you a novel—but do you really want to read it? After all, one of the joys of reading is knowing that the writer has crafted the words on the page. There’s a little bit of themselves in every story, and that permeates the page.
Data-driven fiction
Maybe the question is: Can AI and humans work together to craft stories?
Certainly, AI can offer a good starting point. Sometimes, starting a new novel is the most challenging part of the process, so AI could provide a reasonable structural starting point.
You could ask AI to create a beat sheet to get you started and it will apply standard structural norms that give you a rough story outline. This can be an effective starting point, but you’ll likely find the overall story arc prosaic. Nonetheless, it offers a launch pad, and that can be all you need to explore your story.
So, data-driven fiction without a human to craft it can feel a little like “creation by numbers” and the content will feel soulless.
Books written by AI
Of course, some writers are directly interacting with AI, producing work that has received international interest.
The Aum Golly Series
Finnish writer Jukka Aalho worked in collaboration with AI language models to explore what a bot makes of love, happiness, and the human’s need to leave a mark on the world.
The first book, which incorporates AI illustrations, took just 24 hours to produce, and the second, took just 12 hours to produce.
The reviews are mixed. It has 2.93 stars on Goodreads, with most readers awarding it 3 stars.
1 the Road
This experiment by Ross Goodwin was inspired by Jack Kerouac’s On The Road, intentionally breaking the rules of novel writing. Goodwin rigged his car with cameras, mics, and GPS during a 2017 road trip from New York to New Orleans, allowing AI to translate the real-time data into text.
The result is an unedited stream of “consciousness,” with little intervention from Goodwin, who wanted to keep the AI’s voice authentic.
The book has a niche audience and has been surprisingly well received, commenting on its accidental poetry and modern take on gonzo journalism.
50 Ways AI Would End the World
It’s unclear how writer Rob Knott interacted with this AI-generated piece of fiction, offering a terrifying, dystopian projection of how AI might lead the planet to extinction disaster. However, he states that the novel is an experiment exploring whether AI can produce original, entertaining stories.
It’s difficult to gauge reader reaction to the book as there’s little other than a 1-star review on Goodreads and no reviews on Amazon to go by.
Perhaps we shouldn’t judge the quality of a work by its lack of reviews, but maybe it tells us something about the appetite for engaging with content openly written by a bot.
Global remote working for ghostwriters in the digital age
Perhaps one of the most positive things to come out of our digital existence is how distance is no longer a barrier. Ghostwriters can now work with global clients without leaving their home office. All you need to be a successful ghostwriter these days is a computer or tablet and a reliable internet connection.
Today, it’s entirely possible to write your next ghostwriting project on the beach somewhere warm and exotic—a distinct boon for those of us who suffer grotty summers and freezing cold winters.
Some of the essential tools for remote-working ghostwriters are:
Google Docs
Of course, there are other online word processing packages, and many writers choose to use MS Word, Apple Pages, Open Office, or one of the many other packages available.
But what makes Google Docs such a valuable resource is the ability to share work on a live platform. Just send your editor the link, and you can work on the piece together, regardless of your location—as long as there’s an internet connection.
While you may well use another medium to write, live platforms offer some of the most versatile working environments.
Zoom/Teams
Most people are familiar with video conferencing packages, and they’re a must for a remote ghostwriter, offering face-to-face discussions at the press of a link. Stay in touch with your editor or agent wherever you are, and keep your ghostwriting career running without a hitch.
Again, the only barrier is the need for a reliable internet connection.
Grammarly
You could say that this online proofreading app is the respectable face of AI.
And while its corrections aren’t always what you’re looking for—especially for creative writing projects—it’s incredibly valuable to have a proofreader that understands context. And Grammarly is such a tool.
Because when you’re working to a project deadline, it’s hard to be 100% accurate. In fact, it’s nice to just get that first draft on the page, isn’t it?
It’s always worth checking the spelling and grammar before sending your work to your editor. That way, they can focus on the tone and the action rather than fiddling about correcting your manuscript.
Relay Publishing wants to work with you!
If you’re a budding writer and want to get paid for doing what you most love, Relay Publishing would love to hear from you.
Over the past ten years, we’ve worked with hundreds of ghostwriters to produce hundreds of books, and we’re always on the lookout for new collaborations. Thanks to the internet, we welcome submissions from talented writers all around the world.
Check out our Recruitment pages and learn more About Us. If you’re interested in working with us, we’d love to hear from you!
Thanks for reading.
