You Didn't Write this Book!
This post goes hand-in-hand with my Book Deals for the "Famous" post and can really be led back to my review for Girl Online by Zoe Sugg. I guess it does kinda tie into my YouTuber Review Month as well. I bet you can guess what this post is about, yup, ghostwriters.
I don't think in either of the above mentioned posts I got to talk exactly about what I wanted which is probably why this has been stuck in my head for the past couple of weeks. Before we start I just wanted to say that I was in DC about two weeks ago and I had a fantastic time, and I'm trying to type this in some fake nails (which is actually really hard and is taking way longer than necessary.) My randomness out of the way, let's begin.
In case you have no clue what a Ghostwriter actually is, I took the liberty of copying a definition from Wikipedia for you to enjoy:
A ghostwriter is a writer who authors books, manuscripts, screenplays, scripts, articles, blog posts, stories, reports, whitepapers, or other texts that are officially credited to another person.
-Wikipedia
Basically, a ghostwriter is someone who helps write a book, or maybe completely writes a book, that someone else slaps their name on.
In all of the articles that I have read, it has stated the mostly "ghosters" are hired to do light editing or write a story based off of an outline given by the author.
Obviously, a story cannot be written without some idea where it is going and maybe an overview of the characters, so it's not complete cheating.
Personally, I don't see that big of an issue with ghostwriting and doing my research others don't seem to have a problem with it either. Though I am confused as to why such an uproar was made when Zoella announced that she utilized a ghostwriter. (Read through some of the reviews on her novel, Girl Online, on Goodreads. It's horrible.) People don't seem to make a big deal when other people use it, but when it's an up-and-coming women that has a HUGE online presence, people were outraged until the ghostwriter got credit.
I don't see that as fair.
People use ghostwriters all the time and rarely get called out on it, yet some "internet star" uses one and throw a hissy fit.
Guess what people, if you'd actually do some research (like I did) you would know how it's not such a big deal. And the only reason you're making a big deal out of it is because it is a "famous" female with a large fanbase. I've read other books by YouTubers this month and none of the books written by males have anywhere near the harsh amount of reviews Sugg does. Is that a coincidence? Is there a reason behind this except she isn't some hot guy? Is sexism a issue here?
It's up for you to decide, but look at the evidence first. You'll be shocked like I was.
What I'm basically saying after defending Zoe from so many people with wrong interpretations, is that why does it matter who wrote the effing book? It doesn't. You didn't write it; you just read it.
I'm not about to dislike a book because of who wrote it. I'll dislike a book based on the content inside. As mentioned in my Book Deals for the "Famous" post, it doesn't matter who's name is on the book. People need to stop paying so much attention to that and start writing reviews based on the plot and content.
And stop reviewing/rating a book you haven't even read. How is that fair to a reader, let alone an author?
I have a new rule for you all that I hope should be common sense, but maybe it needs to be said.
Don't rate a book you haven't read.
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