A “Fake” Ghostwriter

by Jackie Houchin

You have all heard of ghostwriting. That is when famous people who don’t know how to write will hire a writer to tell their story. There are days and weeks of interviews, drafts to check, rewrites to slog through, cover art to approve, and then … the beautiful book. Your book … almost. Your title and name are on the cover, but you did not actually write it.

This is great for the ghostwriter, who can make a tidy sum of money if she is willing to put up with a lot of guff from the “famous person.” She can be proud to see the book printed and perhaps sold on Amazon. But it’s a secret pride. And only if the “famous person” shares her name can she get a few “kudos.”

One of our own Writers in Residence members is a ghostwriter of many volumes.

Now, think about a ghostwriter that any “Mary, Sue, or Kathy” can hire for a very low sum. A brief interview with some questions answered, a few thoughts on how the “not very famous” person sees their book, and a selection of cover art to choose from. Voila! Your book is done, and a copy (or two or three) is mailed to you in a couple of weeks.

One of our own Writers in Residence members has “hired” just such a ghostwriter. Me. And three copies of “my” book cost me a mere sixty bucks.

And, you may ask, just who is this super-cheap ghostwriter? His name is Art. Artificial Intelligence, or AI, as he is more often known. Yes, I crossed into the writer’s no-no land of AI. And you know what? It was super easy.

I found BeThe Author on Facebook (where else?). The advertisement showed several happy people receiving books that loved ones had “written” for them about themselves. They were all surprised and very delighted. Shots showed them deeply engrossed in reading their own stories. The ad ended with an enticing question. Did I want to try BeTheAuthor for a relative or friend?

I paused, mesmerized by the possibility. My husband’s birthday was coming up in a matter of weeks. I pictured him with a book in his hands, HIS photo with some automobile art on the cover, and a fun, easy-read adventure/mystery where he was the main guy, with just 200 or so pages.

That’s all it took. I signed up and answered some questions about my Hubby’s personality, likes and dislikes, habits, hobbies, quirks, and dreams. I found a photo of him working on some building project and uploaded it. BeTheAuthor (aka AI) immediately gave me six cover art options featuring my Hubby and his hot rod. I picked one, filled in my address and payment info, and pressed “Do It!” (or actually, “Order.”)

Two weeks later, EXACTLY on his birthday, the package arrived. He picked up “his” book, a slow smile coming to his face. “What’s this?” he asked, turning it over to read the back cover.

I told him what I’d done, and he opened the first page. Standing there, by the kitchen table and the other (forgotten) mail, He began reading. He turned a page and kept reading. Then he moved to a soft chair, leaned back, and read all of the first chapter.

I was so excited and pleased. My Hubby is not a reader, except for a few hot rod magazines. But he was reading.

Today, he’s almost finished. He’d told a few other guys about “his” book and given one of the extra copies to our son.

Would I do it again? Yes, yes, yes. I know it’s not my own creativity. It’s not my own words, or much of my own ideas. But it has given pleasure to someone I love.

…..

.

Since then, I’ve seen many similar offers on Facebook, with different results. BookNova, Booky.ai, Chapter.pub, and WriteABook.com are just a few. Some of these will take YOUR outline or even book draft and create the finished novel. BookVa offers to create a graphic novel for you with a story idea and an extra photo or two.

And some offer elderly people a “memoir” to give to their children. The old gals or gents answer quite a few questions about their lives, some even via recorded phone calls, and “their life story” is created for the generations to come.

There’s a wide audience for these AI Ghostwriting offers, especially these “personalized” books. They are enticing, and I believe some will be thrilled with the results. I truly loved my “Hubby’s Book.” (The only thing I would change would be to offer more DETAILS on the questions they asked.)

But yes, I know. These are not the classics that true, human writers will create and that will endure and inspire. But for now. I’m happy with what I did.

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Author: Jackie Houchin

First, I am a believer in Jesus Christ, so my views and opinions are filtered through what God's Word says and I believe. I'm a wife, a mom, a grandma and now a great grandma. I write articles and reviews, and I dabble in short fiction. I enjoy living near the ocean, doing gardening (for beauty and food) and traveling - in other countries, if possible. My heart is for Christian missions, and I'm compiling a collections of Missionary Kids' stories to publish. (I also like kittens and cats and reading mysteries.)

8 thoughts on “A “Fake” Ghostwriter”

  1. I’ve been a writer too long to want Ai to write my books. I don’t mind Spellcheck correcting my spelling, but sometimes it wants to change a valid word into something totally wrong. I still get to make the final decision when it thinks the word should be something else. But if we start turning over our minds to a machine, we won’t be necessary anymore. Ai might be able to find information about things online and it can be somewhat accurate as long as there is something to base its “facts” on. I have enough information about myself online for Ai to come up with a fairly good idea who I am, but even then, it gets some things wrong. But remember, Ai has no heart and no soul and will never match what a human can accomplish if we just try. And we can still turn Ai off. Let’s hope Ai never figures out how to pull the plug on we humans.

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    1. Gayle, I totally agree with you that writers need to creatively write and publish their own stuff.

      But this project that I did for my Hubby was… like ordering a personalized shaving kit with his favorite razor, and his name on it, or a gift certificate for him and his buddies to attend a private car show. It is something for HIM, and no one else. I don’t plan to sell the book or make any money on it. Watching him read and get a kick out of it was recompense enough.

      I do creatively write NON-fiction every day. I even use Grammerly to help tighten my English and spell check. I share it with anyone who wants to read it..

      Thanks for keeping us writers to the standards of good writing!!

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  2. Jackie, kudos to you for giving this a try, and what a sweet way to start with AI. I wish my cousin had done this instead of writing his own autobiography. He drove me crazy with questions, assuming that, since I’m five years older, I could recall specifics from our childhood. He assumed wrong! He has the photos and the general info, and I bet the final book would be as good as the one he crafted, although I’ve yet to see the latter. AI has many good uses, and it sounds like you found one of them, and gave Lynn a lot of joy too.

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  3. Thanks, Bonnie. I never thought that this was something I would publish and try to sell. (Who would want to read about his trip to a Victoria car event, except him?) In my mind it is simply a personalized gift, that he can enjoy.

    At 81, I’ll probably never get a first “real” book written, create a cover and all that goes with that, then publish and promote it. I wrote a few little books for my granddaughters that I printed at Kinkos (remember them?) and spiral bound, when they were little, I may try to run these through one of the other AI programs. But maybe not. Haha.

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  4. Honestly, I have mixed feelings about this. Like Gayle, I would not want AI to write my story, or any of my fictional stories, for that matter. However I find AI helpful in condensing ideas – culling a synopsis down to a summary, or a summary down to a blurb. Even so I change some of the focus and a lot of the phrasing to put it into my own words. I also agree not everyone can write their own story, so AI could play a valuable role there, but anything beyond sharing it with loved ones, or passing it off as your own, would be dishonest.

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  5. There isn’t a way this product could be passed off as someone’s own work. The company name and product info is all over the book, plus a huge disclaimer on the first page.

    I’m glad you can use AI for help in “condensing ideas, triming down a synopsis, and writing a blurb.” AND… that you end up using your own words. Perfect. And you do excellent work with your novels, for sure.

    This was a fun, fast, cheap, and frankly kind of pleasing, project I did for him. He is not a reader, he even skims his favorite hotrod magazines. This AI book was written at “maybe” a 6th grade level, and he read every word.

    Do I encourage our readers to go out and “publish” AI books under their own name, and make lots of money? Nope.

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  6. The Author’s Guild is starting a registration process whereby an author can get some kind of certificate for their book cover, stating that the book was written by a human. I haven’t seen the details, but I guess it has come to this with all the AI piracy that is going on.

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  7. I have mixed feelings about anything around AI and writing. In your case, Jackie, no harm is done. If your husband enjoys your gift, that’s the most important thing.

    I certainly use AI for searching. When I’m writing and can’t think how to compose a phrase I’ll ask AI for help but I don’t copy what they send–it just clears and directs my thinking.

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