It’s time for ghostwriters to get the credit they deserve

I've nothing against celebrities using them – I just want to know who I am reading, writes Katy Brand

‘I don’t mind celebrity authors. If it gets people reading, good luck to them’ (iStock/Getty)

It is autumn and with it comes the crackle and snap of the “celebrity books for the Christmas market” season, a time when writers with hard-earned experience of their craft have to watch while someone who played rugby for England in the 1990s and did Christmas Strictly in 2012 becomes a bestseller.

Or perhaps it’s a member of girl band who has a new children’s book out about a little girl who grows up to become a member of a girl band. Or maybe a former politician has a crime thriller about being a former politician to sell.

I don’t mind celebrity authors. If it gets people reading, good luck to them. Some might think this is bit rich coming from me as I was on telly before getting a book deal. But I would only say in my meagre defence that I write every single word. And then I rewrite every single word. So I promise, if nothing else, I am doing the work.

And perhaps this is where there is a small divergence: between those celebrity authors who actually write their own stuff, and those who use ghostwriters. My view is it’s fine to use a ghostwriter so long as this is clear, they are credited alongside you on the front cover, and you must read the book yourself before it comes out.

I once interviewed a huge star about her new novel, and when I arrived she was horrified to learn that I had actually read it as she herself had absolutely no idea what it was about. To cover the awkwardness she started throwing out headline-grabbing statements about her recent divorce, which I had been warned by her publicist I must not talk about at all.

My books have been superseded many times by those who outrank me in terms of fame and Twitter followers. That’s OK. At least I get the satisfaction of doing the actual work, of turning the blank page into a story, and plus I will never have to tell a stranger the intimate secrets of my marriage to cover up the fact that I don’t know what I claim to have written.

All I ask is that the ghostwriters get the credit too. Then we all know where we stand. And who we are really reading.