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Philippa East (Author) @philippaeast.bsky.social · 10/12/2024

Good news! Please share! The Society of Authors (@societyofauthors.bsky.social) have put out an official statement calling on celebrities, publishers & agents to properly acknowledge, promote & recompense the expert professional authors (“ghostwriters“ & “co-creators”) behind “celebrity fiction”. 1/

societyofauthors.org

Call to acknowledge all writers behind celebrity books - The Society of Authors

The Society of Authors is calling for celebrities, publishers and agents to acknowledge the writers behind celebrity books, particularly for children

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Rosie Fiore @rosiefiore.bsky.social · 10/12/2024

Well done @philippaeast.bsky.social for your hard work on this. I'm delighted to see the statement, and I hope it gets traction in the mainstream press!

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Matt Coyne / Man vs Baby @manvsbaby.bsky.social · 10/12/2024

Yes! 🙌🏻

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Sarah Viktoria 🇬🇧🏳️‍⚧️⚧️🦗 @sarahviktoria.bsky.social · 10/12/2024

Absolutely. There is too much "cosy crime" fiction suddenly appearing on the shelves, to have been written by all the celebs with their names on it. I demand transparency.

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Alice Bell @abeewords.bsky.social · 10/12/2024

Excellent news! Well done for championing this. Particularly frustrating that it's often an open secret among authors who works with ghost writers, while the public don't get the same transparency

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Philippa East (Author) @philippaeast.bsky.social · 10/12/2024

All too often, celebrities casually claim to have “written a book” (as if this is something anyone can wake up one morning and do), while the expertise, skill and talent of the real writers behind these projects goes unacknowledged. 2/

Screen shot of quotes from the society of authors statement:

Abie Longstaff, Chair of the SoA’s Children’s Writers and illustrators Group, said:

A book is not just a package with kerb-appeal. Creativity and well-honed craft make it special. The real hand that spins the magic should be acknowledged and applauded, particularly in an era when humans risk being drowned out by the generic and derivative outputs of artificial intelligence bots.

Chair of the SoA, Vanessa Fox O’Loughlin (who writes as Sam Blake), said:

I applaud the growing trend of celebrities publicly and generously acknowledging their co-creators. They often talk about the pleasure of the collaborative relationship they have, the teamwork. At the Irish Book Awards, rugby player Johnny Sexton was awarded Sports Book of the Year and brought his ghost writer Peter O’Reilly onto the stage to thank the Irish Literary Academy and the public for their votes. It was a wonderful moment when both story and words were celebrated, and, just as Chris Hoy has often appeared with his ghostwriter, Joanna Nadin, at events, this helps to set the gold standard for both the industry and the public. In a world where fake news proliferates, complete transparency is to be celebrated.

Screenshot of further statement quote:

Mark McCrum (co-author of Somebody Someday by Robbie Williams), said:

It’s high time that ghostwriters got recognition for their hard and highly skilled work. A ‘with’ or a byline on the inside title page is enough, and ideally joint mention with the named celebrity in any bestseller lists. Publishers should understand that this, and a decent split of advance and royalties, is an incentive to work as well as we can, as well as giving the reading public an honest account of how these books come about.

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The Arthur Ransome Society @tarsociety.bsky.social · 10/12/2024

We are happy to say that Arthur Ransome wrote his own books.

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