Not one-foot-in-the-grave old, but socially, demographically, and legally old. I may still be on the right side of dirt, but I’m on the wrong side of corporate and political viability. So when I say I’ve been ghostwriting for fully half my life, I’m talking about a long, long time. Long enough to see more changes in the book industry than I can enumerate. And long enough to see ghostwriting evolve from the purview of a select few who relied on their instincts into a respected field of study.
Yet despite all the passing years and myriad titles that bear my mark, I still find it more effective to demonstrate ghostwriting than describe it. So let’s look at a passage (reprinted with permission, of course) from an author who wanted to share a theory developed in an extremely restricted environment with both her colleagues and the general public. Here’s the original text: