Responsibilities of a Ghostwriter
The work of a ghostwriter extends far beyond just writing
The primary responsibilities of ghostwriters are simple and clear. We are to produce the manuscripts our clients want under the terms of our contracts.
But there are times when the process can get a little blurry and we need to go beyond just writing.
President Joe Biden’s ghostwriter is currently taking a lot of heat and may eventually face prosecution related to the classified documents issue and that he reportedly deleted recordings of Biden telling him classified information. I doubt that he was expecting this when he was hired as Biden’s ghostwriter.
Did the writer and Biden discuss how classified information would be handled before they began work on the book? Did they agree on what should be done with the interview recordings? We don’t know, and my purpose here is not to speculate or get political, it’s to talk about the responsibilities of ghostwriters.
Of course, very few ghostwriters will have the opportunity to work on books with current or former presidents or other high-ranking officials. Very few ghostwriters have to be concerned with having access to government secrets.
But most ghostwriters are likely to have to deal with at…
