I have spoken to ghostwriters at every stage of the food chain. The pattern is consistent. Most are women. Most are in their late twenties or early thirties. Most came to ghostwriting through journalism, advertising copywriting, or content writing for digital media, fields where they were already used to producing high volumes of polished prose under someone else’s name. The work is steady, the deadlines are punishing, and the rules of confidentiality are absolute. One writer told me she had ghostwritten four books in three years. She could not name a single one of them in any interview, on any panel, on any CV she submitted for future work. Her published bibliography, officially, is empty.
