How a Christian Can Ethically Ghostwrite
Christian’s, If You’re Going to Ghostwrite, Ghostwrite Ethically
By Jeff Miller
I am a Christian Ghostwriter. What that means to me is if you have a book on your heart and you need a writer to help you get it written, then I can help you. I can be a scribe. Not only that, but I’ll be your coach for all things writing. I’ll nag you until you niche down on your ideal reader, craft a powerful core thesis and reader promise, and then build a transformational structure. Then I’ll be your writing secretary and get it all down for you. After we get feedback from beta readers, I’ll help you fix it up and prepare it for publishing.
It starts with you and the message burning on your heart.
But…
Please do not offer to pay me to write a book completely on my own with little to no input from you, and then put your name on it. If you do, just put my name on it as a co-writer. You can have the royalties, just don’t tell your readers you didn’t have help. There is no reason for you to pretend.
Why You Shouldn’t Pretend You Wrote It
If I write it, but you pretend that you wrote it, no one will know except you and me…and God…and Satan. Of all those four, you might pose the most danger to you. Let me explain.
Me, I’m already busting your chops and here’s where it will end.
Satan only has the power to tell you what you already know. He will most certainly throw this in your face, but, honestly, that might not be a bad thing. Maybe if he torments you enough, you’ll change course or at least repent.
God is of course to be feared above all, but he is also merciful and well aware of how pathetic we can be. That’s why he sent his Son to die for us. He doesn’t like it when we lie, but he is also patient and kind to us.
But you, on the other hand, will torment yourself. You won’t know you’re tormenting yourself about not crediting a ghostwriter, but that’s what you’ll be doing. You’ll be telling yourself that you aren’t to be trusted. You won’t trust yourself. You won’t be able to see yourself as having integrity. You will lose confidence. Surely this will happen when you’re talking about your book with someone, but it will even happen when you’re talking about something else. You know yourself to be a liar, so you get all disintegrated and weak-feeling. It’s not a good state to be in, especially when you are spending all your energy and emotional capacity trying to run from the truth.
If you pretend to be something you’re not, then you will suffer.
But why pretend? I really want to know. What do you think you will get out of saying you didn’t need help writing the book? Your authority doesn’t come from your book writing skills, it comes from the content itself. Let the content be yours and the grammar and structure and everything else be the trained expert’s. Seriously, give me a good reason why not in the comments. I need to know.
I make most of my living as a ghostwriter. By all means, use a ghostwriter. It’s a smart thing to do unless you truly know how to write a book. But credit them and become a more confident, peaceful, integrated person.
