The publication of Millie Bobby Brown’s first novel Nineteen Steps has sparked uproar about the role of ghostwriters in the publishing industry. The novel is based on Brown’s grandmother’s experience of the Bethnal Green Tube Disaster; when, in March 1943, an air-raid warning was sounded, and more than 170 locals were crushed to death as they fled to Bethnal Green Tube station for cover and the entrance became blocked.
In an Instagram post Brown wrote “Writing Nineteen Steps has been a really special project for me. The story is inspired by true events and my own family history… and I can’t wait to share it with you.” The novel was ghostwritten by author Kathleen McGurl, yet the cover only features Milie Bobby Brown’s name.
Kathleen McGurl has been a writer for 20 years, publishing many books under her own name. She has never had the kind of global recognition for her own books as she has had for Nineteen Steps. On the day of the book’s publication Brown posted a photo of her and McGurl with the caption ‘a HUGE thank you to my collaborator…I couldn’t have done this without you!’ A lot of the comments are critical, with one commenter asking, ‘so you can become an author and not actually write it yourself these days?’ But ghostwriting is not a new phenomenon. It could be argued The Iliad and The Odyssey were ghostwritten; the poems originated from oral tradition, and we don’t know who Homer was and if he was even the author.
In a recent interview, ghostwriter Katherine Ormerod says that she started ghostwriting because “I wanted to keep writing and I wanted to keep earning through my writing, but I had none of my own stories to tell at that point.” Ghostwriting is a legitimate career path for writers.
So is ghostwriting unethical? Teena Lyons, co-founder of The Ghostwriters Agency, says to answer this question ‘you would have to look at the three parties involved: the ghost, the author and the reader.’ For the ghostwriter, ghostwriting is simply a business transaction; they sign a contract and for many the anonymity is a perk of the job. The same goes for the author, they can share their story in a way that will be compelling for readers. It’s at this point that readers begin to raise ethical questions; am I being lied to and how much do I care?
Sales of celeb-led books would suggest that they don’t. Prince Harry’s memoir Spare was openly reported as being ghostwritten via collaboration with novelist and journalist, J.R, Moehringer, but that does not seem to have put people off buying the book. Spare has reportedly sold more than 1.42 million copies in the US, Canada, and Britain. Ghostwritten or not, the writing and publishing of any book involves a lot of people – the author, an agent, an editor, a design team, a marketing team, and many more. Readers don’t want to know the intricacies of the publishing process; they want to be entertained.
There has been criticism that celeb-led publishing is destroying the industry but in reality, celebrities’ books (often written by ghost-writers) fund the publishing of unknown literary debuts. Publishing houses need to make money somewhere and ghost-written celeb-led books is one way that they do. Publishing houses need financial freedom in order to take risks on unknown authors writing new and unconventional work. Millie Bobby Brown’s Nineteen Steps is not preventing debut novelists like Jonathan Escoffery and Chetna Maroo (recent Man Booker Prize nominees) from being published, it’s funding them.
The furore around Millie Bobby Brown is unwarranted, she did more than most by tagging McGurl on Instagram and involving her in the promotion of the novel. Ultimately, as long as there is a market for celebrity-led memoirs and fiction, there is still a place for ghost-writers in the publishing industry.
“Millie Bobby Brown (43724155691) (cropped)” by Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0