Reader's Advisory Prompt Four
Reader's Advisory Prompt Four
The Wild World of "Work-for-Hire" Authorship
The New Yorker Article mentions various types of hoaxes, from the more serious examples such as Go Ask Alice, which had a negative impact on culture due to the War on Drugs through the words of a dubious identity (Menand, 2018, para. 18). He also mentions misleading authorship in cases of The Hardy Boys and other such series. I want to challenge his assertion that these are generally not cause for any sort of drama. And for this example, I am going to have you all consider the wild world of “work for hire” fiction.This type of published work is most common in children’s series like The Babysitter’s Club, Warrior Cats, Young Adult series like Gossip Girl, or The Vampire Diaries. However, it also occurs in adult novels, such as the work of the prolific V.C. Andrews’. There are a lot of people who don’t realize that Andrews died in 1986, and that the vast majority of the 80 or so novels published in her name were written by “work for hire” ghostwriters.
In fact, most of Andrews’ books weren’t even written by a woman. The ghostwriter was forbidden by contract to disclose that Andrews wasn’t the author (Aurthur, 2014, para. 51). This was because the publishers had suggested to readers that these books were already written by Andrews at the time of her death (those that know that the author was no longer with us, that is). This caused issues in the U.K., when it was eventually revealed that it was not, in fact, V.C. Andrews who had written these books, but her ghostwriter, Andrew Neiderman. It violated the law for Neiderman to not be attributed as the author on the cover; however, it seems that the government wasn’t too concerned, as they are still published under Andrews’ name today (Aurthur, 2014, para. 54).
The continued ghostwriting has caused issues with the Andrews’ estate and resulted in several lawsuits between the ghostwriter and others that resulted in a gag order over many of the controversies (Aurthur, para. 56). At the end of all of this, the fans have seemed to notice the severe change in storytelling of Andrews’ “posthumous” works and are not happy about them (Aurthur, 2014, para. 60). This situation is not limited to authors who have passed away.
The Young Adult series (I know this is an adult class, but I have to mention it) The Vampire Diaries (TVD) has suffered a similar fate to V.C. Andrews’ prolific writings, despite the fact that L.J. Smith, its author, is still very much alive. In the early 1990s, HarperCollins decided that they wanted a teen vampire book series and so they found an author to create a book to fill that hole in their market. That author was L.J. Smith.
Smith created the series from the ground up and amassed a huge and devoted following that eventually led to the hit television show, which premiered in 2009. Anyone familiar with the series at all knows that the general tension revolves around the love triangle between Elena Gilbert and brothers Damon and Stefan Salvatore.*
Fans and Smith alike wanted the heroine Elena to end up with the bad boy brother Damon. HarperCollins did not like this idea, and so they fired Smith from her own series. This was perfectly legal due to the series having been created under a contract. Much like Andrews’ fans, many TVD lovers are disappointed by the subjectively off-the-rails turn the new ghostwriter took (Nicholson, 2021). As it turns out, "work-for-hire" does cause a lot of controversies with authors and readers.
*Who in the book series are Italian, not the sons’ of a confederate plantation owner. The book series still has a very odd amount of Confederate imagery, though.
Sources
Aurthur, K. (2014, January 15). The ghost of V.C. Andrews. BuzzFeed. https://www.buzzfeed.com/kateaurthur/the-ghost-of-vc-andrews-the-life-death-and-afterlife-of-the
Menand, L. (2018, December 10). Literary hoaxes and the ethics of authorship. The New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/12/10/literary-hoaxes-and-the-ethics-of-authorship
Nicholson, J. (2021, January 14). THE vampire diaries video [video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4AdFD3E2ok
Whitehead, A. (2011, February 9). The author of the vampire diaries has been fired from her own book series. Gizmodo. https://gizmodo.com/the-author-of-the-vampire-diaries-has-been-fired-from-h-5756378
Hi Katie, I think you bring up some really great points. I can think of quite a few authors who have passed and had others continue writing in their shadow either under their name or in conjunction with their name. When I see it, it almost always make me skeptical because I feel that the ghostwriter or the writer who is doing the style of someone else couldn’t possibly live up to the original. With all of the issues you described with V.C. Andrews, it just seems like it’s not worth it.
ReplyDeleteYeah, it's very uncommon for that to work out and usually it only works when you have an author who had a draft, or at least detailed notes, and only to finish a series. Many people feel that Brandon Sanderson did a really great job finishing The Wheel of Time series when Robert Jordan passed away. However, as I said, Sanderson was already a pretty well-known (not as well-known as today, but he had a fanbase) author and Jordan had a lot of information saved. Sanderson also worked with Jordan's widow, if I recall correctly.
DeleteOh and I should mention that a lot of people don't realize that William Johnstone (famous western author, we have like 80 of his books at work, no joke) is ghostwritten by his niece, like at least his last twenty or so novels. It's so funny to me because a lot of older men have told me they don't like to read books written by women but they LOVE Johnstone.
DeleteI did not know that about William Johnstone!!!
DeleteFantastic response! I love the direction you took the prompt! I remember how shocked I was in high school when I discovered that VC Andrews was dead. There are so many publishers who do what you are saying. Great thoughts - full points!
ReplyDelete