Welcome to today’s blog where we are going to help solve the confusion that has always been there with people and we are going to help you understand the differences between these two terminologies in writing.
We are of course talking about ghostwriting and co-authoring.
The thing with these two words is that they get misunderstood a lot and they mean something completely different and if you are an author then you should know about the differences.
It will also help you a lot to understand their differences if you are planning on being an academic or a business leader or any kind of person associated with books and literature because these concepts are fundamental.
The reason why these two terms get confused a lot is because sometimes they are utilised interchangeably which means they even get used wrong in official places.
So, what do these mean? Let’s find out.
What Is Ghostwriting?
Understanding what is ghostwriting is actually a very simple concept to grasp because you need to stop thinking about it as a type of writing technique and you need to think of it as a service.
Let me help you with an example.
Let’s say you are a business professional and you need a lot of content for your business website whether it is product descriptions, website page content or even business literature. You can decide to write it on your own but that would not be professional.
Instead, you choose to have it written by a professional. That professional is a ghostwriter.
The same might be the case if you want to write a book but you do not have any experience or time to write that book. You would want a reliable professional who would do the job for you and also not take credit for it.
Then again, the professional you might need will be a ghostwriter.
A ghostwriter simply means a professional writer who is willing to write any and every kind of content for you in exchange for payment.
This means the scope of working with a ghostwriter is huge.
The Characteristics of Ghostwriting Include:
No Public Credit: The ghostwriter can under no circumstances claim the content because anonymity is itself a part of the service contract.
Client Ownership: Only the client owns the rights to the content and is credited as the author.
Extensive Collaboration: The collaboration between the ghostwriter or ghostwriting agency and the client can be extensive which means interviews, collection and utilisation of study material and the adoption of the client’s voice and style.
Wide Usage: The services of ghostwriters can be utilised everywhere from books to online web content to scripts as well as autobiographies and speeches and much more.
What Is Co-Authoring?
Co-authoring is completely different from ghostwriting because co-authoring is when multiple individuals are jointly contributing to a single piece of writing.
This is when everyone involved in the process of writing is credited as the author.
The simple way to understand this is that when a single person writes something, they alone can take the credit for it as the author but when they involve other people as contributors to the project in the same capacity as an author then those other people become co-authors.
This is different from ghostwriting because in the case of ghostwriting the ghostwriter knows beforehand that they are only providing a service and that their names will not be in the credits.
Meanwhile, co-authoring projects involve the mutual contribution of multiple people and this is usually done in academic writing situations.
Key Characteristics of Co-Authoring:
Shared Credit: When it comes to go authoring, everybody shares the credit and all the names of the co-authors are listed by their author name typically on the cover of the book or even the byline.
Mutual Contribution: Co-authoring is all about mutual contribution where each author contributes different aspects of the content such as ideas and writing as well as research and the labour is distributed.
Collaborative Decision-Making: One of the most important characteristics of co-authoring is going to be decision-making because unlike ghostwriting where the client is responsible for all the decisions, in co-authoring the decision-making is done by all the authors and everything is agreed mutually.
Common in Fiction & Non-Fiction: This pattern of understanding and working together in the form of co-authoring can be mostly seen in academic publications and non-fiction works but it can also be visible in fiction.
So, What Is the Difference?
The difference between ghostwriting and co-authoring is simple. Ghostwriting is a professional service provided by professional writers and the entire premise of the service is anonymity.
Co-authoring is the agreement of mutual contribution of multiple authors on a single project and shared ownership and rights. In the case of ghostwriting, the ownership is only held by the client.
If we now consider the point about compensation then ghostwriting is a service where the client pays the ghostwriter for the content they are writing. Compensation on the other hand for co-authoring is based on royalties and shared profits that have been agreed between the authors.
These two terms have their different needs because a ghostwriter is needed when a person is in need of high-quality content that they themselves cannot produce.
It should be primarily thought of as a service and anyone can hire a ghostwriter and ask them to write content for them.
Co-authoring is not a service but an arrangement where multiple people passionate about a single project come together and mutually agree to contribute to that single project.
They also agree to share the profits generated from that project and they also agree to have all their names credited on the cover of the book.
CONCLUSION
We hope you now understand the primary difference between ghostwriting and co-authoring.
If you and your author friends are passionate about a single project and can contribute to it mutually then that would be called co-authoring.
However, if you are someone who simply does not have the experience or time but is in need of high-quality professionally written content then you would need a ghostwriter.
That is where we come in because we are Ghostwriting India and we are one of the most reputed and fastest-growing ghostwriter-for-hire agencies in India.
We will help you with all your content needs at the most competitive prices in the industry and we welcome you to visit our website and check out everything we do.
