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Halloween Approaches ... is there a Ghostwriter in our midst?

Cybele May @ Sat, 2007-10-27 14:00

GhostwriterGhostwriterIt's that spooky time of year ... and NaNoWriMo is certainly not immune. What could be spookier than a ghostwriter?

Beautifulword found a posting on Elance.com and posted about it in the forums last week. Elance is a freelancer site where people can post jobs for bidding. Someone posted an interesting project (click on the thumbnail to see the actual posting):

I'm looking for someone to ghost write a 50,000 word novel for me during the month of November. Must start on November 1st and finish on November 30th. Must be able to send your written progress at least 5 days a week.

Hmmm ... sounds like a familiar project. A bit like, well, NaNoWriMo! Could someone out there be looking for someone to write their NaNovel for them. The bidding is closed now, you'll just have to take your winner status as your payment for your new novel next month.

I have trouble believing anyone would pay for a first draft of any of my novels sight unseen, I hope everyone else greets such offers with similar doubt. Besides, I'm guessing if you agree to ghostwrite you're giving up your copyright to the novel. That'd be sad. Especially at an average bid of $10.84 an hour.


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Robert Harding
Thu, 2007-11-29 17:50
 

It does seem silly to do so at so a low rate.

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Moonsong
Thu, 2007-11-15 09:04
 

Wow... that is just sad. I can not beleive that someone would be that desperate to get a novel done for NaNoWriMo. I mean, the whole point is seeing if you can just write that much in the first place! *shakes head sadly*

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Shona
Tue, 2007-10-30 16:42
 

I remain enthralled by the stupidity and abject laziness of some people. Let's throw around money so we can say we wrote 50,000 words for NaNo!

O_o

Seriously. How pathetic. And not just the person asking either. I don't approve of ghostwriters.

>_> Dude, I just got an idea for my Halloween costume! SCOREZ!

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Eva
Mon, 2007-10-29 20:55
 

If it's a student seeking extra credit, don't they know that they could write a macro and have their computer crank out 50,000 copies of a single word? Seems somehow more honest, and certainly cheaper than hiring someone.

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BlueStocking
Mon, 2007-10-29 14:36
 

I...just don't understand why someone would want a ghostwriter for NaNoWriMo. I mean...do they just want boasting rights or something? If so, that's kind of sad.

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Kat C.
Mon, 2007-10-29 11:04
 

How sad...someone wants to win so badly that they don't want to play fair...

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tweetywill
Mon, 2007-10-29 05:04
 

The thought that comes to my mind is that someone somewhere is getting some extra credit in an English or writing class for participating, but has more spare money than time and/or motivation to actually participate.

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Dragonchilde
Sun, 2007-10-28 13:15
 

I'd do it. Gladly. I have dozens of ideas that would never get published, but could be tolerable. Especially since NaNo drafts are notoriously cruddy. You get what you pay for, after all.

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Kat
Sun, 2007-10-28 04:26
 

Hmmm, are they that desperate to join Nanowrimo? Honestly, I'd rather plough through the entire thing myself then sell my story and lose the copyright. That sounds like giving up my own kid... Well, good luck to the participants. I'm thinking of joining but I've yet to come up with a plot.

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Leafs16
Sat, 2007-10-27 22:23
 

Who would want to give away credit (and first publishing rights) for $10.84 an hour?

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