In 2016, after being nominated three times and not winning, Leonardo DiCaprio finally won the Oscar for Best Actor. Imagine if, right in that moment, some random dude walked up to the stage, grabbed the microphone out of Leo’s hand, and said: “Thank you all! Actually, it was me acting in every one of his movies all along.” Worse, Leo would just nod and say, “It’s true! He’s my ghostactor. Couldn’t have done it without him!” Then, roaring applause, and the two walk off stage. What the hell just happened?
What is unthinkable in sports, acting, or the world of business is an everyday occurrence when it comes to writing. Gary Vaynerchuk has “written” 5 New York Times Bestsellers. But actually, he’s written none of them. Donald Trump didn’t write The Art of the Deal. Tony Schwartz did.
But even if it’s not plainly obvious that the person on the cover couldn’t write a decent page to save their life, ghostwriting is so common in industry magazines, on company blogs, and now thanks to AI even on personal accounts all over the web, that one can’t help but wonder: How have we arrived at a world where 20%, 30%, 50% of what we read was not written by the person who’s name appears at the top, and not only are we cool with it, we don’t actually care at all?
If you’re the kind of person who demands that other people earn their stripes before you trust them, don’t suspend that principle when reading books, listening to rap songs, or browsing the news on the internet. Ask to get what you pay for, and don’t let the people claiming to have done somebody else’s work get away scot-free.