Is there such a thing? Like write the book and get a % of the royalties? So if they write the story well, they earn more. If they write a crap story it's not money wasted :-)
2006-07-05 04:11:17 · 5 answers · asked by Part Time Cynic 7 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Books & Authors
i said 'the' story. Like you said yourself, you have to be a celebrity these days to sell autobiographies. The only fiction would be the names and places the non-fiction happened :-)
2006-07-05 04:40:49 · update #1
Celebreties use ghost writers for autobiographies a lot.
However, you are talink about a 'story' which suggests writing fiction. I can think of one or two novels written by ghost writers based on the life or events of an individual and then tagged with another persons name - but they are rare.
If you have the idea for a story and you want someone wlse to write it for you, then I reckon you will find it very difficult to do so on a percentage of the royalties basis.
Given your extra information, I still think it is unlikely that you will get an established writer interested on a percentage basis. An unknown author would be of little interest to the publishing houses unless you have a name that sells.
You may have a wonderful story to tell, but getting it written is going to be difficult unless you want to pay up front. That problem pales when you come to try and get it published.
You may be better employed looking for a talented amateur on one of the many writing sites out there who will work with you on spec that together you will be able to find a publisher.
2006-07-05 04:22:51 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 0⤋
Most of the time, when a book is ghostwritten, the ghostwriter does a "work for hire" - which means they get paid a flat fee for writing it, and the publisher/studio/whatever owns the copyright and collects the royalties. I'm sure there have been cases like what you described, but if it has happened, it's very rare.
More often is the "second author" setup - the book is written by BIG NAME AUTHOR (oh yeah, and unknown author), where the unknown author does 95% of the work, but the big name author gets their name first in big letters, people buy the book because they recognize the author, and the unknown author gets some small percentage of the royalties. This is particularly common in science fiction books.
A third setup is posthumous writing - a now-deceased author had a famous series, and other authors hired by the first author's publisher (which is usually also the copyright holder) add more books to it. The Curious George series is one of these. In this case, the books may be either works-for-hire (where the new author gets a flat fee and no royalties) or a more standard setup - although usually with a lower percentage of the royalties going to the new author, since they do not own the copyright on the material.
2006-07-05 06:02:04 · answer #2 · answered by theycallmewendy 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
if they write the book they can work on a 'work for hire' contract in which they get no part of the copyright or they can work on a % of the copyright and the royalties earned...
what you want is someone to write the book 'on spec'... which means if you like the work you can pay for it... if not, you are not obligated... most legitimate writers are not going to do that... would you?
If you don't have the money to pay a work for hire then find an author that is willing to split the copyright (and the royalties) with you... that way you both win...
2006-07-05 04:21:34 · answer #3 · answered by Klaatu Barada Nikto 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
What an exciting theory... i'm a fiction author engaged on a unique. the finest i might want to do is characteristic your tale as one in all my many characters yet i do not imagine that is what you're truly searching for. good success and enable me understand how that seems.
2016-10-14 03:40:45 · answer #4 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Don`t they do it with aeroplanes in the sky
I was told they did
2006-07-07 00:34:25 · answer #5 · answered by itsa o 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋