Despite being one of the oldest professions on record, ghostwriting as an industry continues to evolve and grow. This past year was no exception, thanks in good part to technological advances and shifts in reader preferences.

Seven of the developments having the greatest impact on book ghostwriters in 2025 included the following:

1. Artificial Intelligence (AI)

The rise of AI use in the publishing industry is creating a schism, with human writers on one side and aspiring authors desiring fast turnaround on the other. No one disputes the speed at which AI tools can process data and generate content; however, in 2025, the difference in quality between human-generated writing and AI-generated writing became clearer.

As AI capabilities continue to improve and strengthen, its current skill level is very likely to improve over time. However, in 2025, AI-generated writing was often referred to as bland and emotionless. It was considered weaker than human-created writing, and for that reason, publishers, agents, editors, and readers pushed back on the use of AI in writing. Many publishers will flat-out not accept AI-generated works.

But that doesn’t mean that writers and ghostwriters aren’t using AI to some degree in their work—they are. According to a study of writers and their use of AI conducted in 2025 by Josh Bernoff and Gotham Ghostwriters, 61 percent of writers are relying on AI for support. The most common uses are for research, help with titles, and brainstorming, among others. Only 7 percent of writers reported using AI to generate content.

Across the board, however, ghostwriters agree that using AI to generate material for clients without revealing their reliance on it is unethical. It is also problematic since AI-generated content cannot receive copyright protection. The Library of Congress will not register AI-generated books. So, authors who use AI are likely to find that their works are effectively in the public domain with no recourse available. Authors hoping to leverage their book to achieve thought-leader status will have difficulty if they opt to use AI instead of a human ghostwriter.

But back to the issue of authorship: it is clear that, at the moment, human-authored works are superior in quality to AI-generated ones. Ghostwriters who agree not to rely on AI for content generation are positioning themselves as premium writers and a better quality choice by setting boundaries regarding their AI reliance.

2. Rising Plagiarism Concerns

Ghostwriters work hard to avoid the chance of plagiarizing other writers. They fact-check quotations, statements, and references and credit ideas and statements to the original source. Of course, when they’re doing the research, interviews, and drafting content themselves, they are aware of the source of reports or ideas they opt to include in client materials. For that reason, the chance of plagiarism is very low.

The challenge that has arisen in 2025 is that authors are using AI to generate outlines or rough drafts, which they then hand over to ghostwriters and editors as a starting point. Unfortunately, not everyone admits they relied on AI to generate their draft, and that can cause issues down the line.

When authors aren’t up front about their use of AI or patently deny it, their ghostwriter doesn’t know they need to search for the source of statements, ideas, or concepts, or confirm their legitimacy. They assume their author-client is the source of the content; if that’s not the case, plagiarism can inadvertently occur and expose the author to a lawsuit.

3. Heightened Publishing Transparency

Discussions regarding cover credit for ghostwriters became much louder in 2025, or at least more frequent. More authors indicated an interest in giving a “with” or “and” credit on the cover to their ghostwriter in the name of transparency and authenticity. That is, they wanted to be honest that they had help with their book, and they weren’t particularly worried about admitting that.

This signals a new era in ghostwriting. More authors divulging the name of their ghostwriter continued to reduce any embarrassment or stigma surrounding reliance on a ghostwriter’s services. Rather than being perceived as surrogate writers or behind-the-scenes authors, ghostwriters are being recognized as the collaborators and writing partners that they actually are.

In fact, in the UK, the Society of Authors (SoA) is pushing to get cover credit for ghostwriters on celebrity-authored children’s books in the name of transparency. They want to make it standard procedure for ghostwriters to receive cover credit.

4. Increased Rate Stratification

Ghostwriters have always had the power to determine what they charge for their work. Keep in mind, however, that authors and ghostwriting agencies can dictate or propose a certain pay level, which the ghost can opt to accept or refuse. Ghostwriters may not be able to convince their potential clients to pay more for their services, but they can always say “no” if they believe the pay is insufficient.

For the past 10-15 years, the fees ghostwriters have charged have ranged anywhere from $1,000 to $500,000+ per book, with ghostwriters falling somewhere on that spectrum based on experience, bestseller track record, and testimonials/references, among several factors. However, in the last couple of years, that spectrum has morphed into more of a set of tiers, which ghostwriter Laura Schaefer expertly detailed in a graphic she created to explain this.

Rather than a wide range of fees, we’re starting to see more clusters around certain price points. Early career ghostwriters with few ghostwritten books to their credit often charge $10,000-25,000. Given the amount of work involved, over several months, this range is low. Consequently, these ghostwriters typically have to take on multiple projects at a time.

From there, you’ll see ghostwriters clustered around the $50,000 mark, ranging from $30,000 to $95,000, based on my own observations. This is where the bulk of experienced ghosts reside.

However, six-figure ghostwriters (those earning $100,000 and up) are becoming more common and often land such lucrative work by being recommended by agents for traditionally published book projects, though not always. Celebrity ghostwriters can charge multiples of that and earn it because of their track record.

While the center of the bell curve right now is moving above $50,000 for books, we’re also seeing that split I previously mentioned, where some project values are moving lower and expect AI usage for the completion of some of the work, while talented human writers are moving upmarket, closer to $100,000, with a promise not to use AI.

5. Clients Prioritize Storytelling Ability

Books that sold best in 2025 and 2024, too, were based on compelling stories. Readers want to be entertained and enthralled, to become engrossed in what they’re reading. Consequently, authors have been choosing ghostwriters who demonstrate they can do that for them.

Story became a more important element even in how-to, self-help, and business books, where readers want more than dry instruction. Yes, they want takeaways and recommendations regarding how they can apply what the author suggests, but in between the lessons learned, they want inspiring stories, case studies, and anecdotes. And ghostwriters need to know how to deliver them.

6. Preference for a Turnkey Solution

With the majority of nonfiction books now being published by hybrid and independent presses, authors are required to make many more decisions about book production than ever before. Unless they have publishing experience or a literary agent to guide them, it can quickly become overwhelming. Pulling together their dream team of service providers required to structure, write, edit, proofread, index, layout, design, print, distribute, and market their book is time-consuming and expensive.

For that reason, many opt to partner with ghostwriting agencies or one-stop publishers that can manage all of the relevant players. Increasingly, however, ghostwriters are stepping up and partnering with skilled service providers themselves, positioning themselves as general contractors, effectively, for authors who don’t want to manage the entire publishing process themselves.

Ghostwriters are adding project manager and publishing consultant duties to their services in order to ensure authors have a path to publishing built in when they start writing the book. No one wants to end up with a stellar manuscript and no publisher in place.

7. Successful Second Annual Ghostwriting Conference

For the second year in a row, the Gathering of the Ghosts was held in New York City, co-hosted by Gotham Ghostwriters and the Association of Ghostwriters, with Kevin Anderson & Associates as the lead sponsor. While the inaugural event in 2024 was more of a level-setting event, 2025 focused on relationship-building.

The continued success of the sold-out event provides evidence of the strength of the ghostwriting market as a whole. Participants in the conference included leading literary agents, traditional publishers, hybrid and independent presses, author services agencies, public relations firms, and other vendors, on top of close to 200 book ghostwriters.

The ghostwriting industry ends 2025 on an up note, with demand for services increasing again, now that authors are recognizing AI’s limitations. Those who had hoped they could feed some ideas into ChatGPT and have it churn out a 60,000-word book in a matter of hours are realizing that even if it could, that may not be their best course of action. The market dip that many experienced in 2024 appears to have reversed.

We look ahead with hope for an even busier 2026.