The real risk is of UK authors being drowned out by the generic and derivative outputs of the Society of Authors, which is constantly behind the times when it comes to publishing.
The UK’s Society of Authors (SoA) is urging celebrities, publishers, and agents to properly acknowledge the writers behind celebrity books, especially those aimed at children.
As the UK’s largest trade union for writers, illustrators, and literary translators, the SoA, in a statement, said it recognises that celebrities can significantly influence children’s reading habits. However, they insist that all contributors to a book should be credited for their creativity and hard work.
Writing Offensive Books for Children
What it did not mention is controversy after controversy when so-called celebrities manage to get offensive and ill-considered children’s books published simply because the publisher knows the celebrity name will sell. David Walliams springs to mind. Or the British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, who was in hot water recently with his book set in Australia. There are too many more to mention.
None of which is of any concern to the SoA, which is more bothered with where its next Never-AI soundbite is coming from.
To the point where it will just throw in an attack on AI at random, for no other reason that to keep SoA members’ righteous indignation raging. Whether they want to be outraged or not.
This past week was a case in point.
The Call for Recognition
Abie Longstaff, chair of the SoA’s Children’s Writers and Illustrators Group, emphasised the importance of recognising the true creators behind these works. Longstaff stated, “A book is not just a package with kerb appeal. Creativity and well-honed craft make it special. The real hand that spins the magic should be acknowledged and applauded.“
No explanation was given as to why a celebrity that cannot string together two coherent words would want to acknowledge that fact by admitting they use a ghostwriter. Yes, some do, but let’s give them a choice. They are paying for the harmless deceit, after all.
A Growing Trend of Transparency
The SoA, in its December 9 press release, commends the increasing trend of celebrities publicly acknowledging their co-creators. Vanessa Fox O’Loughlin, chair of the SoA and author (pen name Sam Blake), highlighted this trend with examples from the industry. At the Irish Book Awards, rugby player Johnny Sexton thanked his ghostwriter, Peter O’Reilly, on stage, and cyclist Chris Hoy often appears with his ghostwriter, Joanna Nadin, at events.
O’Loughlin tells us, “This helps to set the gold standard for both the industry and the public. In a world where fake news proliferates, complete transparency is to be celebrated.”
But why? Who cares if a celebrity actually write the book that carries their name? Do readers seriously think that all these celebrities have time to sit at home writing books when they are busy being famous for being famous? The sportsfolk referenced above are the exception that proves the rule.
SoA’s Broadens Appeal
So now the SoA is appealing to all industry stakeholders, including publishers, celebrities, booksellers, festival organisers, and agents, to recognise and reward all collaborators involved in creating celebrity books. This call for transparency and recognition aims to ensure that everyone who contributes to the creative process receives due credit, but all it will do is make more celebrities force non-disclosure agreements on ghostwriters.
Utter irrelevance of the SoA’s AI Diatribe
The SoA might have limited itself to this sudden concern for ghostwriters’ well-being, but it seems nowadays the SoA management is quite incapable of missing an opportunity to launch a diatribe against AI, even if AI has no relevance whatsoever to the discussion.
Abie Longstaff, mentioned above, could not but rant against AI: “The real hand that spins the magic should be acknowledged and applauded, particularly in an era when humans risk being drowned out by the generic and derivative outputs of artificial intelligence bots.”
The Society of Luddites Strikes Again
In doing so, Longstaff, and the Society of Luddites’ broader management, show themselves to be determined to keep UK publishing firmly grounded in the twentieth century, when AI was confined to science fiction books, Amazon was the bad guy, and ghostwriters were of course always publicly acknowledged so the SoA had no cause to complain until this week.
And of course, the SoA has an endless list of examples of “humans being drowned out by the generic and derivative outputs of artificial intelligence bots.”
The Real Risk
The real risk is of UK authors being drowned out by the generic and derivative outputs of the Society of Authors, which is constantly behind the times when it comes to publishing. And never more so in the “era of AI” when, if the SoA had any genuine concern for its members, it would be advocating said members embrace AI’s potential and learn to adapt and thrive, just as past authors had to adapt to word-processing and online sales and self-publishing.
This post first appeared in the TNPS LinkedIn newsletter.
