Will someone explain what a ghostwriter is?

[Rene K]

I find ghost writers scary.

[Tonya P]

No problem with ghost writers, but the spider writers terrify me. All those arms typing away!

[Melanie M]

The requests for ghostwriters kind of threw me when I first came to Upwork, as well.  I'd see dozens of postings basically saying, Write a love story about vampires for me.  My budget is $5.  I'm going to put my name on it and sell it to make my first million.  (OK, I'm stretching it, but only a LITTLE).  If I were to write a decent book that I thought would actually sell, don't you think I'd market it under MY name and reap the rewards rather than take my $5 and let you take the credit and the big bucks?

My idea of a ghostwriter is like what I saw in another job posting.  The client said she had a pretty interesting life that would make a great story.  She had 20 years worth of personal journals/diaries she had been keeping which she would turn over to a ghostwriter to transform into a book.  Another wanted to tell her story in a series of interviews which a ghostwriter would transcribe then rewrite into book form.  This is MY understanding of what a ghostwriter is.

[Kat C]

I need more than one project at a time.

I don't know if it's adult onset ADD for me, but I do know that the more the merrier for my brain.

[Jennifer M]

Maybe we're just crazy people. Pretty much anyone in the US on these forums right now is certifiably nuts and I assume can't sleep like I can't.