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Who's A Ghost?

Ask ghostwriters which authors they work for and it's not likely that they'll tell you. Part of their stock in trade, after all, is discretion.

But a couple of writers tipped their hands to CBS News Sunday Morning just a little bit. Here are a few facts about two of them.


WHO'S A GHOST?

Author: William Caunitz

Ghost: Chris Newman

Title: Chains of Command

How He Got Started: When Caunitz died in 1996, leaving 100 pages of an unfinished novel, the publisher asked Newman to complete it. "Bill had done an awful lot for me," explains Newman. "And me being able to pay that back somehow or another seemed like a kind of fun idea. I said, 'Sure, send me the stuff.'" Newman ended up writing about three quarters of the book.




WHO'S A GHOST?

Authors: Liz & Beth (two flight attendants)

Ghost: Donald Bain

Title: Coffee, Tea or Me

The Ghostwriters' Ethic: Says Bain: "You'll find a writer will become very successful with a first or second novel. And they get busy being famous, you know, and they'll turn to a ghost."

But do they tell their readers?

"No, no, no. Of course not. It's understood that I will not do that. It's an ethic of ghostwriting."

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