And the dead shall write again

In September, author Robert Jordan passed away. Not only was it sad because Jordan was relatively young at 58, but because his Wheel of Time series was left without its capstone––his 12th and final book in the series was left…unfinished.

Fortunately, his widow chose a fine author in Brandon Sanderson to do the honor of finishing the last book––which is slated for 2009 and will come out with due fanfare. Having Sanderson give necessary closure to a much-heralded series just feels like the right thing to do, for the right reasons.

But what about those other books?

You know, the ones written by authors long since dead, but whose brands are very much alive. The one that immediately springs to life is gothic horror writer V.C. Andrews who penned Flowers in the Attic. Her books were so popular that after she passed away, her estate hired Andrew Neiderman, to ghostwrite subsequent books. (Pause for ironic reflection). There are now, what, 20-30 books written by Neiderman?––far more than Virginia C. Andrews ever produced in real life. She died in 1986, but the brand marches on.

And now we have Eric Van Lustbader continuing Robert Ludlum’s “Bourne” series. At least Lustbader’s name is on the cover. But he was a success in his own right, so maybe this is a marketing situation where 1+1=3 as far as magnifying the brand.

But is the Lustbader & Ludlum lovechild just a truth-in-labeling version of the JAMES PATTERSON books. You know, the ones written in collaboration with Howard Roughan, Andrew Gross, Peter De Jonge, Michael Ledwidge, and Gabrielle Charbonnet?

I’m not saying they’re bad books. I mean, c’mon, the guy is like the McDonald’s of publishing––130 million books sold. Eight books adapted for the screen. He’s a brand that’s filling a serious void out there––a brand that is satisfying a need. Oh, and do you want fries with that?

So what’s next? It seems like fifty years ago, successful authors were benign pop-culture icons. Now they’re living, breathing brand-marketing opportunities and in the future, will their estates, their heirs and most of all—their publishers, be able to let the machine grind to a halt?

What happens when Stephen King leaves this world for the next? Or a juggernaut like J.K. Rowling? Would it matter to her younger fans if ghostwritten books kept coming each year, just in time for Christmas?

Comments

[Lisa]

I think there's an implied assumption here, that we don't still have excellent authors who are lesser known to the general population but brilliant none-the-less. I've heard of some who are considered to be gods or rockstars of the literary world. All depends on what you're into as a reader. What gets your juices flowing. Those authors still exist, you just have to be willing to find them. And, let's not forget that many authors considered to have penned classics were virtually (if not literally) unknown during their lifetimes. Who knows who will pen the next classic?

[jamie]

( I think there's an implied assumption here, that we don't still have excellent authors who are lesser known to the general population but brilliant none-the-less. )

Oh, I didn't mean that there aren't tons of phenomenal authors––cause there are. I was just wondering if the most popularly branded household names would live on. Like the James Bond franchise of movies.

[PS]

I know I'm pathetically naive, but I didn't know about those franchises that have moved into ghost-writing/postmortem collaboration.

I can't quite get my head around it...you can put a new actor in the Ronald McDonald costume and you can animate Colonel Sanders...but authors aren't brands or brand icons...they're flesh-and-blood people.

But I guess that's your point. Can you imagine, though, a set of authors deciding to brand and publish NEW plays by "Shakespeare," new poetry by "Robert Frost," new novels by "Charlotte Bronte"? (On second thought, maybe I just found my new pseudonym!)

I think I just threw up in my mouth a little.

[Aprilynne Pike]

I have always kind of laughed at books by the dead VC Andrews and sneered at JP, because he still acts like he writes the books. I don't mind ghostwriters as long as the audience knows what's going on. There are some writers *cough, cough Must not reveal professional secret, cough,cough* who deny and deny that they have ghostwriters even though those near to them know they do. I think that's dishonest.

There are some concepts that hold potential for more stories than one author can pen and I don't mind other others stepping into that author's shoes. As long as they are honest about it.

[Lisa]

Whooops. Got it. I don't know if they will live on. With our ever increasing integration of communication and media technology into our communities and lives the opportunity for books to be translated into other mediums (movies, tv shows, etc) is ever increasing which then can contribute to the book's longevity.

Or I think too much.

[jamie]

Aiiight, next someone's gonna tell me William Shatner didn't write his books!?!?

[Kennedy]

Ah, Jamie, you are an endless source of vaguely disturbing news.

This brand-survival thing seems downright weird to me, but I wonder how some of the replacement writers feel about it. Agent Donald Maass has suggested that with modern computerized sales tracking, writers can become too pigeon-holed by their own past numbers, with the result that it's harder than ever for their later work to sell even as well as their earlier work did -- harder to ever escape from their own numbers, no matter how much better writers they may now be -- driving them to adopt pseudonyms just to stay in the market.

So we've got dead writers who have living writers using their names, and living writers who can't stay in the market without using made-up names.

I think I'm going to see if I can sell a manuscript called "Book," written by "Person."

[Hoodie]

I suppose I can understand people falling in love with characters and the types of stories they are in, but in my mind no one can duplicate the original. It feels cheap.

The thought of someone else trying to write a Harry Potter book besides Rowling is appauling.

I know you are a fan of OSC. He's my absolute fave. His voice is so distinctive, his stories so well tailored, his creativity so unique that I would find it an outrage if anyone were to try to continue Enderverse stories after his death (which, at this point, would be untimely and tragic).

I can ease up on someone finishing the last Robert Jordan. That's a lot to be left hanging. But authors who use ghost writers to cash in I say "pooh-pooh."

[jamie]

Writers as commodities. It is a strange phenomenon.

Isn't Brian Herbert continuing his father's Dune sagas? And I thought I saw more books in the Foundation series written by someone else...

[Jaye Wells]

I just want to know when Fabio is going to write some more romances.

[David I]

"Agent Donald Maass has suggested that with modern computerized sales tracking, writers can become too pigeon-holed by their own past numbers, with the result that it's harder than ever for their later work to sell even as well as their earlier work did -- harder to ever escape from their own numbers, no matter how much better writers they may now be -- driving them to adopt pseudonyms just to stay in the market."

There's a funny/creepy crime novel that centers on that problem (and the bestseller/ghost writer issue)--The Hook by Donald E. Westlake. Too close to true.

[Jen]

Ever since that horrible horrible terrible unacceptable and did I mention horrible sequel to Rebecca, I've been very down on people using other people's stuff to make a buck. I don't even care if the author's estate or whatever authorizes it. I won't even support Chris Tolkien "editing" his father's notes and putting them out as books.

Okay, Wide Sargasso Sea is an exception. Maybe.