Collaboration and credit; strategic looting; author website fails: Newsletter 20 May 2026

Newsletter 153. A deep dive into our misconceptions about human and machine book authoring. Plus, teaching writing in the age of AI, a ghostwriter turns AI book-creation engineer, three people to follow, and three books to read.

Who wrote this book?

You want to believe that authoring is a simple matter. The author conceives the book, writes the book, and gets the book published. And the author deserves the credit (or blame) for what they wrote. Right?

After working on 75 book projects, I can tell you this is almost never how it works. Let’s examine a few cases.

In 2008, Charlene Li and I published Groundswell, a best-selling book on corporate strategy for social media. We both worked at Forrester Research. Most of the ideas in the book originated with Charlene. Most of the words originated with me. We collaborated on everything. So whose book is it? It would not have been any good without Charlene. It would not have been readable or interesting without me. Neither of us could have done what we did without the support of Forrester; we could not have gotten a publishing contract or effective promotion without Forrester’s support, right up to the CEO. And of course, the publisher, Harvard Business Press, helped guide and promote it. So is it really “our” book?

And that’s the simplest case, of two collaborating coauthors.

I once edited a book by a brilliant man. He wrote in stream of consciousness. The book was filled with fascinating insights, well organized, and interrupted by self-serving and uninteresting reflections. I recommended deleting the uninteresting parts, and he agreed. The resulting idea-focused book was highly acclaimed. Does he deserve the credit, given that the book would have sucked without my contribution?

Okay, how about this. The CEO of a large organization conceived a book to express his ideas on the world. He hired me to ghostwrite it. The ideas came from him, but I did much of the research and wrote nearly all the words. But he and I brainstormed every chapter, and he and his team edited everything I wrote in detail. In one case, I conceived and wrote a chapter on a topic I knew better than him, but again he significantly influenced the planning and reviewed every word of the result. The book has his name on it. Does he deserve the credit, given that I wrote the book?

In another case, the CEO of a company hired me to ghostwrite the book, and gave me very little guidance beyond the broad strokes of what he wanted to say. I did all the research, all the interviews, and all the writing — he had very little feedback. Does he deserve the credit, given that I did almost all the work?

In my opinion, all of these authors deserve the credit for their respective books, whether the ghostwriter is acknowledged as a contributor or not. They supplied the vision and put their names on the project. Books are like movies; many people contribute in varied ways, and their respective contributions are rarely transparent. Who was the cinematographer of Citizen Kane? Who gets credit for Darth Vader: George Lucas (writer, director), James Earl Jones (voice), David Prowse (who wore the suit), or the designers of the costume?

I bring this up now because once again, AI is muddying the question of credit. Authors are using AI to brainstorm ideas, conduct research, suggest wordings, critique writing, and in some cases, generate text which they may or may not edit further. Some critics are suggesting that AI-supported writing isn’t authoring, and AI-supported books aren’t real books.

This is about as rational as telling an artist who draws with an iPad and drawing apps that the resulting image isn’t really theirs.

I read a lot of AI-generated prose these days (because, unfortunately for me, authors are hiring people like me to “fix” it). It stinks. It’s boring, flat, inaccurate, and filled with clichés. An author that publishes that slop deserves “credit” for it, because they’re the one that foisted it upon the world and put their name on it.

I also read a lot of AI-supported prose. The smartest authors I know are using AI as a tool, then shaping the results with their own insights, creativity, and personality. They also deserve credit, because regardless of the tools they use, it’s their vision and their execution.

In most of the carefully crafted and published books you read, there are contributions from many people, most of whom you don’t know about, with support from many tools that you don’t see. You watch the movie and judge it without worrying about the team that made it. You eat the cake and enjoy it without worrying about who baked it, who decorated it, and who harvested the wheat and the sugar cane. The proof of the pudding is in the eating.

Judge art based on how good it is, not how it was made. The author gets the credit or the blame. ‘Twas ever thus, and ’twill always be, regardless of whether the collaborative intelligences that created it one or many, all human or partly artificial.

News for writers and others who think

Ali Rıza Taşkale writes about how tech billionaires are using “strategic looting,” stealing ideas from classic science fiction without importing its moral lessons. Or, as one wag put it, ” 1984 was supposed to be a warning, not an instruction manual.”

In Fortune, read how ghostwriter David Johnson-Igra has replaced his writing work with building AI systems to help big-idea authors generate their own texts.

In Editor & Publisher, a review of new models for successful online publications.

The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) released a framework for how to teach English in the age of AI. If focuses on critical thinking regarding AI outputs. Renowned writing teacher John Warner thinks it should focus more on the essential human process of writing.

Polish writer Olga Tokarczuk, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, came under criticism when she admitted to using AI to help write her book. Her response (translated from Polish): “I make use of artificial intelligence on the same principles as most people in the world—I treat it as a tool that allows faster documenting and checking of facts. Whenever I use this tool I additionally verify the information. Just as I have done for several decades by reading books and by exploring libraries and archives.”

Master publicist Marissa Eigenbrood of Smith Publicity shares the most common mistakes authors make with their websites.

Three people to follow

Wes Kao, executive coach and cofounder of Seth Godin’s altMBA

Alison Fragale , author of Likeable Badass who shares science-based success strategies for women

Joan DiMicco, Ph.D. , insightful thinker on data and communication

Three books to read

The Thought Leadership Handbook: How the Experts Elevate Their Big Ideas–And How You Can Too by Bill Sherman, Peter Winick, and Naren Aryal (Amplify, 2026). The definitive book on thought leadership: how to create and profit from it.

Planet Money: A Guide to the Economic Forces That Shape Your Life by Alexander Mayyasi (W. W. Norton, 2026). The Planet Money folks do their impression of Freakonomics, explaining life though an economist’s viewpoint.

GIRLS®: Generation Z and the Commodification of Everything by Freya India (Henry Holt, 2026). How social/mobile tech is driving young girls to brand and market themselves.