Who owns a ghostwritten book?

Executives, founders, athletes, performers and public figures hire professional writers to turn their stories into books, and the name on the cover is often not the name of the person who typed the words. Who owns the result is decided by copyright law and by the contract, not by the cover. Our page on literary and author publishing deals covers the agreement with a publisher; this page covers the agreement that comes before it, between the person with the story and the person who writes it.

How ownership is settled, step by step

1. Copyright starts with the writer. It "vests initially in the author or authors of the work" (17 U.S.C. 201(a)). It protects expression, not the ideas, facts or life events behind it (17 U.S.C. 102(b)), so telling your story in interviews does not by itself make you an author of the text.
2. Ask whether the writer is an employee. A work prepared by an employee within the scope of employment is a work made for hire, and the employer is the author (17 U.S.C. 101; 201(b)). Circular 30 lists the agency-law questions to consider, such as who directs when and how long the writer works, who supplies the tools, and whether taxes are withheld.
3. For a freelancer, check the nine categories. A commissioned work can be made for hire only if it is ordered for use as a contribution to a collective work, part of an audiovisual work, a translation, a supplementary work, a compilation, an instructional text, a test, answer material for a test, or an atlas, and the parties "expressly agree in a written instrument signed by them" (101). If any requirement fails, Circular 30 says, "it is not a work made for hire."
4. Use an assignment for everything else. A transfer of copyright ownership is valid only if it is in writing and signed by the owner of the rights conveyed (17 U.S.C. 204(a)). Careful contracts include a work-made-for-hire clause where a category might fit and an assignment as a backup. Our page on whether a copyright license or assignment must be in writing explains what counts as a signed writing.
5. Register in the owner's name. The client can register as claimant after obtaining all rights from the author (37 CFR 202.3(a)(3)), using the $65 Standard Application, because the $45 Single Application requires the author and claimant to be the same person (202.3(b)(2)(i)(B)).
6. Record the assignment. Once the book is registered, a recorded assignment gives public notice and, if recorded in time, wins over a later conflicting transfer by the writer (17 U.S.C. 205(c) and (d)). See our page on recording a copyright assignment for the timing rules.

Can a ghostwritten book be a work made for hire?

Sometimes, but less often than contracts assume. A memoir, a novel or a narrative business book commissioned from a freelancer is not on the list of nine categories, so writing "work made for hire" in the agreement does not make it one. Some book projects do fit. An "instructional text" is a literary work "prepared for publication and with the purpose of use in systematic instructional activities," and a "supplementary work" includes forewords, afterwords, appendixes and indexes written for someone else's book (101). Our page on work made for hire versus assignment walks through the same test for other contractors. Screen projects are different, because "part of a motion picture" is one of the categories, as our page on whether a production owns what its writers create explains.

Why does the label matter if the client owns the book either way?

Three things change. First, termination: an assignment from an individual author signed on or after January 1, 1978 can be terminated by the author or the author's heirs during a five-year window decades later, "notwithstanding any agreement to the contrary," while works made for hire are excluded (17 U.S.C. 203). Our page on when an author can get book rights back shows how those windows are calculated for publishing grants.

Second, the term of protection. A book by an individual lasts for the author's life plus 70 years, measured by the writer's life, not the client's (17 U.S.C. 302(a)). A work made for hire lasts 95 years from first publication or 120 years from creation, whichever expires first (302(c)). Third, authorship: for a work made for hire the client is the legal author; for an assignment the writer remains the author and the client is the owner.

Who gets credit, and can the ghostwriter talk about the book?

Both are contract questions. The Copyright Act's attribution right in section 106A belongs only to authors of a "work of visual art," a term that expressly excludes any book (17 U.S.C. 106A; 101). So whether the writer is named on the cover, thanked in the acknowledgments, or kept entirely private is set by what the parties sign, and so is whether the writer may list the project in a portfolio.

Confidentiality has one wrinkle that agreements often miss. A copyright application names the author, registration records are open to the public, and once a certificate is issued the Office cannot remove the author's name from the record (Compendium of U.S. Copyright Office Practices, section 615.3). The anonymous and pseudonymous options apply only when the copies identify no natural person as author or identify the author under a fictitious name (101), so the agreement should say how the book will be registered before anyone files.

What changes the answer

• The client writes too. If both intend their contributions to be "merged into inseparable or interdependent parts of a unitary whole," the book is a joint work and they are co-owners (101; 201(a)). Our page on who owns a co-authored book covers what each co-owner can do alone.
• Employment status. Under Circular 30's agency-law factors, a writer on payroll who writes as part of the job produces a work made for hire without any category or special clause (101(1)).
• Translations. A translation is one of the nine categories, so a commissioned translation of the finished book can be made for hire with a signed writing; see our page on who owns the translation of your book.
• Borrowed material. Lyrics, letters or passages from other books need their own permission no matter who owns the manuscript; our page on quoting song lyrics or other books explains the fair use limits.
• The registration application. A certificate with inaccurate information still supports a lawsuit unless the inaccuracy was included knowingly and would have caused refusal (17 U.S.C. 411(b)), so naming the client as author of an assigned book is a risk, not a shortcut.

A worked example

Common mistakes

• Calling a memoir a work made for hire and stopping there. Without a fitting category, the label does nothing.
• Assuming payment transfers ownership. Paying in full does not satisfy section 204(a); a signed writing does.
• Signing an NDA that ignores the public record. A registration names the author, and the Office will not remove it later.
• Listing the client as author of an assigned book. Inaccurate applications invite a section 411(b) fight.
• Forgetting drafts, outlines and interview transcripts. Assign them too, or the writer keeps rights in material a publisher may want.
• No exit terms. Without a kill fee and a rule on who owns partial drafts, a cancelled project becomes a dispute; our post on avoiding expensive mistakes in services contracts covers cancellation and breach clauses.

What to do this week

1. Decide whether the project fits any of the nine commissioned categories, and be honest if it does not.
2. Put ownership in a signed writing: work-for-hire language where it fits and a present assignment of all rights as the backup.
3. Write down the credit, confidentiality and portfolio terms, including how the book will be registered.
4. Cover drafts, outlines, recordings and transcripts in the assignment.
5. After delivery, register the book and record the assignment; our page on book registration and mandatory deposit covers the deadlines that start at publication.
6. Before signing with a publisher, gather the signed writing so you can show a clean chain of title.

Frequently asked questions

We never signed anything. Who owns the book?

The writer, under sections 201(a) and 204(a). Section 204(a) accepts "a note or memorandum of the transfer" signed by the owner, so a signed written confirmation of the deal can fix it now, as long as the writer agrees to sign.

Can the client put only their own name on the cover?

Yes, if the contract allows it. Copyright law gives book authors no statutory right to be credited, so credit is whatever the parties agree.

Can the ghostwriter reuse passages in another book?

Not after a full assignment, because the writer no longer owns the text. Reusing general skills, research methods or facts is different, since copyright does not protect ideas or facts (102(b)).

Does the ghostwriter have to be paid royalties?

Only if the contract says so. The Copyright Act sets no royalty for an assigned book; flat fees, royalty shares and bonuses are all negotiated terms.

Can a film producer buy the rights from the client?

Yes, if the client owns them through a signed assignment and can prove it. Producers check chain of title closely, as our post on chain of title problems that kill distribution deals explains.

Does the client have to disclose the ghostwriter to the publisher?

Copyright law does not require it. But the client can grant a publisher only rights the client owns, so the signed assignment is what lets the client stand behind any ownership promise in the publishing contract.

Zala IP Law drafts and reviews ghostwriting, collaboration and publishing agreements for clients and writers, and Shreepal J. Zala practices federal intellectual property and entertainment law nationally from Atlanta, as our Atlanta intellectual property and entertainment lawyer page describes. If you are hiring a writer or have been hired as one, request a consultation or call 404-313-1701 before the first chapter is delivered.