#ghostwriters

The Bitches Get Riches Brand Promise: Social Media, Plagiarism, and AI in an Age of Exploitation

We have reasons to reject (human) ghostwriters beyond narcissism. If somebody hands me an article—how do I know it’s accurate? Original? Properly cited and sourced? Vetting is boring. In the time it takes me, I could’ve written the article myself and filled it with tangents on why Speed Racer (2008) is the most underrated film of the century.

These drawbacks apply to AI tenfold.

Ugh. I don’t wanna talk about AI. If I crumpled all the handwringing AI panic articles I’ve read this year into a ball and tossed that ball into the air, it would achieve orbit. I’d christen this second moon Talos and feel super smug about it!

… But I have to talk about AI, because AI is already talking about me.

If you ask ChatGPT to “write an article in the style of Bitches Get Riches,” you’ll get a result that pretty successfully mimics our style. It’s shallow, yes. But it clearly understands what you’re asking for, and doesn’t hesitate to give it to you. From this moment on, spotting fakes will only get harder.

We promise to never use AI as a writing tool. This is for all the same reasons we won’t use ghostwriters. But most importantly, it’s because AI is fundamentally less trustworthy and less ethical.

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“Such a Lovely and Inspiring Man:” Midnight Oil Co-founder, Drummer Rob Hirst Dies at 70

Rob Hirst, the Midnight Oil co-founder, drummer and songwriter, has died at 70, his former bandmates said.

“We are shattered and grieving the loss of our brother Rob,” the surviving Oils said Jan. 20 on social media. “For now, there are no words, but there will always be songs.”

Hirst had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer shortly after the 2022 conclusion of Midnight Oil’s farewell tour.

“You left this world a far better place than the way you found it,” the Hoodoo Gurus wrote on social media. “Your creativity, passion and joy has left its mark on all of us, and the strength of your spirit will be an inspiration forever.”

Hirst, who co-wrote such songs as “Beds are Burning,” “The Dead Heart” and “Short Memory,” was a mainstay from the group’s 1976 founding and played on all 13 Midnight Oil LPs released between 1978 and 2022. When the band was on hiatus, Hirst played with Ghostwriters, Backsliders and other bands.

Powderfinger’s Ian Haug credited Hirst with inspiring the group’s founding and thanked him for the “time and advice” he provided.

“R.I.P., Rob Hirst,” Haug wrote on social media. “What an absolute beast of a drummer, songwriter and character.

“Such a lovely and inspiring man.”

It was an long painful process to be honest. I will preface this by saying my experience is based on working for ONE company and I can't speak for all ghostwriting companies. I will also say I've had much better luck doing things myself and not through a ghostwriting business.

I had subscribed to a newsletter that had daily listings for freelance writers. A ghostwriting company was looking for romance writers so I applied. I was very excited to get the position.

The downside was, with this particular company, we definitely weren't paid what I thought we should be paid and the due dates/turnaround time for projects was fucking ridiculous. I'm talking about 3 weeks for a 30k word book. And you also didn't get paid if you didn't completely finish the project. Like edits and all. Not only that, clients could comment on your progress whenever, so you'd be trying to finish when they would have changes or not like what you had done so far. You also couldn't vet the clients yourself and were stuck with whoever they assigned you to.

There was also a legit romance novel formula you HAD to follow. I'm talking something that told you how many words you needed to spend on certain story beats. There was zero room for creativity.

I worked for them for about four months but was going through a very dark mental time. They were uncaring about my situation and unyielding on their due date. Basically the manager/owner was starting to be rude to me. Even though I was working on TWO books at the same time, three of them for a brief period. I had to leave mid project because I was having a legit mental breakdown. And no, I was not paid for either project.

HOWEVER, through that madness something good came out of it. One of the clients, one I had only gotten halfway through their book, tracked me down through my personal website and reached out. She said she loved what I had done and was sad to see me go. The company flat out lied and told her I had taken a full time job somewhere else. But she said that if I was ever interested I had a job with her whenever I wanted.

I outright told her the legit reason why I left and also apologized for not finishing her project as that's not the way I operate. She was super understanding and her offer still was standing and could be taken whenever. A few months later, I accepted and I've been writing exclusively for her ever since. Which is about four years now.

Because I'm in charge, I can negotiate WAY more pay. Not only that, my policy is that I charge for the full amount upfront and any additional words once the project is complete. I now make double per book than I made at the company writing three books. And she gives me bonuses and a certain amount of creative freedom.

As far as being lucrative, I believe it can be. I personally just don't have the time right now to write as much during the day as I'd like. But even so, she loves my work and has actually increased the word count per project because we both know I can handle it. We started at a minimum of 30k words and now, the last two books I wrote for her have been over 90k words.