Ewan McGregor’s character in the 2010 film ‘Ghostwriter’ is based on prominent British ghostwriter Andrew Crofts. Source: Supplied

He’s one of the world’s most successful authors, and yet, you’ve probably never heard of him.

Mr Crofts is a ghostwriter. He tells other people’s stories for a living. You know the film Ghostwriter? Well, Ewan McGregor’s character is based on him.

His mysterious profession made headlines last week when British beauty vlogger Zoella admitted that her best-selling novel Girl Online, which sold more copies in its first week than J.K Rowling’s debut novel, was ghostwritten.

Zoella’s young female fans were outraged. They thought they’d been duped. Headlines like ‘Zoella: Yes, using a ghostwriter matters when your entire brand is built on being authentic’ and ‘Will A Ghostwriter Controversy Destroy Zoella’s New Book Career?’, convey the sense of betrayal felt by some.

Others, like Mr Crofts, were baffled by the controversy.

“I would say that 50 per cent of the nonfiction books you see in the front of the bookshop have been ghostwritten,” he told news.com.au

“Publishers lie, they like to pretend that it doesn’t happen.”

All the publishers news.com.au contacted refused to comment on whether they use ghostwriters or speak about the process.

So instead, we asked Mr Crofts to explain how his job works.

YouTube sensation Zoe Sugg. She has over six million YouTube subscribers. Source: Instagram

Who have you ghostwritten books for?

“I estimate I’ve written maybe 70 non-fiction books and 10 fiction books. I started out doing people who were not celebrities — people who had been sold as child brides or abused as children. Then the celebrities came. Lots of television stars — winners of Big Brother or The X Factor or soap operas like EastEnders. Then I did lots of business people and politicians. I can’t tell you most of their names I’m afraid.

People have this idea that it’s not noble to have a ghostwriter. There are still publishers who think that we shouldn’t be able to tell people that the book is ghostwritten. They still make you sign a contract with a confidentiality agreement saying you’ll never tell a soul.

I think on the whole the secrecy surrounding secrecy is going to die out. People are starting to promote the book together — the subject and the ghostwriter — like Keith Richards didn’t make any bones about the fact that he didn’t write Life. Gradually things are changing. I’ve just written an erotic novel for someone and I actually get credited. And I even wrote the introduction about how we met each other. So it’s actually coming out in the open more because the public understands more about the process now.”

MORE: Who is Zoella? Meet the girl bigger than J.K Rowling

How does the writing process work?

“You get as much information out of the person as possible. You see if they’ve written anything themselves or if there’s anything written about them. I sit down with a tape recorder and I just get them to talk through events chronologically, not just the exciting things, and I get them to start at the beginning. We get them to talk about how they would react in certain situations, get a sense of their character. You need to keep them on course, to answer any questions that the reader is likely to ask and then you’ve got around 20 hours of tape to work with.

If you have enough good stuff on tape and they haven’t wandered off track then you have enough to produce a good first draft. You write that and then go back to them with the draft. You might have the whole thing in the first draft. Sometimes the story is so strong you get it all out in one shot. Though sometimes you go back and there’s something important they forgot to tell you or some information was misunderstood. And they make notes on the manuscript. They might say, ‘Well that actually happened in Paris, not Rome’ or ‘That relationship or interaction wasn’t as significant or important as you made it out to be’. You rewrite it and go back and forth if you need to until everyone’s happy. And that’s it. You might help them find an agent or a publisher and help them through that process as well.”

Andrew Crofts. Source: Supplied

Do you ever get jealous when you see someone else’s name and face on a book you’ve pretty much written, word for word?

“I never get jealous. I think it’s a question of expectation. I know the deal from the start, so if the book is a huge success you think, ‘Oh great, I’ve done a good job’.

It’s a bit like if you’re a speech writer. You don’t think, ‘Oh that’s not fair. I wish I’d been up there’. It’s your job and you move on. Also, by the time the book actually comes out you’ve probably written a few since then.

The best bit is finding stories and learning new things. It’s a great pleasure to be able to tell someone else’s story. The author is always very relieved that they don’t have to write the book themselves.”

Is it difficult to get your subjects to talk about the extra-juicy or scandalous details of their lives?

“That’s the problem with celebrities, because they’re very on guard. The secret of the relationship is to trust the ghost, just as they would their lawyer or doctor. They’ve got to be willing to tell us everything. We promise that no one will see the manuscript until they’ve looked it over.

I say to them, ‘Tell me every filthy detail’. In the first draft you put everything in that the reader would love. And then you check with the subject if there’s anything they don’t want in there, you say, ‘No problem’ and give them a red pen and they take out the things they don’t like.

You might try to persuade them and say, ‘Well, the public would really like to know about this or that’, but at the end of the day they are the boss. If they say no, that’s the end of the story. Having that deal at the beginning makes them much more comfortable and willing to open up.”

Zoe Sugg (aka Zoella) with a copy of her novel Girl Online. Source: Instagram

Were you surprised at how angry people got when they found out Zoella’s book was ghostwritten?

“I think a number of things went wrong and none of them were Zoella’s fault. I think the reason it has got so much attention is because it’s fiction, not non-fiction. I think the publishers should have been much more upfront about it and they should have put the writers name on [the book]. I think when the media started asking questions, the publishers should have been upfront about it. Rather than making it look shady, when it really wasn’t.

But why did everybody get so upset? Because the newspapers decided to bring her down. And the reason they decided to bring her down was because she is really successful. She has millions of fans. She has loads of people that really like her. Zoella’s fans are 14 or 15 years old, they don’t know about ghostwriters. They thought they’d been duped. They were raining on this girl’s parade. I think the book was very professionally written. It’s a perfectly good book. I thought [the reaction] was extremely mean-spirited.”