Ghosts in thrillers

Some authors are so successful it seems their names alone are enough to sell millions of novels.

Tom Clancy, James Patterson and Clive Cussler are among the literary giants increasingly moving away from writing their own books.

As part of a publishing phenomenon known as partnership writing, they simply come up with an idea and use lesserknown authors to write the book for them. The famous name then takes the glory when the finished product is marketed.

For Cutting Edge, Clancy's latest novel, his name took up a quarter of the cover, yet it was actually written by Jerome Preisler, one of a stable of writers working with Clancy, his publisher Penguin admitted. American author Patterson produced two best-sellers with the help of other writers. Even Stephen King produced Black House with Peter Straub.

Not everyone supports the practice. British author JG Ballard, who wrote Empire Of The Sun and Crash, said: 'The whole thing is completely mercenary.

'The only objective appears to be merchandising more copies.'

Enid Blyton was thought to use ghost writers because of her vast output. She typed 10,000 words a day

Horse-racing thriller writer Dick Francis admitted wife Mary helped him write books in what he called 'a joint affair'

Jailed peer Jeffrey Archer relied heavily on his publishers to help churn out his bestsellers. He depends on his Oxford-educated wife, Mary, to correct spelling