rita gabis is the author. >> you're watching booktv. television for serious readers.an watch any program you see here online at booktv.org. >> host: david ritz, what do you do for a living? >> guest: i am a ghost writer. >> host: what is a

rita gabis is the author. >> you're watching booktv. television for serious readers. you can watch any program you see here online at booktv.org. >> host: david ritz, what do you do for a living? >> guest: i am a ghost writer. >> host: what is a ghost writer? >> guest: a ghost writer is an author who writes in the first person of another person. >> host: how'd you get into that business? >> guest: it's a long story. the short end of the story is i was an advertising guy after college and after graduate school, and i made up my mind i was going to go meet ray charles and talk him into letting me do an authorized biography of him, because i wanted to win the pulitzer prize and the nobel prize, and i didn't know anything about ghost writing. so i had a hard time introducing myself to him and sort of getting to him. but anyway, i was able to do it through my tenacity. and when i did this agency had met told me, you know, you want to do his autobiography. and i said, no, i don't. and he said, yeah, you do. i said well, you know, i don't know how to do that. i don't know wh