The Writer Behind the Books You Think Someone Else Wrote

Tobiloba Afolayan is a Nigerian ghostwriter with nine years of professional experience and three published books of his own. Her client work has ranged from personal projects to a celebrity autobiography commissioned for a fortieth birthday, though none of it carries her name. In this edition of The Lane, she traces a career that started with a single unfamiliar word on Nairaland and grew into a full-time life of writing for other people.

I developed an interest in writing when I was about eight years old. In my family, the expected path was quite defined; you either became a teacher or a lecturer. I went on to study English and Literary Studies, so in many ways, writing felt like the natural direction for me. However, I knew early on that I didn’t want to become a teacher; it just wasn’t something I could see myself doing. Because of that, I began looking for ways to make money from writing while working other jobs. I worked as a customer care support staff for a publishing company and later as a customer care representative at Airtel. Throughout all of this, I never stopped writing.

At the time, I used to visit Nairaland frequently, and one day I came across an advert for ghostwriting. I didn’t even know what “ghostwriting” meant, but I applied anyway. I was simply curious because anything related to writing interested me. Although the job had already been taken, the client decided to test me. I passed, and he was impressed enough to keep in touch and promise to reach out when another opportunity came up. From there, I started getting more writing jobs, and eventually, people began contacting me privately to write for them.