History Main / ExtrudedBookProduct

* Music/BritneySpears' first two albums border on the musical version of this trope.

* All the ''Literature/{{Fighting Fantasy}}'' books proudly declare "Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone present" on the cover, but due to the books being an instant smash hit, the majority were written for hire, with the actual author credited in small text on the copyright page. While Jackson and Livingstone did oversee all the books, they took a relatively hands-off approach, and as such the writers were free to apply their own distinct approaches and styles; fans generally have preferences for some writers over others.

* Music/BritneySpears first two albums border on the musical version of this trope.

* Towards the end of her life, after a series of strokes, Creator/MarionZimmerBradley would publish books in her Darkover series that were in fact written by others. One infamous example is that of Jean Lamb. Lamb had authored two Darkover stories published in fanzines and then one printed in an anthology edited by MZB. She was contacted about collaborating with Bradley to expand the story into a full-length novel. Upon learning that she would, in fact write the novel alone, Lamb attempted to negotiate a better deal. Legal threats ensued. Due to the Bradley estate keeping the extent of MZB's disabilities a secret, the partial details leaked were used as a cautionary tale about authors not reading or authorizing fan fiction of their works.

* Pulp magazines from the early 20th century had enough words in each weekly issue to fill an airport novel, and therefore successful publishers employed stables of professional authors who could write stories at an almost industrial pace. Creator/UptonSinclair was able to write 50 thousand words per week and had two full time secretaries to type his stories as he dictated them.

* UK company Working Partners is responsible for several popular series, including ''Literature/BeastQuest'', ''Sea Quest'' and ''Team Hero'' by "Adam Blade" (for boys), and ''Literature/RainbowMagic'', ''Magic Animal Friends'' and ''Unicorn Magic'' by "Daisy Meadows" (for girls). British library lending figures show that Daisy Meadows was the most popular children's author for 2011-2012. There is an in-depth [[https://rainbowmagic.fandom.com/wiki/User_blog:LexsJB/The_art_of_the_throwaway_children’s_series blog]] about the business behind Working Partner series.

* UK company Working Partners is responsible for several popular series, including ''Literature/BeastQuest'', ''Sea Quest'' and ''Team Hero'' by "Adam Blade" (for boys), and ''Literature/RainbowMagic'', ''Magic Animal Friends'' and ''Unicorn Magic'' by "Daisy Meadows" (for girls). British library lending figures show that Daisy Meadows was the most popular children's author for 2011-2012.

* In a ''Comicbook/{{Ghostbusters}}'', comic book Egon "wrote" a book by using a computer program to "[c]alculate an almost random pattern of words that positively stimulate the human brain" as an experiment. It was apparently quite well received.

* Joyce Grenfell had a routine where she played a children's author, churning out almost identical books about kids having adventures. "I never rewrite, and I never read what I've written". By a [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed curious coincidence]], this skit had some similarities to an actual interview with Creator/EnidBlyton, in which she said writing a novel took about a week.
** Grenfell never confirmed the connection (and indeed only used the character rarely, and for just a few years due to the uncomfortable obviousness of the parody), but the children's author character emerged shortly after Grenfell attended a literary lunch at which Blyton was a fellow guest.

** There is a bit of a subversion involved with Harlequin, as they receive far more manuscripts than they can possibly use, of widely varying degrees of quality. As a result Harlequin has imposed some rather draconian editorial standards to sort the wheat from the chaff.

* Especially during the 1970s and early 1980s, Creator/TerranceDicks wrote many of the original ''DoctorWho'' Target Books novelizations. These came out monthly. From the early 1980s, others writers took over to an extent (and often novelized their own stories), but even then, Dicks wrote many of the books.

This phenomenon continues because enough readers accept and even want it. Readers who read for {{escapism}} and WishFulfillment, especially in certain genres catering to those wants, expect and want one story told in multiple superficially different ways and do not want to be challenged.

* The season 6 episode of ''Series/TheAvengers'', "Love All", centered around romance novels of this sort. When visiting the publishing house, Steed learns (though unrelated to the actual plot) that the novels are actually generated by a piano-shaped computer. During the climactic fight, it's accidentally activated and spits out a new manuscript.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': The Master of the Land of Fiction from "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS6E2TheMindRobber The Mind Robber]]" was a 1920s writer of boys' serial fiction. Whatever consciousness governed the Land of Fiction specifically chose him because of how prolific he was. Peter Ling, who wrote the script for that story, based on the character on real life writer Frank Richards.

** However, once Simon and Schuster took over, things started getting ''really'' bad for the junior sleuths. By 1981 ''Hardy Boys'' was being published bi-monthly, with ''Nancy Drew'' increased to tri-annually before following suit in 1988. As if that weren't enough, both series also had a spin-off series ("Nancy Drew Files" and "Hardy Boys Casefiles") being published monthly for a grand total of '''36 new books per year!!!''' The spin-off series were cancelled in 1998, but the main series-and eventually their respective relaunches-would continue bi-monthly publication until 2010. As of 2017, both "Adventures" and "Diaries" have been reduced to just two books per year apiece.

* Don Pendleton started an action/adventure series of books called ''Literature/TheExecutioner'' in 1969. He sold the rights to the series to Gold Eagle in 1980, and they've used a series of ghostwriters to keep it going ever since. Although the books all bear the name "Don Pendleton's The Executioner", each book's true author is credited on its Special Thanks page.
* Creator/EnidBlyton was so prolific that she was often accused of relying on an army of ghostwriters. Though she denied this, many of her works have the quality of it, particularly given her habit of recycling plots.
* "Creator/ErinHunter" is a pseudonym for ''seven'' people: four writers, two editors-turned-writers, and one executive editor. It began with ''Literature/WarriorCats'', which usually has put out about 3-4 books per year, plus novellas. Although they are fond of their series, the authors have admitted that the publisher chose the topic and they deliberately wrote the books based on what was likely to sell from the beginning. Some of them don't even ''like'' cats! They later also came out with the series ''Literature/SeekerBears'', and when the author's name and the concept of animal-based books continued to be popular, [=HarperCollins=] produced ''Literature/SurvivorDogs'' with two new authors under the Erin name, and later ''Literature/{{Bravelands}}''.

* Towards the end of her life, after a series of strokes, Creator/MarionZimmerBradley would publish books in her Darkover series that were in fact written by others. One infamous example is that of Jean Lamb; she had submitted a story to a MZB-edited fanwork magazine and was contacted about collaborating with Bradley to expand the story into a full-length novel. When learning that she would in fact be writing the novel alone, Lamb attempted to negotiate a better deal and legal threats ensued. Due to the Bradley estate keeping the extent of MZB's disabilities a secret, the partial details leaked were used as a cautionary tale about authors not reading or authorizing fan fiction of their works.

* In the comic book run of ''Comicbook/{{Ghostbusters}}'', Egon "wrote" a book by using a computer program to "Calculate an almost random pattern of words that positively stimulate the human brain" as an experiment. It was apparently quite well received.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': The Master of the Land of Fiction from "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS6E2TheMindRobber The Mind Robber]]" was a famed Victorian-era adventure story writer. Whatever consciousness governed the Land of Fiction specifically chose him because of how prolific he was.

* Barely anyone in the ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'' Verse reads anything more complicated than a take-out menu anymore, but the ''Shadowbeat'' supplement reveals this trope applies to TV scripts and pop music, both of which are cranked out via computer programs that regurgitate formulaic material to spec. Producers can even select how upbeat, stimulating, controversial, family-friendly, and so forth the finished product should be.

* Creator/BritneySpears first two albums border on the musical version of this trope.

** Grenfell never confirmed the connection (and indeed only used the character rarely, and for just a few years due to the uncomfortable obviousness of the parody) but the children's author character emerged shortly after Grenfell attended a literary lunch at which Blyton was a fellow guest.

* In ''Discworld/UnseenAcademicals'', Glenda reflects that the romance novels she's guiltily addicted to are all basically the same, and moreover supposedly written by someone with a name that looks a lot like an anagram.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "The Book Job" (guest starring Creator/NeilGaiman), features Lisa finding out that all the young adult books (including her favorite "[[Literature/HarryPotter Angelica Button]]" series) are really just based on market research by the publishing companies and then written by teams of writers desperate for work. The "authors" who have their names on the book are just made up, backstory and all, and are represented by actors. After finding this out, Homer and Bart assemble a team to create their own hit young adult novel, using Lisa as the author to be credited.