That’s good to know. I got the first book from the library, at the same time I got the most current Harry Bosch novel (which is like three times the size).
So does that the small size of the novels, the “light reading” style, the simple nature of the stories, and the transparent ripping off of his friends, mean that “Richard Castle” (the character in the show, not the real world ghostwriter) isn’t really that good of an author? 
I wonder if it’s getting too meta to wonder about questions like this. Are the “Richard Castle” books that are published in real-life supposed to be representative of the books that “Richard Castle” the character writes within the universe of the show? Truly a conundrum for the ages. Or at least for a quick bull session after a few beers.
I haven’t read any of them, but I did notice how slim the volumes were when I came across them at Books a Million. Bestsellers these days, even in the genres, tend to be big thick things. Compare the page count of a typical James Patterson or David Baldacci novel to that of one of the “Castle” books. But I think that in-universe, Castle is supposed to be an author of comparable success and recognition to guys like that, and one would expect that his books would be more substantial.
There was at least one episode where they mentioned a spicy sex scene in the latest Nikki Heat book, and IIRC even gave a page number. I always wondered if it corresponded to an actual page number in an actual book–a little Easter egg for those viewers who also read the books, perhaps?
They’ve also started publishing a “Derrick Storm” series–the series that Castle supposedly abandoned when he started to write the Nikki Heat books. These do seem to be a little more substantial, at least when it comes to length. Again, I haven’t read any of them. But based on their genre (spy thrillers), it would a bit harder to write one just by copying the TV show with changed names.
Something very much the same happened when the Bob Newhart comedy Bob was on the air. Newhart played Bob McKay, a comic book writer who created the character of Mad Dog. Marvel put out a limited series of comic books featuring Mad Dog and with McKay getting credit.
The comic also paralleled the main conflict of the show: McKay wanted an old-fashioned hero, while the comic book company wanted a dark and gritty hero. Each issue of the comic had a double cover (you flipped the comic over) – one side featuring the old-fashoned Mad Dog and the other featuring the gritty one.
The answer to that question is “yes” - if you watch the show - he regularly promotes his newest book/graphic novel at the time it is about to be published in the real world. They regularly show the cover choices, etc to tie them together.
It’s not meta - its very clever marketing.
My take is “Yes”. I think the books are to show that Castle, though a “popular” author, is not to the level of the other “poker players”. I think he would like to think of himself as a Richard B. Parker, but he’s not quite to that level of writing. He’s like a “B” or “dime novel” level writer.
His big advantage is that he gets to hang with Beckett and team and get ideas from real world cases.
Richard B. Parker! I like it.
I’d think he’s more like Robin Masters. Or maybe Tom Clancy.
He writes trashy novels that everyone pans as such, yet they sell millions and so as a result he has a Ferrari, a house in the Hamptons, and at least $3M liquid that he can use to ransom Alexis.
I think that could be one downside to being the ghostwriter - no matter how well the Nikki Heat (or now Derrick Storm) books sell, the actual author probably gets a flat fee. He never gets the “Richard Castle” paycheck, I’d bet.
What bugs me is that the Richard Castle graphic novels put out by Marvel Comics – based on Castle’s other character, Derrick Storm – also reflect events and characters from the TV series. But Castle supposedly killed off the Derrick Storm character before the TV series began. So how can the novels reference things that happened long after he wrote them?
Sheesh, I’m thinking about this way too much.
Well I’ve done a bit of ghostwriting, and I was paid well enough. It’s worth quite a lot to me not to have to do the marketing shit publishers want these days. The Big Name does all that–or has people to do it. Even though Big Names don’t really need to do it, or maybe it does help, I don’t actually know.
Of course the downside is I can’t say, “Hey, you know that book? I actually wrote that.” But all things considered, it’s worth it.
I watched a bunch of seasons of Castles, and read three of the books, and they are hilariously meta.
First, the main character in the books is a writer of feature stories named Rook, who does a feature on Nikki Heat which makes her disturbingly famous. Her mother was killed mysteriously, just like in the show. But the best part is that the book “written” during season N has slight variations of the experiences the “real” Castle had during that season. Remember the show where they are trapped with the tigers in Queens? Rook and Heat get trapped in a house (no tigers) more or less the same place - which I remember because it is a few blocks from where I grew up.
Given that Castle is a writer of thrillers, it is great that we can read them.
The real question is whether Straw got a fixed payment (common for novelizations) or royalties.
And I thought the novels were of a reasonable size for this kind of book - certainly not thin. And Castle seems to make a lot of money writing - not as much as Patterson, but a good bit.
Clearly, the fictional Richard Castle, after his Nikki Heat series became a big hit, cashed in by licensing the rights to his other intellectual property - Derrick Storm - to Marvel, who then hired other comic book writers to do the actual writing.
You’re not thinking about it enough.
Bumping this thread because I listened to Storm Front this last week. Let me correct that - I listened to slightly more than half and threw it away. It wasn’t that it was bad in the usual ways. A lot of the book was fun. Instead, Storm was far too stupid for someone in his line of work. I can handle the names, like Graham Cracker, or even Xi Bang (pronounced “shebang”), I can handle Nikki Heat and Jameson Rook showing up (even if both Rook and Storm spent their entire time together comparing their mutual rugged handsomeness), I could almost handle Storm free climbing up an unfinished skyscraper (rather than just waiting on the ground for the person to come down. Apparently, “Richard Castle” was impressed with Casino Royale (see also the comment about the propane truck following).
But when Storm goes charging off after the master criminal, the tactical genius, the super villain, waving his .44 around NYC like a deranged man, that’s when I gave up. You the reader knew he should have planned, SheBang knew they should have made a plan, everyone but Storm knew. So, of course, the bad guy gets away. Of course.
Plus, you can’t make a propane truck explode by firing at it with a 9 mil. So however the book ended, I don’t care.
I read all the Connelly Bosch books, and sometimes I wonder if they are good or not, or if I have enough experience to even tell, but reading Storm Front, now I am sure. I’ll stick with Bosch.
I’m years late to this thread, but since it’s now been bumped: IIRC, the author’s name is on the book. That is, the in-joke that’s right there if you’re looking for it, is that this here effort has won the prestigious Tom Straw award.
And now that it’s been bumped, I can mention that I first heard about “Richard Castle the author [wink, wink]” when I saw photos from his book tour. At at least a few nearby Barnes & Nobles.
Nathan Fillon did a book tour AS Richard Castle, staying in character.
…Which I bet wasn’t easy (“Yo, Nathan! Fireflyyyyy!”)
Judging by the quantity being produced, I wouldn’t be surprised if you presented one of those books to its actual, provable author and he’d have no memory of having written it and be impressed by your evidence. 
I was a Castle fan and picked up a Nikki Heat book at the Dollar Tree a couple months ago. I then took it to my local thrift store and wondered if someone would buy it and think it was real. (And I liked it well enough. It was like an episode of the show with just the names changed.)
Nah, that was just his “space cowboy” Halloween costume.
And I still get a kick out of Ed McBain co-authoring a book with Evan Hunter, and J. D. Robb co-authoring with Nora Roberts.
The linked article on the Longarm westerns written by “Tabor Evans” reminded me that I have an old friend who wrote a couple of Hardy Boys books. So for two summers we called him “Franklin W. Dixon”.
Now there’d be a daunting task; tracking down who wrote which mystery: “Waaal, reckons it t’were daffodil season back in ‘59… I were clackety-clackin’ on the ol’ Smith-Corona, polishin’ up ‘The Adventure of the Swollen Sock’ fer Joe Grosset an’ Fred Dunlap… wait, now ah 'member, ah gots it wrong agin…”
ETA: Wait, looks like people HAVE figured out most of the writing chores!
Looks like there wasn’t just one author per book. The chart lists: Outline - Manuscript - Editor - Revisions - New Outline - and Revised By
Another example is “The Bad Twin”.
Yes. Now, tell me more about this Cecil Adams guy.
This was based on a prank by Jean Shepherd. He gave the backstory on one of his radio broadcasts, it’s worth a listen
Part 1