@BenRossTransit @Atrios contracts are instrumental, the text is subordinate to a function.

books are referential, expressions of creativity, discussions of things. attributing to a nonauthor is a lie, potentially a consequential lie if the putative authorship will be used to promote or certify or qualify a person. as ghostwritten books often are.

treating authorship as alienable by contract, for a price, omits this negative externality upon the public.

it ought not be acceptable practice.