Feature image of Tinx author of sapphic romance novel Hotter in the Hamptons by Swan Gallet/WWD via Getty Images

Tinx, aka Christina Najjar, is an influencer with 1.5 million TikTok followers and The New York Times bestselling author of self-help book The Shift: Change Your Perspective, Not Yourself. In a 2022 profile, The New Yorker described Tinx’s myriad fans as appreciating her “wisdom on self-esteem and how to avoid fuckboys.” Tinx has a podcast and a call-in radio show on SiriusXM. Tinx spun off her popular TikTok “Rich Mom Starter Kit” series into a line of cozy loungewear emblazoned with the words RICH MOM. She has dubbed herself “TikTok’s older sister.” There’s a whole entire reddit dedicated to snarking about Tinx.

For years, I’ve referred to people known throughout the queer community but not quite so well-known outside of it as “Gay Famous.” Tinx is a valid reminder that there is also a whole wide world out there of people who are “Straight Famous.”

But right now, as we speak, those two worlds are colliding, because Tinx has written a “spicy” sapphic romance novel titled Hotter in the Hamptons, debuting this May. Why would a straight influencer choose this topic for her fiction debut? Was she about to come out, resulting in me, an Autostraddle editor, needing to learn about her like I once did with Chrishell Stause and Jojo Siwa? Alas, no. The apparent answer is much stranger.

Did Tinx Write Her Novel Hotter in the Hamptons Herself?

Writer, podcaster, and PhD candidate Maalvika Bhat (TikTok user @maaltoks) came across my FYP this weekend with an incredible work of sleuthing. While monologuing with a series of questions about publishing and authorship, Bhat reveals that although Tinx claimed to have written Hotter in the Hamptons herself, the book cover is featured on the “ghostwriting” portion of the website of Gay Famous author Gabrielle Korn. (For anyone out of the Gay Famous loop, Korn is the former EIC at Nylon, the former head of LGBTQ+ strategy at Netflix when they cared about that kind of thing, an author of one book of essays and two queer sci-fi novels, and, yes, full disclosure: even sometimes an Autostraddle writer.)

“What does it say about capitalism and creativity that we’ve normalized ghostwriting in the name of convenience, content, and clout?” Bhat asked. “What does it say about the publishing world when identity is only marketable when it’s filtered through someone already profitable?”

These are important questions to ask. But personally, the publishing world valuing follower count was not the aspect of this story that inspired me to google the name Tinx. I’m more interested in why Tinx is posting Instagram captions like this about a novel she didn’t write: “It’s scary to try something new, but it has been exhilarating and I knew I had you all behind me as I try something different and creative. This community gives me the confidence to act on my ideas and for that I am so grateful.” To me, this is less about right and wrong, and more about this being so fucking embarrassing.

The idea of Tinx writing a novel at all was surprising enough to enough people that she was asked directly on a podcast by Jeff Lewis if she’d used a ghostwriter. She responded, “No.”

“So there had to be some research,” Lewis responds. There’s no audible response from Tinx, and Lewis goes on to say, “So you’re a straight girl profiting off a gay story.”

“I’m a straight woman who loves gay people and wants to amplify queer joy,” Tinx responds. #ally

After news broke that she had, in fact, used a ghostwriter, she backtracked — saying in a TikTok comment response to Bhat, “Of course I hired a collaborator who’s queer…. I am not a lesbian. I wanted to nail that part of the storyline. It’s not a secret, she’s the first person I thank in the acknowledgments!”

It’s worth noting that Tinx also used a ghostwriter for her non-fiction book, The Shift, as well, suggesting that she needed a collaborator not just for lesbian insight as her comment indicates, but to do the entirety of the writing. Sensitivity readers are often hired to give notes when a book has characters or themes the author can’t authentically speak to. A collaborator is something different. In contemporary publishing, “collaborator” and “ghostwriter” are often used interchangeably.

Bhat responded to that comment, “I’m earnestly asking, if queerness is not your lived experience and you need a queer ghostwriter to capture the nuances of queer intimacy and joy and identity, why not amplify the writer? Why not mention their name or their cool queer climate fiction?”

As Nina Haines, founder of Sapph-Lit Book Club, responded: “You hired a really good writer, I’ll give you that.”

Ghostwriting Is a Major Industry

“If you’re confused as to why a successful queer author took on this ghostwriting project even when they have their own name on their own books then you have never been a working artist,” chimed in queer ghostwriter Becca Grischow, who also explained that it would be typical for a ghostwriting contract to allow the author to post an image of a book she ghost-wrote on her own website.

I wasn’t confused why Korn took this job. But I was confused why Tinx would want to write fiction only to… not write it. What is the value in being an author in name only? Aren’t there easier ways to make money?

As the story caught on across TikTok and Reddit, I found it difficult to share many people’s indignation. One thread accused Tinx of “profiting off a queer story she has no right or ability to tell, while stealing the credit from a member of the queer community.” This didn’t feel like an accurate read on the situation. After all, Korn was paid for her work.

Instead, it made me think of AI and this idea that everyone — regardless of talent and hard work — should have the right to type in an idea and have a machine spit out some art. It’s been sold to us as an inevitability — an exciting one at that! — no more artists, just tech bros recycling the work of the past. Except Tinx has been vocally anti-AI. And this helped clarify my feelings. As a writer, I might still find having someone ghostwrite your fiction to be embarrassing — especially if you lie about it — but in terms of ethics it’s sound. Instead of stealing recycled material, you’re paying a skilled worker. At the very least, Tinx brought some queer joy to one gay author.

Ghostwriting is how many published writers pay the bills, penning memoirs and, yes, even novels, for celebrities who don’t have the skill, time or talent to write their own. Rarely do ghostwriters receive co-author credit on these books, or even want that specific credit. For many, ghostwriting is an opportunity to keep doing a version of what they love — writing — while making enough money to support their own, lesser-paying projects.

Kathleen McGurl, who ghost-wrote actress Millie Bobby Brown’s novel, wrote a blog post detailing her collaboration with the actress, concluding that celebrities were being more open about working with ghostwriters these days and encouraging other celebrities to follow suit. As far back as 2008, it was acknowledged by publishers that acknowledging a ghostwriter’s work didn’t help celebrity book sales, but trying to hide it could get extremely sticky, as it did for Naomi Campbell’s team.

Literary agent Gail Ross told Publisher’s Weekly, “Back in the day no one wanted to say they used a collaborator or ghostwriter, and now it’s totally respected. It’s also acknowledged by most people [who use collaborators] that it’s the only way they could get their book done.”

But Why Make It Gay?

Tinx earned a book contract for being a successful influencer, not for being a successful writer, and she chose to tell a queer story. It turns out, straight women love fictional lesbian sex. She’s probably not wrong that her straight following has an appetite for a “spicy sapphic” romance, as frustrating that is for actual queer women struggling to publish and find audiences for our own, authentic queer sex writing. But at least an actual lesbian got paid for this one!

I wish we didn’t live in a world where follower counts meant more to the publishing industry than talent. I wish we lived in a world where art and artists were valued for more than just content. But Tinx is merely a product of a culture that overvalues heterosexuality and self-marketing above great gay writers. These inequities aren’t limited to publishing. Before its release, Hotter in the Hamptons was already optioned by 20th Television to be turned into a series from Nobody Wants This creators Erin and Sara Foster.

It’d be easier to be upset with Tinx than to be upset — and baffled by! — our entire broken world. Alas, the only issue I have after all this research is that she didn’t amplify the queer writer behind the work. But, hey, as someone who has made a career out of both, I’m sure it feels terrible to be bad at writing and bad at being gay. Thank God that’s not me.

So let’s do what Tinx didn’t and very loudly celebrate Gabrielle Korn by reading her books — Everybody (Else) is Perfect, Yours for the Taking, and The Shutouts. And then support more queer writers by reading our reviews of them and interviews with her about them.

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