Wow. I had no idea this went on these days to the extent you imply. Sure sounds like fraud to me. I don't know about "everybody wins". Seems like some consumers would be unhappy - or should be. I don't read this genre so don't care myself. But wouldn't avid readers of a big name author prefer that that big name author make a sincere recommendation that this relatively unknown author is really quite good instead of having the publisher lie (I can't think of another term that applies) and misrepresent who the author really is?
Maybe there are analogies. Say, a well known actor is substituted with a ghostactor for a movie (not just for stunts - the whole thing). Or a politician you vote for and is elected is substituted with a lookalike during the swearing in session. Or, [giggle, giggle] some lookalike appears in Oslo to accept Al Gore's Nobel prize. (Sorry, I had to do that.)
