The Project I Said Yes To
I turn down more projects than I take, because after fourteen years I have learned the wrong client costs more than no client. When Joe Rockey came to me about a business book, I already knew him through Eliances and…
Series: Client Stories
Real ghostwriting projects documented from the inside, one decision at a time. How business books actually get made, shown through live client work with a real client who agreed to let his project be the example.
Client StoriesBefore I Write a Word
The biggest mistake ghostwriters make is starting too soon. Before I write a single word, I interview the author across multiple recorded sessions, more than twenty prepared questions plus all the follow-up, not to learn their field but to capture…
Client StoriesWhat Six Interview Sessions Actually Produce
People picture a ghostwriter having one good conversation and then writing the book. Mine is different. By the time Joe Rockey and I finished, we had spent the equivalent of a full workday across multiple structured sessions, and the reason…
Client StoriesThe Problem With Writing About What You Are Good At
Midway through discovery, almost every client asks the same thing: how much of this actually goes in the book? It is the right question, and the answer shapes the whole second half: principles, not application, share the thinking generously and…
Client StoriesWhy Most Business Books Do Not Work
Most business books fail at their real job, not selling or reviews, but producing clients, credibility, and conversations with the right people, because the author built the wrong book. There are two kinds: one written for the public, and one…
Client StoriesHow a Book Finds Its Title
A business book's title is the first argument it makes, the concept the author attaches their name to in every conversation for as long as it is in print. Finding the right one for Joe Rockey's book took several candidates…
Client StoriesWhat the Outline Actually Does
The interviews are done and the knowledge base is built, and now comes the hardest part: turning all of it into a structure that holds. An outline for a business book is not a table of contents; it is the…
Client StoriesWhy I Always Write the First Chapter Last
Before the full manuscript, I write one chapter, send it over, and ask a single question: does this sound like you? Not is it accurate, not is it well-written, does it sound like you. Voice is what makes a ghostwritten…
Client StoriesEverything I Get Wrong in My Own Books, I Stop Doing in Yours
A ghostwriter who never publishes under their own name never has to live with the consequences of a bad structural decision.
Client StoriesThree of My Books Should Not Exist
Not because they were badly made. Because the reason for making them was wrong, and no amount of craft fixes that.