The Policy Memoir That Became a Night
August 31, 2026
A former government official hired me for a policy memoir. What the interviews found was the night he chose to save his family. The book someone describes is rarely the book that is there.
Series: How a Book Gets Written
What happens between hiring a ghostwriter and holding a manuscript. Interview method, voice capture, the questions that surface the story a client cannot see in their own life, the legal conversations nobody else raises, and the books a ghostwriter should decline. Written from 54+ ghostwritten projects.
How a Book Gets WrittenThe Book I Turn Down
September 1, 2026
Some books I turn down in the first conversation. The revenge memoir has a sound: I am a victim, I am a victim, I am a victim. It fails on the page and in court, and sometimes a better book…
How a Book Gets WrittenJoe Sent Me a Podcast About the Golden Rule
September 1, 2026
Joe Rockey sent me an episode of the H2H Experiment that takes apart the Golden Rule as leadership advice. The same failure is why most ghostwritten books sound wrong. Voice capture is the Golden Rule turned inside out.
How a Book Gets WrittenShe Bought a Manuscript an AI Wrote
September 1, 2026
A new client arrived with 45,000 words she had bought from an AI service. She still hired a ghostwriter, because the tool never supplies the material. The story was in her. The manuscript was around it.
How a Book Gets WrittenYou Interviewed the Salesperson. A Stranger Wrote Your Book.
September 1, 2026
At a ghostwriting agency you interview the salesperson. Then a writer you never met gets assigned, sometimes several. The relationship with the person who writes your book ranks second only to the goal.
How a Book Gets WrittenThe Audit That Lasted a Decade
September 1, 2026
Steve Levinson spent a decade auditing the systems I ran at Trader Joe's, then endorsed Family Cybersecurity. That is what earned expertise looks like on a page, and why a technical book needs a writer who was in the room.
How a Book Gets WrittenThe Parts of Writing a Book Nobody Warns You About
September 1, 2026
You will hate one chapter for no good reason. Somebody else will know your career better than you do. The hardest week is the one after the manuscript is finished.
How a Book Gets WrittenWhat Happens When You Disagree With a Chapter
September 1, 2026
A draft arrives and something is structurally wrong with it. That moment decides more about the project than anything before it.
How a Book Gets WrittenWhen Your Own Memoir Sounds Like Bragging
September 19, 2026
He sold six companies and told me chapter eleven reads like a highlight reel. It does. That is the premise, and the problem is almost never too much achievement.
How a Book Gets WrittenMonthly or Milestone: How Ghostwriting Gets Billed
September 19, 2026
Most authors do not know there is a choice. The billing model you agree to decides what happens when you travel for three weeks or the business has a bad quarter.
How a Book Gets WrittenThe Quotation Marks That Get Authors Sued
September 19, 2026
His father said you will never amount to anything. Or did he? Memory reconstructs dialogue, it does not record it, and the quotation marks are what turn a memory into a claim.
How a Book Gets WrittenThe One-Hour Call Before I Quote Your Book
September 19, 2026
Eight months is what you are buying, and almost none of it is writing. Nobody assesses that from an email thread, which is why the call is not a formality.