They wrote a book … you can too

I’ve ghostwritten for many entrepreneurs, business owners and senior executives in the UK, around the world and in sectors that include: technology, software, finance, security, education, personal development and the professions. Each had their own reasons for writing a book. Some wanted to raise their visibility or to set out an original idea or a new way of doing business. Others were looking to record their involvement in an industry. Confidentiality clauses and non-disclosure agreements mean I can only give you a taste of some of the things I’ve ghostwritten. However, the ghostwriting examples below should give you a good idea of what I can do.

Legacy – capturing involvement

How London Won the Olympics Written for someone intimately involved in London’s successful 2012 bid.

“From inside the boardroom, I can hear cars and cabs rumbling through the mid-morning drizzle down Poland Street and towards the West End. Inside there’s just a faint hum from the fluorescent ceiling light above. I’m looking at the stack of A4 pages in front of me – 57 in all if the numbering’s right. Together they are brief for a project with one simple, but massive aim … to make a film that will help London win the 2012 Olympic Games.“ Read more …

Lord of the Ring Written for someone who wanted to record their involvement in the birth of the mobile phone industry.

Rethinking the Human Factor – ghost-editing for the head of a leading information security consultancy

In a democracy, committees are often the tool of choice for legislatures looking to hold the great and the good to account. In the United States, Congressional Committees can subpoena witnesses to appear before them. In the UK, attendance is more by ‘informal request’, an invitation only a few refuse.

These committees do their work in places such as the monolithic Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington DC’s Capitol Complex, or the House of Commons historic Committee Rooms. It’s here that corporate leaders can find themselves under the microscope, answering questions on topics of national importance. Given the threat of increasingly sophisticated and significant cyber attacks on critical infrastructure, data security is now one of these, an ever-hotter hot potato governments are taking more and more seriously.

That means CEOs and other executives can no longer hide in the shadows from this new and ever-evolving security reality. Unless you can show you have done all you reasonably can to mitigate a potential risk and justify their decisions, then they will have a problem. Read more …

The Road to Zero – 35,000-word book written for the CEO of an international company

“They say it’s hard to see history when it’s happening around you. And so it was at the end of 2010, as Sydney’s New Year fireworks, followed by those in Berlin, London, New York and LA, provided a welcome distraction from the deepest financial crisis for three-quarters of a century. The start of it had been marked, nearly 29 months before by the retreat of financial services firm, BNP Paribas, from three US mortgage debt specialist hedge funds. This had exposed a previously unimagined black hole of ‘dodgy derivatives’, the consequences of which, as we all now know, would ripple out for years to come. Read more …

The Corporate Escape: A ghostwriting and editing project for an international executive coach

This book is very much for those who feel themselves trapped within a corporate organisation and are desperate to find a way to break from all its constraints. The Corporate Escape, part ghostwritten and edited with the author, helps would-be ‘corporate escapees’ develop the mindset to become ‘new entrepreneurs’, equipped with the skills, ambition and emotional resilience to be able to thrive on their own. Working closely with the author, it is just another example of the work that I have done for authors in the personal development space. The book became an Amazon ‘Best Seller’ and the author went on to win multiple awards.

Personal Development

The Little Book of Hypnosis

“You’ve probably seen illusionists like Paul McKenna and Derren Brown combine hypnotism with showmanship on TV, with intriguing effects. But entertaining though they are, I believe hypnosis can be much more productively used to create powerful personal and professional change, and do so faster and more effectively than is otherwise possible. Reprogramming our behaviour through hypnosis in this way is called hypnotherapy. It’s most commonly used for health and personal issues like losing weight, quitting smoking, treating phobias and panic attacks or stress-related physical conditions, such as IBS, psoriasis and eczema. All of which it does very well.”

The Mind Trainer

“If you are an ambitious individual, you will not be content just to sit back and let life pass you by. Instead, you will want to make your mark in the world, to carve out your niche and justify your reason for being. You will also want to experience the personal satisfaction of reaching your full potential, of being as good as you possibly can in your chosen field. For some, that will mean achieving excellence in a solitary pursuit such as writing, the arts, academia, sport or acting. For others, the path will lead them to more collaborative and collective ventures, working with and for others in business, politics, or through charitable or religious organisations.

Business & Entrepreneurs

Optimising Marketing Spend for the Modern CMO – A White Paper

“The art and science of marketing is changing. It will continue to do so against an economic backdrop of global business being reshaped by technology, concerns over future growth, a slowdown in China, a Europe left disrupted by Brexit, and with the future of the US yet to be decided. Against this backdrop, Deloitte’s biennial survey of cost improvement practices and trends in Fortune 1000 companies presents a picture of retrenchment with 90% of organizations worldwide planning to cut costs in 2016-17 … regardless of their revenue growth … and 73% of CEOs already doing so. Read more …

First Clicks – how online entrepreneurs got started

“Unless you are a film star, a sporting sensation or a fortunate heir, the surest means to build wealth is through the establishment and growth of your own business. Until recently, a traditional, real-world ‘bricks and mortar’ venture with its money-draining need for premises, stock and staff, was the first (only) way to do this.While many entrepreneurs still take this route to financial freedom, others have turned to the world’s greatest mechanism for commerce and communication – the Internet. This book is about twenty of those people who have moved their lives upwards, sometimes stratospherically, by building a successful business online.“

The Millionaire’s Mentor – why the right mental attitude is crucial to financial success.

“It is obvious that millionaires are different from the rest of us. Yet what really sets them apart is not the amount of money in their bank accounts but the way in which have they gone about getting it there. The truth is that at a fundamental level, millionaires have done something differently that has enabled them to attract wealth in a way that is seemingly not open to the rest of us.Consequently, while we remain financially insecure, they set themselves up for life. But is their success down to luck? The result of something gifted to a chosen few? Or something that we all can learn, if only we knew where to start? Can anyone be a millionaire?”

Books published in my name

How to Be an Entrepreneur (Kogan Page)

Setting up your own business is a brave step, but one that can be a highly successful alternative, particularly for younger people who may be struggling to find a job. This book provides practical advice that can help them gain the confidence they need to take the first steps and then to move forward with confidence as they establish – equipping them with both the personal and practical skills they need to do something different – a step by step guide that examines whether working for yourself is right for you – to acquire the attributes to be a successful young entrepreneur.

How to Work from Home (How To Books)

I’ve written extensively about working from home, freelancing and the future of work. How to Work from Home was one of the earlier books on the subject, written at a time when homeworking was becoming a practical solution for many people. It proved popular with readers, which lead to a second edition and international rights being sold. Since this book was published, I have ghostwritten on this subject for authors involved in the personal development and consultancy sectors. The book was written as a result of my involvement contributor to various organisations that were involved in developing the whole areas of ‘telecommuting’ and ‘teleworking’.

How to Market Yourself (How To Books)

The focus of this book is about helping individuals find ways to increase their own visibility, through personal branding and other techniques that enable them to stand out. It was written after extensive research and interviews with subject matter experts. marketing yourself effectively in any competitive environment is one of the keys to success. This book considers the gap between where you are and where you want to be and then helps you acquire the necessary skills to bridge the gap between where you are and where you want to be. I wrote it based again on interviews with subject matter experts and my own experience of being a Communications Director of a PR and marketing agency.

How to Do Your Own PR (International Rights Sold)

Public relations is always regarded as being one of the most cost-effective ways to promote your business, particularly for start-ups.However, if you want to achieve the best possible results then you need to know how to create and capitalise on PR opportunities. This book is a practical guide for doing just that.

It covers all elements of identifying and creating stories and working with the media to create both one-off PR and ongoing campaigns that will get you and your business noticed. Again, it was written based on my experience as a professional PR person working within an agency.

How to Start Word Processing (How To Books)

Few people talk specifically about wordprocessing these days. it’s just something that we do.however, when this book was written it offered a detailed introduction to a subject with which not everyone was familiar. So, the book went from first principles, getting started to more sophisticated techniques for finding your way around the keyboard. The subject matter may feel a little dated now, but that just goes to show the pace of technological change.

More ghostwriting examples

Many of my clients can write well but don’t know how to write a business book. They struggle to get ideas out of their head and shape them into a narrative that tells the story they want. It takes a normal author 1000-2000 hours to write a nonfiction book by themselves. I can dramatically cut your commitment to perhaps just 15 to 20 hours. That means you will get your book written without it becoming a time-consuming burden.

If you would like to find out what I can do, then perhaps we could perhaps work together on a small project – a chapter or just a few pages.

I hope you have enjoyed reading some of these ghostwriting examples. If the style of one has caught your eye, why don’t we see whether that style might work for you?

Call me on 01432 761480 or email, or schedule an initial discussion here.

If you haven’t taken a look at my blog yet, then please do because that will give a further idea of what I think about ghostwriting, editing and book collaborations.