Shows
As Told ToEpisode 102: Gathering of the Ghosts 2025Join podcast host Daniel Paisner as he moderates a panel discussion at the second annual Gathering of the Ghosts ghostwriting conference earlier this year. Dan is joined by former As Told To guests Jodi Lipper, Lisa Dickey, and Ellen Daly, as the veteran collaborators compare notes on craft and process—a fun, spirited, insightful reflection on the very many ways authors and journalists are writing in collaboration. Learn more: Ellen Daly Jodi Lipper Lisa Dickey Gotham Ghostwriters Kevin Anderson & Associates Please support the sponsors who support our show: Gotham Ghostwriters' Gathering of th...
2025-12-161h 14
As Told ToEpisode 101: Samantha Rose"As a ghostwriter, I've trained my ear to listen for what's really there or not there, to discern what's underneath or between someone's words," writes veteran collaborator Samantha Rose, in her stirring, soaring new memoir Giving Up the Ghost: A Daughter's Memoir. "I hear what's implied, what's withheld…" Samantha's gifts as a storyteller are very much on display in the pages of her new book—a heartbreaking account of her mother's suicide, published earlier this year by Sybilline Press. An Emmy Award-winning television writer and a New York Times best-selling collaborator, Samantha has written extensively in t...
2025-12-021h 03
As Told ToEpisode 100: Alex DeMilleNelson and Alex DeMille's The Tin Men is an electrifying read and a chillingly timely one," writes The New York Times best-selling novelist Megan Abbott of the third and final father-son collaboration in the Scott Brodie & Maggie Taylor series. "[It's] both a master-class in suspense and a haunting exploration of the dangers and costs of a surrender to technology, an abandonment of the human." Yes, it is. It's also the final novel from legendary author Nelson DeMille, completed posthumously following his death in September 2024, and a follow-up to the duo's first two collaborations in the series—The De...
2025-11-1859 min
As Told ToEpisode 99: Matthew WinklerStudent journalist and first-time documentary filmmaker Matthew Winkler joins us to discuss his work on a film chronicling the life and career of Joya Sherrill, an unsung American jazz vocalist who wrote the lyrics to the Billy Strayhorn standard, "Take the A Train," made famous by the Duke Ellington orchestra. Matthew came across Sherrill's name during his freshman year at Tufts University, while doing research for Boston Globe journalist and noted biographer Larry Tye, who was writing a book about jazz. Matthew, a music and history major, was astonished to discover the small footprint Sherrill had left...
2025-11-0453 min
As Told ToEpisode 98: Michael E. LongPodcast guest Michael E. Long calls himself "a professional explainer with a restive mind." He is just that. Trained as physicist, Mike is the co-author of the international bestseller The Molecule of More, which has been translated into more than 20 languages, and the sole author of the recently-published follow-up title Taming the Molecule of More. As a speechwriter, he has written for members of Congress, U.S Cabinet secretaries, presidential candidates, governors, diplomats, and business leaders. As a ghostwriter, he has collaborated on several books of non-fiction. As a playwright, he's had more than two dozen of his shows produced...
2025-10-211h 16
As Told ToEpisode 97: Emma Heming Willis and Michele Bender"No two caregiving journeys are alike," writes Emma Heming Willis, the wife of actor Bruce Willis, who was diagnosed in 2023 with Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD), a rare form of dementia affecting behavior, movement and language. "But we are connected by the same unchosen thread." In The Unexpected Journey: Finding Strength, Hope, and Yourself on the Caregiving Path, Emma writes movingly and hopefully about the blessings and burdens of being thrust into the role of caregiver, emerging as a passionate voice for care partners and families navigating neurodegenerative disease. Together with her collaborator, Michele Bender, she offers an essential...
2025-10-071h 10
As Told ToEpisode 96: Samuel G. Freedman"Pull the heart of your work out of your chest and lay it out there for the gods," podcast guest Samuel G. Freedman told his Columbia Journalism School graduate students on the first day of his final semester after 35 years of teaching. "That's all I'm asking of you. Not much." No, not much. And yet what Sam Freedman asked of his students during his tenure as one of our leading journalism educators was everything. Before his retirement this spring, his popular book-writing seminar led to the publication of 95 books by his students. "He's been the...
2025-09-231h 12
As Told ToEpisode 95: Jane LeavyJane Leavy is the New York Times best-selling author of Sandy Koufax: A Lefty's Legacy, The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America's Childhood, and The Big Fella: Babe Ruth and the World He Created. She is also the author of the comic novel Squeeze Play, hailed by Entertainment Weekly as "the best novel ever written about baseball." A longtime sportswriter and feature writer for The Washington Post, Jane covered baseball, tennis and the Olympics during her tenure at the paper. She also wrote features for the Post's "Style" section on sports, politics and popular...
2025-09-091h 27
As Told ToSecond Printing: D. WatkinsEpisode originally aired on Nov. 2, 2021. "Don't make it out, make it better." That's a line from podcast guest D. Watkins, offered in the book trailer for his book of essays We Speak for Ourselves: A Word from Forgotten Black America, in which he gives voice to the voiceless and shines meaningful light on what it means to come of age in East Baltimore, in one of America's poorest black neighborhoods. It's a line you might hear as well from D.'s NBA legend Carmelo Anthony, himself a product of an uncertain, unforgiving environment–th...
2025-08-2658 min
As Told ToSecond Printing: Nell ScovellEpisode originally aired on April 11, 2023 "Writing is not what you start," writes podcast guest Nell Scovell in her scathingly funny memoir Just the Funny Parts. "It's not even what you finish. It's what you start, finish, and put out there for the world to see." Indeed, Nell offers this observation from a place of hard-won experience. A veteran television writer ("Newhart," "The Simpsons," "Late Night with David Letterman," "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour," "Murphy Brown," "Coach," and on and on), Nell understands what it means to get an idea on its feet and out in...
2025-08-121h 13
As Told ToEpisode 94: Ivy PochodaIvy Pochoda is the author of the critically-acclaimed novels Visitation Street, These Women, Sing Her Down, and the just-published Ecstasy, a reimagined contemporary feminist horror story hailed by the Washington Post as a "stiletto-sharp remake of Euripides." She is also the co-author of The New York Times best-selling middle-grade Epoca fantasy series, created by the late basketball legend Kobe Bryant and written under the name Ivy Claire. Her books have been awarded the L.A. Times Book Prize, the 2018 Strand Critics Award for Best Novel and the Prix Page America in France, and she has...
2025-07-2958 min
As Told ToEpisode 93: Amy SilverbergAmy Silverberg is a comedian and writer based in Los Angeles. Her stand-up comedy has been featured on Comedy Central, Hulu, NPR, and Amazon Prime. Her short fiction has appeared in Best American Short Stories, The Paris Review, Granta, and The New Yorker. She holds a Ph.D. in Creative Writing from USC, where she now teaches. Prior to publication, Amy's debut novel First Time, Long Time was hailed by Oprah Daily as "a funny, high-spirited novel…the book humorously describes a lesser-seen side of Los Angeles: the unglamorous neighborhood of Van Nuys, the humiliations of fame, th...
2025-07-151h 03
As Told ToEpisode 92: Carla SosenkoVeteran journalist Carla Sosenko has written for The New York Times, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, People, Self, Newsweek, and numerous other publications. Her work has also appeared in Time Out New York (where she was editor-in-chief), Entertainment Weekly (where she was executive editor), In Touch (where she was managing editor) and Us Weely (where she is currently executive editor at large). She is also the co-author of A Dirty Guide to a Clean Home: Housekeeping Hacks You Can't Live Without, written with TikTok star Melissa Dilkes Pateras. In her just-published collection of essays entitled I'll Look...
2025-07-011h 07
As Told ToEpisode 91: John KasichHeaven Help Us: How Faith Communities Inspire Hope, Strengthen Neighborhoods, and Build the Future—a collection of inspiring profiles of individuals working to make a difference with the help of their faith communities—is podcast host Daniel Paisner's fifth collaboration with former Ohio governor John Kasich. The collaboration goes back to the very first book the two wrote together—the 2006 New York Times best-seller Stand for Something: The Battle for America's Soul—as Gov. Kasich was completing his ninth term as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Ohio's 12th district. They would go on to wr...
2025-06-1753 min
As Told ToEpisode 90: Art Bell"I never thought I would have a career in the television business," writes podcast guest Art Bell, the founding father of the Comedy Central network and the longtime president of Court TV. While at Comedy Central, which had its origins at HBO as "The Comedy Channel," Art helped to launch the careers of Bill Maher and Jon Stewart, and to provide a platform for up-and-coming comedians. He also found the time to co-author a humor book with his network colleagues—Web Sightings: A Collection of Websites We'd Like to See. At Court TV, he oversaw th...
2025-06-0358 min
As Told ToEpisode 89: Alan Zweibel"Comedy writers learn early on that we have a high degree of anonymity," writes podcast guest Alan Zweibel in his memoir Laugh Lines: My Life Helping Funny People Be Funnier. "Our words are spoken publicly by others who often have famous faces. Or by unknown people on their way to having famous faces." As one of the founding writers on Saturday Night Live, Alan's words were given voice by a cast of virtual unknowns, all on their way to becoming famous faces, eventually earning worldwide acclaim as some of the most iconic comic performers of their generation...
2025-05-201h 41
As Told ToEpisode 88: Rachel HoltzmanHow much does ego play a role in the art and craft of a book collaborator? That's a question at the heart of this conversation with #1 New York Times best-selling ghostwriter Rachel Holtzman, co-author of more than 60 books on topics ranging from wellness and spirituality, to cooking and entertaining, including collaborations with such celebrated personalities as Shaquille O'Neal, Alicia Silverstone, Robin Quivers, and Christine Quinn. Prior to her work as a self-described "book doula," Rachel was an editor at Penguin Books and ELLE magazine, before a detour to culinary school and a short stint in...
2025-05-061h 07
As Told ToEpisode 87: Adam RossAdam Ross's second novel, Playworld, is one of the best-reviewed books of the year. A story "dipped in molten nostalgia and flecked with love and sadness," according to The Washington Post, it was hailed immediately upon publication by The Los Angeles Times as "extraordinary" and by The New York Times as "a gorgeous cat's cradle of a book." He is also the author of a previous novel, Mr. Peanut, which was selected as one of the best books of the year by The New York Times, The New Yorker, and The Economist, and the story collection Ladies...
2025-04-221h 10
As Told ToEpisode 86: Salwa Emerson"Sometimes our own stories get snatched from us, hidden in darkness for years," writes podcast guest Salwa Emerson, "until it's time to reclaim them." Salwa is well-known to publishers as an author, editor and ghostwriter, specializing in memoirs, thought-leadership books, and book proposals. To hear her clients tell it, she has a way of bringing those stories out of hiding and into the light. She has collaborated with world-renowned chefs, professional athletes, reality television personalities, Oscar-winning actors, and Pulitzer Prize winners. Before turning to ghostwriting, she worked on the other side of the desk, for publishers such...
2025-04-081h 11
As Told ToEpisode 85: Elizabeth Shockman"My job was to dance so well that it didn't matter who favored me or why." That's a line from the compelling new memoir by world-renowned ballerina Joy Womack, "as told to" podcast guest Elizabeth Shockman. Together, in (dare we say it?) balletic prose, the two recount Womack's storied career as the first American woman to dance under contract for the Bolshoi Ballet Theater in Moscow. "The dancers beside me were tired, pale after months of clouded winter skies," they write in Behind the Red Velvet Curtain: An American Ballerina in Russia. "They bent and...
2025-03-251h 01
As Told ToEpisode 84: David PeisnerDavid Peisner is a freelance journalist and ghostwriter/collaborator based in Atlanta. His work has appeared in the New York Times, Rolling Stone, New York, Esquire, Playboy, and other publications. His first book collaboration—with "Steve-O," the legendary co-star of the legendarily out there MTV reality series "Jackass"—grew out of a magazine assignment, taking Peisner on a sidelong career turn he hadn't anticipated. "If you are only going to buy one book this year about an alcoholic, self-abusive, vegan, pyromaniac ex-circus clown with a talent for vomiting on command and stapling his scrotum to his leg, make...
2025-03-111h 06
As Told ToEpisode 83: Cynthia DiTiberio"We all have to figure out our own ways to carve out our own creativity," says New York Times best-selling ghostwriter Cynthia DiTiberio about finding time to do her own writing alongside her collaborative work. "Not that our creativity doesn't go into our ghostwritten books, but you can't claim it in the same way." Cynthia knows what it takes to create a successful book. She started her publishing career as a senior editor at HarperCollins, where she worked with a number of authors, including NIH director Francis Collins and Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter Jeffrey Marx. From there...
2025-02-251h 03
As Told ToEpisode 82: Hannah Bos & Paul ThureenWe're taking a bit of a pivot here at the podcast factory with this one, pinching from the season-opening episode of Writer's Bone, our flagship podcast at the Writer's Bone Podcast Network. "As Told To" producer and Writer's Bone host and founder Daniel Ford featured a conversation with the writing team of Hannah Bos and Paul Thureen, co-creators of the enchantingly poignant HBO series "Somebody Somewhere," starring actress/comedian Bridget Everett—a conversation that brushed up against so many relatable aspects of collaborative writing that we decided to rebroadcast it (to re-podcast it?) here. "Somebody Somewhere" ended it...
2025-02-1133 min
As Told ToEpisode 81: Laura Morton"The work that we do is actually very difficult to detach from when you're writing in somebody's voice," notes veteran collaborator Laura Morton on the emotional connection she often feels when channeling her clients' stories. Laura comes by this observation honestly, after spending more than thirty years helping to tell other people's stories. In that time, she has written more than 60 books, including 22 New York Times bestsellers. Her most recent bestseller Fire in the Hole: The Untold Story of My Traumatic Life and Explosive Success, written with GoDaddy and PXG Golf founder Bob Parsons—was a publication of...
2025-01-281h 33
As Told ToEpisode 80: Benjamin Dreyer"You'd be amazed at how far you can get in life having no idea what the subjunctive mood is," writes Benjamin Dreyer, retired managing editor and copy chief of the Random House division of Penguin Random House. "As if it's not bad enough that English has rules, it also has moods." Yes, it does. Happily, the mood of the room for writers in Benjamin's good hands as a copyeditor was cheerful and patient and winning… and, for the most part, grammatically correct. Over the course of his 30+ years in publishing, he helped to shepherd the work of wr...
2025-01-141h 13
As Told ToSecond Printing: Peter Asher and David JacksThis episode originally aired June 20, 2023 First-time author David Jacks, a veteran video editor and music supervisor, ran into legendary music producer Peter Asher at a Santa Monica taco joint in 2003 and asked if he could interview him. Jacks, a long-time admirer of the man said to be the inspiration for Mike Myers' "shagadelic" Austin Powers character, who first came to prominence as one-half of the hit-making British pop vocal duo Peter and Gordon and would go on to produce generation-defining albums for artists such as James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt, Bonnie Raitt, Randy Newman, and Diana Ross, immediately...
2024-12-311h 21
As Told ToEpisode 79: Seth Rogoff ReturnsHere at the podcast factory, we're thrilled to welcome back novelist, translator, collaborator and cultural critic Seth Rogoff to talk about his new novel—a thrilling and unsettling coda to Franz Kafka's unfinished masterwork The Castle. Seth joined us in Season 2 (Ep. #35) to talk about the also thrilling and decidedly unconventional memoir he helped to write with ESPN basketball analyst and former NBA star Kendrick Perkins, The Education of Kendrick Perkins, which took a critical look at racism in America, and in professional sports, and sounded a call for justice and social change—a book hailed by Kirk...
2024-12-171h 14
As Told ToEpisode 78: Mike Thomas"In general, magazine profiles are to biographies as inland lakes are to oceans," writes the late entertainment journalist and ghostwriter Bill Zehme in The New York Times best-selling Carson the Magnificent. "Far less sprawling and easier to navigate." This is true—and readers need look no further than Zehme's latest (and last) book, completed posthumously, for confirmation. Zehme, who collaborated on memoirs with Jay Leno and Regis Philbin and was a frequent contributor to Esquire, Rolling Stone, Playboy, and Vanity Fair, worked on his Carson biography for over a decade, before a cancer diagnosis and ongoing treatments ha...
2024-12-031h 08
As Told ToSecond Printing: Winnie HolzmanThis episode originally aired on Feb. 14, 2023 "I moved on to the next thing I was going to write," says the noted dramatist and television writer Winnie Holzman, recalling the cancellation of her critically-acclaimed series "My So-Called Life," after just one season. "That's what we do as writers. We move on to the next thing." Indeed. In Winnie Holzman's case, one of those "next things" turned out to be the book for the hit Broadway musical "Wicked," with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz—one of the longest running shows in Broadway history. The collaboration earned he...
2024-11-261h 16
As Told ToEpisode 77: Hal DonaldsonHal Donaldson's faith-based humanitarian organization Convoy of Hope is a magnificent agent of change. In partnership with local churches, businesses, civic organizations, and government agencies, the organization is deeply committed to healing the world in all its broken places, through children's feeding initiatives, community outreach and disaster response. Convoy of Hope currently feeds more than 571,000 children worldwide each day—and has served more than 250 million people in total since Hal, together with his brothers and friends, started the organization in 1994. It's the 35th largest charity on the latest Forbes "100 Largest U.S. Charities" list. So wh...
2024-11-191h 02
As Told ToEpisode 76: Aaron Philip ClarkWhat does it take to help channel one of the most singular voices in rap in an entirely new medium? Join us as we chat with novelist and screenwriter Aaron Philip Clark, co-author of the just-published thriller The Accomplice, written in collaboration with rapper and entertainment mogul Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson. Aaron is perhaps best known for his International Thriller Writers Award-nominated crime fiction series featuring Detective Trevor Finnegan (Blue Like Me, Under Color of Law), as well as for his standalone novels. His first book with 50 Cent introduces readers to Nia Adams, a New York-born, Texas-bred detective who always dreamed...
2024-11-051h 11
As Told ToEpisode 75: Betsy Lerner"Lots of ambitious books announce themselves," writes Lauren Christensen in The New York Times Book Review of podcast guest Betsy Lerner's debut novel Shred Sisters. "This one doesn't need to." High praise for a first-time novelist, but that's not surprising considering Betsy's long and distinguished career as an editor and literary agent. A born storyteller (and, story-sharer), Betsy has helped to shape our literary landscape, as the guiding hand behind such cultural touchstones as Patti Smith's Just Kids and Elizabeth Wurtzel's Prozac Nation. She's also earned her As Told To stripes as the co-author of...
2024-10-221h 19
As Told ToEpisode 74: Jill SobuleOver the course of her nearly forty-year career, singer-songwriter Jill Sobule has earned a singular spot in the American songbook. Best known for her breakout 1995 singles "Supermodel" (from the "Clueless" soundtrack) and "I Kissed a Girl" (which came out more than 10 years before the Katy Perry hit of the same name), her quirky, heartfelt, cheer-filled songs are difficult to categorize: she sings about the death penalty, anorexia, shoplifting, the French Resistance, LGBTQ issues and Mexican wrestling. In another decade, Jon Pareles, the chief pop music critic of The New York Times, wrote that she stands "among the...
2024-10-081h 07
As Told ToEpisode 73: J. Michael Straczynski"The task of writing is to take a character and put him up a tree and start throwing rocks at him," notes novelist, screenwriter, comic book writer, and television showrunner J. Michael Straczynski. The two-time Hugo Award-winning author is perhaps best known as the creator of the television series "Babylon 5", and as the screenwriter for the 2008 Oscar-nominated Clint Eastwood film "Changeling." He is also the author of the Superman: Earth One" trilogy of graphic novels, and for many years he was the writer for Marvel Comics' "Thor," "Fantastic Four," and "The Amazing Spider-Man" series, as well as for DC's "...
2024-09-241h 09
As Told ToEpisode 72: Nancy FrenchBest-selling author, investigative journalist, political commentator and memoirist Nancy French is a storyteller at heart. She's helped to write more than a dozen books, including five New York Times best-sellers, with a variety of collaborators from conservative politicians to Olympic athletes to reality television stars. Her latest memoir—Ghosted: An American Story—was published in Spring 2024 to wide critical acclaim. CNN's Jake Tapper hailed the book prior to publication as "a great read for anyone trying to make sense of cultural whiplash over the last few years," and went on to write that "Nancy French's journey from poverty-stricken mountains to a...
2024-09-101h 16
As Told ToSecond Printing: Frank SantopadreOriginally aired Dec. 6, 2022. Frank Santopadre is a veteran comedy writer and the longtime co-host of "Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast," with the late, great Gilbert Gottfried. Prior to working with Gilbert, Frank helped to write jokes and supporting material for numerous awards shows (including the Daytime Emmys, the TV Land Awards, and the Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize). He has also written comics for Bazooka Joe bubble gum, and mock ad copy, concepts, and character profiles for the Topps Company's popular Wacky Packs and Garbage Pail Kids trading cards series. Oh, and did we mention...
2024-08-271h 27
As Told ToEpisode 71: Gathering of the GhostsJoin podcast host Daniel Paisner as he moderates the keynote panel discussion at the inaugural "Gathering of the Ghosts" ghostwriting conference earlier this year—an event jointly sponsored by Gotham Ghostwriters and the American Society of Journalists and Authors. Dan is joined by music journalist Holly Gleason and former As Told To guests Seth Davis and Jodi Lipper for a spirited discussion on their ghostwriting journeys, and a reflection on the many ways authors and journalists are writing in collaboration. Learn more about our guests: Follow Seth Daviss on X | Episode 61 Holly Gleason Website Jodi...
2024-08-131h 10
As Told ToEpisode 70: Hope EdelmanHope Edelman is an author, ghostwriter, essayist, writing instructor and life coach. The through-line connecting much of her work, from the collaborations she's helped to write to her own best-selling memoirs, is the theme of parent-loss. "Navigating motherhood without your mom is like assembling a complex puzzle without the picture on the box," she writes in a blog post on her website. She's been writing about the grief and loss in her own life since her best-selling 1994 memoir Motherless Daughters—a book she began as a graduate student at the University of Iowa, when she realized she wa...
2024-07-301h 15
As Told ToEpisode 69: Adam NimoyTelevision director, filmmaker and author Adam Nimoy, the son of actor Leonard Nimoy, knows what it means to grow up in the chilling shadow of a famous father. He also knows what it means to tell a helluva story, and he does so in the pages of his new memoir The Most Human: Reconciling with My Father, Leonard Nimoy. The book explores the author's complicated relationship with his father and reflects on how it informed his views on marriage, parenting, addiction and recovery. A graduate of Loyola Law School, Adam Nimoy started his career working...
2024-07-161h 13
As Told ToEpisode 68: Michael FranklinMichael Franklin is the co-founder and executive director of Speechwriters of Color, a community of expert and aspiring communicators helping to give voice to leaders at every level of the public, private and non-profit sectors. As a proud partner of the White House Office of Presidential Personnel, the organization has placed dozens of candidates in both full-time and contract roles as speechwriters across the Biden-Harris administration. "We are definitely understanding and realizing the power of words to make a difference," Michael says. As the founder and chief thought leadership officer of Words Normalize Behavior, a...
2024-07-021h 06
As Told ToEpisode 67: Ellis HenicanEllis Henican—New York Times best-selling collaborator, Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper columnist, and popular television news pundit—had perhaps the coolest side-gig of any of our podcast guests to date. He provided the voice of "Stormy" in the adult animated television series "SeaLab 2021," which ran on the Cartoon Network for four seasons. This spring, he's also provided the "voice" for books by former New Jersey governor Chris Christie (What Would Reagan Do?); legendary actor Tom Selleck (You Never Know); and, high-stakes hostage negotiator Mickey Bergman (In the Shadows), marking him as perhaps the busiest ghostwriter of the publishing seas...
2024-06-181h 17
As Told ToEpisode 66: Chelsea Devantez"Celebrity memoirs have always been my favorite book genre," reflects podcast guest Chelsea Devantez, the Emmy-nominated writer, comedian, director, and host of the celebrity book club podcast "Glamorous Trash." "That is what happens when your nearest bookstore growing up is a Wal-Mart. That was my fate." Chelsea is just out with a celebrity-adjacent memoir of her own, I Shouldn't Be Telling You This (But I'm Going to Anyway), from Hanover Square Press. It's a book that might surprise her loyal podcast listeners, or viewers who know her from her work as a television writer for shows like "...
2024-06-041h 17
As Told ToEpisode 65: Maria Burns Ortiz"You gotta be the best on your worst day." Words to live by from the mother of Ronda Rousey, the mixed-martial-artist-turned-professional wrestler known as "the baddest woman on the planet." Rousey's mother happens to be first American to win a gold medal at the World Judo Championships, and she also happens to be the mother of podcast guest Maria Burns Ortiz, co-author of Rousey's just-published memoir Our Fight. The book is a follow-up to the sisters' previous collaboration—the New York Times best-selling My Fight/Your Fight. Maria has taken her mother's hard-won ad...
2024-05-211h 16
As Told ToEpisode 64: Zibby Owens"Reading to me is like breathing," notes Zibby Owens, the creator and host of the Webby Award- winning podcast "Moms Don't Have Time to Read Books," who joins us on the podcast to discuss her lifelong love of reading and writing and her commitment to championing books and authors. Indeed, Zibby has built on the success of her podcast to become the publishing industry's "most powerful book-fluencer," according to New York magazine. A frequent contributor to "Good Morning America" and other media outlets, she is the co-founder and CEO of Zibby Books, an independent book publisher, and...
2024-05-0747 min
As Told ToEpisode 63: Todd Strasser"This is an author who really has his finger on the way kids think," The New York Times says of podcast guest Todd Strasser, the author of over 150 books, including the award-winning young adult and middle-grade novels The Wave, Give a Boy a Gun, and Fallout. He is also the author of the wildly popular Help! I'm Trapped series of books for young readers, as well as several other best-selling series and movie tie-in books and novelizations. His books have been translated into more than twenty languages, and several have been adapted for film and television. Many...
2024-04-231h 04
As Told ToEpisode 62: Genevieve FieldVeteran magazine journalist Genevieve Field joins us to discuss her mid-career pivot into ghostwriting, as she celebrates the success of her "Andy Award"-winning collaboration with Hollywood stuntwoman Kimberly Shannon Murphy. Glimmer: A Story of Survival, Hope, and Healing, Murphy's unflinchingly honest account of intergenerational familial abuse, was honored this winter with an inaugural "Andy Award"—so named for the "and" credit often awarded to ghostwriters—at the first annual "Gathering of the Ghosts" conference in New York City, jointly sponsored by Gotham Ghostwriters and the American Society of Journalists and Authors. Genevieve Field is no stranger to l...
2024-04-091h 27
As Told ToEpisode 61: Seth DavisSeth Davis is a veteran sports journalist and broadcaster, and The New York Times best-selling author of Wooden: A Coach's Life and When March Went Mad: The Game That Transformed Basketball. He is the co-author of the just-published memoir It's Hard for Me to Live with Me, written with NBA veteran and University of Kentucky basketball legend Rex Chapman—a book that transcends (and upends!) the sports memoir genre and stands as a devasting and inspiring story about the human struggle for self-acceptance. Over the course of his career, Seth has written for The Athletic and Sports Il...
2024-03-261h 11
As Told ToEpisode 60: Mark DagostinoVeteran journalist and collaborator Mark Dagostino is the author of more than two dozen books written with some of our most compelling public figures. He has helped to write seven New York Times best-sellers, including the #1 best-selling The Magnolia Story, with Chip & Joanna Gaines, co-stars of the hit HGTV show "Fixer Upper." Mark began his career at The Boston Globe, as a general assignment news reporter, before moving on to a ten-year stint at People, where he turned his focus to popular culture as a correspondent, columnist, and senior writer. While at People, he conducted interviews with suc...
2024-03-121h 11
As Told ToEpisode 59: Douglas Preston"What really amazed me here was that so many of the authors who submitted stories wrote something completely outside their genre," reflects best-selling author Douglas Preston, one of the project editors behind the dynamic new collaborative novel Fourteen Days. "This book is full of all kinds of weird stories." Yes, it is. And so is podcast guest Douglas Preston, co-author of dozens of New York Times best-selling thrillers written with his longtime writing partner Lincoln Child—a shining example of what it means to write in collaboration. In all, Preston has published 39 books of fiction and non-fiction. In...
2024-02-271h 09
As Told ToEpisode 58: Sarah Tomlinson"Sometimes the truth is just too much, and sometimes it's not enough." That's a line from Sarah Tomlinson's new novel, The Last Days of the Midnight Ramblers, the story of a young ghostwriter scratching at the truth that threatens the legend of the fictional rock band of the title. A veteran journalist, essayist, music critic, ghostwriter, and memoirist, Sarah's work has appeared in The Boston Globe, Los Angeles Review of Books, Marie Claire, Los Angeles Times, Publishers Weekly, and Huffington Post. Her new novel puts an exclamation point on the maxim that says writers should...
2024-02-131h 19
As Told ToEpisode 57: Bethanne Patrick, Missing Pages 'Ghostwriting Non-Fiction The Literary Chameleon'"How do you tell someone else's story, but make it authentic?" That's the question at the heart of this episode of As Told To: The Ghostwriting Podcast, which is really a repurposed, repackaged edition of a recent episode of Missing Pages, the critically-acclaimed investigative podcast hosted by renowned literary critic Bethanne Patrick—known to readers across social media as "The Book Maven." Bethanne and her production team at The Podglomerate, a leading producer of original podcasts, pull back the curtain on the lucrative culture of non-fiction ghostwriting, and offer a compelling take on the art an...
2024-01-3040 min
As Told ToEpisode 56: Kevin AndersonKevin Anderson is one of the publishing industry's leading authorities on ghostwriting and editorial development. As the founder, CEO and editor-in-chief of Kevin Anderson & Associates, a Manhattan-based firm that specializes in developing collaborative projects, he is uniquely positioned to weigh in on what it takes to write a best-selling book. His firm represents over 200 widely-published writers, and relies on the editorial and publishing expertise of more than a dozen former Big 5 acquisitions editors. "A client who hires a ghostwriter is still the author of their book," Anderson once told The Washington Post. "With the exception of some...
2024-01-161h 09
As Told ToEpisode 55: Andrew Crofts"I'm quite good at detaching and passing the tissues and just listening," says Andrew Crofts, one of the world's most prolific ghostwriters, on his ability to help his clients share their most intimate, most harrowing, most traumatic experiences in the pages of their memoirs. As the author or co-author of more than eighty books, including a dozen Sunday Times best-sellers, Andrew is well-known in England for his work behind-the-scenes with top television personalities, footballers, politicians, and ordinary individuals caught in extraordinary circumstances. He is also well-known among publishers for his willingness to take on any...
2024-01-021h 06
As Told ToEpisode 54: Rebecca Shaw & Ben Kronengold"Voices of their generation. Except for Greta Thunberg. And Malala. Amanda Gorman . . .you know what, I take it back." — Jimmy Fallon That's high praise for the comedy writing duo of Rebecca Shaw and Ben Kronengold, from their former boss at NBC's "The Tonight Show," where our podcast guests became the two youngest writers in that program's storied history and earned a shared spot on Variety's "Power of Young Hollywood Impact List" in 2021. Shaw and Kronengold began dating and writing together as freshmen at Yale University and capped their undergraduate career with a 2018 commencement address that we...
2023-12-191h 04
As Told ToEpisode 53: Rob KutnerGeorge McFly's A Match Made in Space, from "Back to the Future"… Hank Moody's God Hates Us All," from "Californication"… Dr. Frederick Frankenstein's How I Did It, from "Young Frankenstein"… Some of our best-loved movies and television shows feature books written by one of the lead characters. In many cases, the publication of those "books" becomes a central plot point or a running gag. (Think Handbook for the Recently Deceased, from "Beetlejuice.") In other cases, those books leap from the screen and onto our bookshelves—IRL, as the kids like to say. That...
2023-12-051h 13
As Told ToEpisode 52: Adeena Sussman"If I'm developing a recipe for a client, or for my own books, I'm all about people telling me what they think about it, what it invokes for them, what they would do differently," notes New York Times best-selling cookbook author Adeena Sussman about the collaborative nature of preparing recipes for readers. If there's anybody who knows what it means work in partnership in the kitchen, it's Adeena Sussman—the co-author of 15 books, including the best-selling Cravings series written in collaboration with model and television personality Chrissy Teigen. Adeena is also the co-author of The Sprinkles Baking Bo...
2023-11-211h 03
As Told ToEpisode 51: Rennie DyballRennie Dyball is an award-winning journalist, ghostwriter, middle-grade novelist and children's book author who's found a way to marry her lifelong interest in horses with her many and varied talents as a writer. Together with her co-author Piper Klemm, she created the popular Show Strides series of equestrian-themed novels for middle grade readers—originally published by The Plaid Horse and soon to be reissued by Andrews McMeel Universal. Rennie's standalone novel for children, Good Boy, Eddie, was published by The Plaid Horse earlier this year. As a ghostwriter, Rennie has helped to give voice to a number of...
2023-11-071h 08
As Told ToEpisode 50: Dani Shapiro"I've been obsessed with the corrosive power of secrets since my first novel," reflects the best-selling novelist and memoirist Dani Shapiro, a writer who has been mining her own secrets since she first put pen to paper. In a far-ranging, free-wheeling interview with host Daniel Paisner, pulled from a "Book & Author Luncheon" program sponsored by the Friends of the Port Washington (N.Y.) Library in May, 2023, she reflects on her inspirations for her most recent novel Signal Fires, New York Times best-seller and National Jewish Book Award-winner now out in paperback, and for her gripping 2019 memoir Inheritance...
2023-10-241h 08
As Told ToEpisode 49: Lindsey JacobellisLindsey Jacobellis is the most dominant athlete in the history of women's snowboardcross—a thrilling head-to-head sport that made its Olympic debut at the 2006 games in Torino, when Lindsey also stepped to the Olympic stage for the first time. And yet the inaugural running of the event was nearly her undoing. At 20 years old, Lindsey had a commanding lead heading into the final stretch of the medal round when she grabbed her board on the penultimate jump and was unable to land cleanly, spilling off the course and looking on in despair as her rival, Tanja Frieden of Switzerland, sp...
2023-10-171h 25
As Told ToEpisode 48: Jeff Daniels"Sometimes I'm asked if I'll ever write a book," notes actor, playwright and singer-songwriter Jeff Daniels, "and I always answer that I already have. It's in my songs." This is true. But now it's also true that the stuff of Jeff Daniels's life is on delightful display in the Audible Originals memoir "Alive and Well Enough"—a collection of stories, musings and songs that invites listeners into the heart and mindset of one of our most versatile performers, offered with grace and good cheer and midwestern soul. Daniels, the two-time Emmy Award-winning actor and star of...
2023-10-101h 18
As Told ToEpisode 47: Dina KraftDina Kraft is a veteran foreign correspondent based in Tel Aviv, where she co-hosts the influential podcast "Groundwork," sharing stories about Palestinians and Israelis working to change the status quo. She began her overseas career in the Jerusalem bureau of the Associated Press and has written and reported for a number of publications, including The New York Times, The Christian Science Monitor, and The Los Angeles Times. She currently works as the opinion editor for the English-language edition of the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. A 2012 Neiman Fellow at Harvard University, and a 2015 Ochberg Fellow at the...
2023-09-261h 10
As Told ToEpisode 46: Lee Goldberg Novelist, screenwriter, producer and publisher Lee Goldberg knows what it is to work in collaboration. He has helped to write and produce a number of television shows, including "seaQuest" and "Monk," and he also served as a supervising producer and executive producer of the long-running series "Diagnosis Murder," starring Dick Van Dyke. While working on "Monk" and "Diagnosis Murder," he wrote several original tie-in novels based on those series. Lee is also an accomplished storyteller in his own right—the author of nearly 40 novels, including Lost Hills, True Fiction, and the first five books in the Fox & O...
2023-09-121h 16
As Told ToSecond Printing: Barbara Feinman ToddThis episode originally aired on June 21, 2022. If there's anyone who knows what it's like to be invited into "the kingdom of knowing," to borrow a phrase from journalist Richard Ben Cramer, it's podcast guest Barbara Feinman Todd, who graduated from The Washington Post Style desk to work as a researcher, book doctor, editor and spirit guide on books with Bob Woodward (Veil) and Carl Bernstein (Loyalties), and Ben Bradlee (A Good Life), leaving her uniquely positioned to reflect on the mind and mindsets of the three journalists who were perhaps most responsible for uncovering the Watergate scandal...
2023-08-291h 22
As Told ToSecond Printing: Amy FerrisThis episode originally aired February 1, 2022. Amy Ferris writes like a dream. About love. Also: strength, humanity, depression, aging, inspiration, resilience. But mostly about love. It's kind of her thing—a thing that led her to her first gig as a collaborator, a dual memoir from Joseph "Rev Run" Simmons and Justine Simmons called Old School Love. Amy's worked primarily as an essayist, an editor, a screenwriter and playwright. She's even published a young adult novel called A Greater Goode. She made a whole bunch of noise with the publication of her 2009 breakout book, Marrying George Cl...
2023-08-151h 13
As Told ToSecond Printing: Eugene PackThis episode originally aired March 15, 2022. Eugene Pack knows a thing or two about what it takes to write a compelling celebrity memoir – and yet he's never actually written one. As the creator and co-producer of the hit theatrical revue "Celebrity Autobiography," developed with Dayle Reyfel, he has pushed audiences to consider what it means to live a book-worthy life and how it is that readers have come to accept the wit and wisdom and worldviews of our most celebrated personalities when they are presented on the page. The show has been staged in theaters all ov...
2023-08-011h 23
As Told ToEpisode 45: Debra Ollivier"I love the process, and the craft of writing, and helping people who have a real deep yearning to put their own story on the page," reflects best-selling author and collaborator Debra Ollivier, who has helped to develop, ghostwrite, and edit more than 20 titles, with a broad and eclectic mix of authors. Debra, who lived and worked in Paris at the front end of her writing career, is the author of two enlightening and engaging guides on what it means to be a French woman and why it matters—What French Women Know and Entre Nous—as well a...
2023-07-181h 23
As Told ToEpisode 44: Arthur Smith"The more you try, the luckier you get…" Words to live by, from podcast guest Arthur Smith, the pioneering television producer behind some of the longest-running unscripted series in history, and author of the just-published motivational memoir Reach: Hard Lessons and Learned Truths from a Lifetime in Television. Arthur's long-running hit "Hell's Kitchen," with Gordon Ramsey, helped to forge the modern food competition reality genre, while his Emmy-nominated "American Ninja Warrior" has spawned a cultural movement and inspired millions to push themselves to next-level successes in their own lives and careers. As the founder and cha...
2023-07-041h 24
As Told ToEpisode 43: Peter Asher and David JacksFirst-time author David Jacks, a veteran video editor and music supervisor, ran into legendary music producer Peter Asher at a Santa Monica taco joint in 2003 and asked if he could interview him. Jacks, a long-time admirer of the man said to be the inspiration for Mike Myers' "shagadelic" Austin Powers character, who first came to prominence as one-half of the hit-making British pop vocal duo Peter and Gordon and would go on to produce generation-defining albums for artists such as James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt, Bonnie Raitt, Randy Newman, and Diana Ross, immediately asked Asher if he would sit for...
2023-06-201h 18
As Told ToEpisode 42: Madeleine MorelLiterary agent Madeleine Morel has made a career out of representing ghostwriters and collaborators—and only ghostwriters and collaborators. Through her Manhattan-based agency 2M Communications, she has successfully paired her clients with top celebrities, thought leaders, health and fitness experts, business executives and change agents on hundreds of book projects, including more than 60 New York Times bestsellers. She sees herself as a kind of "literary matchmaker," and publishers are inclined to agree. They regularly seek her out when they're looking for the "right" writer to capture a celebrity author's voice or vision. "It's the best of times an...
2023-06-061h 02
As Told ToEpisode 41: Tara Trudel"Songwriting is kind of where my heart is," says former Second City music director Tara Trudel, a versatile songwriter and composer based in Los Angeles. Tara's unique talents popped on podcast host Daniel Paisner's admittedly limited radar during the launch of Post in Fall 2022, when she created a mini-musical based on the early days and growing pains of the new social media site. Tara started her career teaching early childhood and elementary school music for Chicago's The Merit School of Music and the city's public school system, before pivoting to comedy and theater—a natural extension of her work wit...
2023-05-2357 min
As Told ToEpisode 40: Gregory Collins & Carolyn Pfeiffer"The idea of 'chasing the panther' is that the panther serves as this metaphor for art, and so it's something that you chase after even thought it is in some ways very, very dangerous, and I think Carolyn would say that is one hundred percent the story of her life, chasing art." That's writer and filmmaker Gregory Collins explaining the title to his very first collaboration, Chasing the Panther: Adventures & Misadventures of a Cinematic Life, written with the noted independent film producer Carolyn Pfeiffer, who as a young woman found herself swept up in the roiling waters...
2023-05-091h 22
As Told ToEpisode 39: Erik Sherman"A strong argument can be made that Fernando Valenzuela brought more new fans to the game of baseball than anyone going back to probably Babe Ruth's era," notes baseball historian and New York Times best-selling collaborator Erik Sherman, author of Daybreak at Chavez Ravine: Fernandomania and the Remaking of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Before tackling the (largely) untold story of the phenom hailed by sportswriters as "the Mexican Sandy Koufax," and assessing Valenzuela's impact on the game, Erik made a name for himself as one of publishing's leading chroniclers of our national pastime. As a ghostwriter, he helped to...
2023-04-251h 18
As Told ToEpisode 38: Nell Scovell"Writing is not what you start," writes podcast guest Nell Scovell in her scathingly funny memoir Just the Funny Parts. "It's not even what you finish. It's what you start, finish, and put out there for the world to see." Indeed, Nell offers this observation from a place of hard-won experience. A veteran television writer ("Newhart," "The Simpsons," "Late Night with David Letterman," "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour," "Murphy Brown," "Coach," and on and on), Nell understands what it means to get an idea on its feet and out in front of an audience. As Sheryl Sandberg's...
2023-04-111h 13
As Told ToEpisode 37: Jay Alders"When you're in that flow, it's the most magical feeling ever," reflects the noted fine artist and graphic designer Jay Alders. "It feels like the colors are shooting out of my palette, it's just right there, and all I have to do is scoop up a glob of light that's emerging from my palette. If I can have someone look at my paintings and feel some of that, to me that's success." Jay joins us on the podcast to discuss the collaborative nature of his work, which in addition to his own disarmingly original paintings also includes...
2023-03-281h 14
As Told ToEpisode 36: Ellen Meister"I'm always writing the book I most want to read in that particular moment." That's a line from novelist Ellen Meister, offered in an exchange with podcast host Daniel Paisner. The two recently shared a stage at the Port Washington Public Library – a couple of Long Island authors talking about craft and career in front of a local audience. The event went so well, we've decided to repurpose the discussion here. Join us as we hear from both panelists on what it means to pursue a writing life, where to look for inspiration, and how to keep at...
2023-03-141h 14
As Told ToEpisode 35: Seth Rogoff"Kendrick Perkins doesn't just have one voice, he has many." That's a line from the book proposal for The Education of Kendrick Perkins, the thrillingly unconventional new memoir from the ESPN basketball analyst and former NBA star, co-written with podcast guest Seth Rogoff, who helps to give voice to his subject's "many voices" in astonishing ways. A cultural critic and professor of history and English based in Prague, Rogoff might seem an unlikely match for a traditional sports memoir, but the novelist and Kafka translator brings a fresh perspective to the genre and offers a compelling assist...
2023-02-281h 20
As Told ToEpisode 34: Winnie Holzman"I moved on to the next thing I was going to write," says the noted dramatist and television writer Winnie Holzman, recalling the cancellation of her critically-acclaimed series "My So-Called Life," after just one season. "That's what we do as writers. We move on to the next thing." Indeed. In Winnie Holzman's case, one of those "next things" turned out to be the book for the hit Broadway musical "Wicked," with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz—one of the longest running shows in Broadway history. The collaboration earned her a prestigious Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Book...
2023-02-141h 13
As Told ToEpisode 33: Dan GersteinVeteran speechwriter and communications strategist Dan Gerstein has been a champion of ghostwriters and collaborators for the past decade. As founder and CEO of Gotham Ghostwriters, an industry-leading agency that matches writers with clients seeking help telling (and selling!) their stories, he brings unique insight into what it takes to write a successful book, screenplay, white paper or family history. He comes by his work from an organic place. As a speechwriter and policy advisor to Sen. Joe Lieberman, and a contributing columnist for such publications as Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, and Politco, Dan was often asked by...
2023-01-311h 06
As Told ToEpisode 32: Ellen Daly"I'm interested in projects to which I feel I can make a genuine contribution and from which I can learn," Ellen Daly writes—and to look at the bookshelf of titles she's assembled over the years as one of the publishing industry's leading collaborators, she's put herself in a position to learn a whole lot. As a co-author, editor and book coach, Ellen has helped to write over thirty books, with luminaries in the fields of business, finance, health, diet, relationships and self-help. She's even worked with a horse whisperer and a convicted insider-trader—gaining two unexpected perspectives she can...
2023-01-171h 18
As Told ToEpisode 31: Amy Ephron, Maia Wapnick, Anna Ephron HarariWhat's in a name? Quite a lot, according to Amy Ephron, Maia Wapnick and Anna Ephron Harari, co-authors of The Amazing Baby Name Book: A (Possibly) Helpful and Slightly Amusing Guide from A to Z, a witty and wise and altogether wonderful compendium of baby names for would-be parents. And when that name is Ephron, and it comes attached to a writing family that's lived by its wits and wisdom and abundant sense of wonder for three generations…well, then that name signals that our podcast listeners are in for a rollicking conversation about writing and storytelling. Jo...
2023-01-031h 13
As Told ToEpisode 30: Frank SantopadreFrank Santopadre is a veteran comedy writer and the longtime co-host of "Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast," with the late, great Gilbert Gottfried. Prior to working with Gilbert, Frank helped to write jokes and supporting material for numerous awards shows (including the Daytime Emmys, the TV Land Awards, and the Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize). He has also written comics for Bazooka Joe bubble gum, and mock ad copy, concepts, and character profiles for the Topps Company's popular Wacky Packs and Garbage Pail Kids trading cards series. Oh, and did we mention he also wrote for Mad...
2022-12-061h 27
As Told ToEpisode 29: Jen SingerJen Singer is a ghostwriter, speechwriter, writing coach and developmental editor with a whole bunch of stories to tell. As a writing coach at TEDx Cambridge, one of the world's largest independently-organized TED platforms, she has helped dozens of speakers get their stories "on their feet" in front of an audience. Whether writing for the page or the stage, she believes the message is the medium. "A good speech is a good performance," she says, "but it starts with good writing." One of the original "mom bloggers," Jen wrote on parenting issues for over fifteen years on...
2022-11-221h 00
As Told ToEpisode 27: Jon Sternfeld"He knew how pain kept inside multiplies, and how pain shared subtracts," writes podcast guest Jon Sternfeld in the opening bars of Michael K. Williams's haunting new posthumous memoir Scenes from My Life. Jon was midway through his work with the electrifying actor, known to television audiences for his career-defining turns as Omar Little in "The Wire" and Chalky White in "Boardwalk Empire," as well as for his Emmy-nominated roles in "The Night Of" and "Lovecraft Country," when Williams died in September 2021 from a drug overdose. It fell to Jon to complete the project on his own—an intimidating ta...
2022-10-251h 04
As Told ToEpisode 26: Charles Leerhsen"You need to have a lot of things go right in your life before you can become as miserable as Anthony Bourdain," writes noted journalist and biographer Charles Leerhsen in his headline-making new book, Down and Out in Paradise: The Life of Anthony Bourdain, hailed by Dwight Garner of The New York Times as "an unvarnished account of a turbulent life." The "unvarnishing" of our legendarily turbulent public figures is one of Leerhsen's things, apparently, as readers have discovered in his books on Ty Cobb, Butch Cassidy, and the celebrated racehorse Dan Patch—a determination to get th...
2022-10-111h 19
As Told ToEpisode 25: Danelle Morton"The same skills that allowed me to uncover a bid-rigging scandal in local government also are applicable to Jennifer Aniston's latest haircut," says veteran reporter and collaborator Danelle Morton. "A journalism skill is a journalism skill." Indeed it is—especially when it is practiced at the crosshairs of journalism and celebrity, where Danelle worked for many years at The New York Times, The San Jose Mercury News, and People magazine, developing her nose for news and learning how to meet a deadline. Those instincts coalesced in Danelle's work as the co-writer of more than a do...
2022-09-271h 06
As Told ToEpisode 24: Neil Martinez-Belkin"When you can't make sense of what you're seeing, don't stare harder. When you're confused by what you're hearing, don't listen harder. Stand back, give yourself some space, and let things come into focus." That's a line from rapper/songwriter/force-of-nature Rick Ross's empowerment manifesto The Perfect Day to Boss Up, as filtered through the pen of his collaborator Neil Martinez-Belkin, who joins us on the podcast for our first episode of Season Two. Neil, the former music editor at XXL Magazine who has written extensively about contemporary hip-hop and rap music, burst onto the gh...
2022-09-131h 05
As Told ToSecond Printing: Robert SabbagThis episode was first aired on Dec. 14, 2021. Veteran journalist and author Robert Sabbag joins the podcast to share the story behind the story of one of the greatest books ever written about drug smuggling—Snowblind: A Brief Career in the Cocaine Trade, a classic example of collaborative memoir that helped to establish him as one of the most esteemed chroniclers of his generation. No less an authority on these matters than Hunter S. Thompson hailed Sabbag on the book's publication as "a whip-song writer," leading our guest to a long career as a "whip-song" contributor to Rolling St...
2022-08-301h 24
As Told ToSecond Printing: William NovakThis episode originally aired Nov. 30, 2021. "William Novak had the career I hadn't even known I wanted," host Daniel Paisner says of this episode's guest, who for a time seemed to have his have his hand in every major celebrity autobiography on bookstore shelves. Starting with the publication of the genre-defining best-seller Iacocca, by Lee Iacocca—the best-selling book of 1984 and 1985—Novak embarked on a string of collaborations on some of the biggest books of the next decade, including Earvin "Magic" Johnson's My Life, Nancy Reagan's My Turn, Lt. Colonel Oliver North's Under Fire, and Tip O'Ne...
2022-08-161h 03
As Told ToSecond Printing: Laura ZigmanThis episode originally aired October 19, 2021. Laura Zigman is one of our leading voices in contemporary fiction. She's the author of five novels, including her genre-defining debut, Animal Husbandry, which enjoyed a second life on the screen as the Hugh Jackman/Ashley Judd starrer "Someone Like You," as well as her most recent novel, Separation Anxiety, which is currently being developed as a limited television series featuring the actress Julianne Nicholson. Laura's novels are known for their wit and insight, as she shines compelling light on women and families on the edge, but many of her...
2022-08-021h 03
As Told ToEpisode 21: Barbara Feinman ToddIf there's anyone who knows what it's like to be invited into "the kingdom of knowing," to borrow a phrase from journalist Richard Ben Cramer, it's podcast guest Barbara Feinman Todd, who graduated from The Washington Post Style desk to work as a researcher, book doctor, editor and spirit guide on books with Bob Woodward (Veil) and Carl Bernstein (Loyalties), and Ben Bradlee (A Good Life), leaving her uniquely positioned to reflect on the mind and mindsets of the three journalists who were perhaps most responsible for uncovering the Watergate scandal that ultimately led to the resignation of President...
2022-06-211h 21
As Told ToEpisode 20: Bruce VilanchTwo-time Emmy Award-winner Bruce Vilanch has written jokes for Bob Hope, Lily Tomlin, Barbra Streisand, Bette Midler, Billy Crystal, Whoopi Goldberg and virtually every Hollywood star to grace the Academy Awards stage from 1989 – 2014. As one of the entertainment industry's most sought-after joke writers, the actor, comedian and songwriter was perhaps best-known to audiences for his work behind-the-scenes at the Oscars, supplying one-liners to hosts and presenters. (Oscar-watchers are still talking about the year Jack Palance did push-ups on the stage, and the time Rob Lowe went rolling down the river with Snow White – two moments that left Bruce...
2022-06-071h 12
As Told ToEpisode 19: Rachel Lehmann-Haupt"I look in the mirror and I see a storyteller trying to make a living," says Rachel Lehmann-Haupt, founder and editor-in-chief of StoryMade, a boutique storytelling studio, when asked if she sees herself as a journalist, an editor, a ghostwriter, or a content strategist. As the author of In Her Own Sweet Time: Egg Freezing and the New Frontiers of Family, Rachel established herself as a leading voice on the future of family life and women's health issues. She has written for The New York Times, New York, O Magazine, Self, Wired, and Vogue, and she was recently honored...
2022-05-1057 min
As Told ToEpisode 18: George VecseyGeorge Vecsey has been writing about sports for the past 60 years—mostly about baseball, and soccer, and tennis, but also about hockey, and basketball, and football, and boxing. (Have we missed anything?) He wrote the Sports of the Times column for The New York Times for nearly 30 years, until his "retirement" in 2011, although he continues to contribute to the newspaper on a regular basis. Like many of his sportswriter colleagues, he started "ghostwriting" on behalf of celebrated personalities as a kind of sideline pursuit. Perhaps his most successful collaboration was his work with country music icon Loretta Ly...
2022-04-261h 23
As Told ToEpisode 9: Robert SabbagVeteran journalist and author Robert Sabbag joins the podcast to share the story behind the story of one of the greatest books ever written about drug smuggling—Snowblind: A Brief Career in the Cocaine Trade, a classic example of collaborative memoir that helped to establish him as one of the most esteemed chroniclers of his generation. No less an authority on these matters than Hunter S. Thompson hailed Sabbag on the book's publication as "a whip-song writer," leading our guest to a long career as a "whip-song" contributor to Rolling Stone, Men's Journal, Playboy, New York magazine, The New Yo...
2021-12-141h 33
As Told ToEpisode 8: William Novak"William Novak had the career I hadn't even known I wanted," host Daniel Paisner says of this episode's guest, who for a time seemed to have his have his hand in every major celebrity autobiography on bookstore shelves. Starting with the publication of the genre-defining best-seller Iacocca, by Lee Iacocca—the best-selling book of 1984 and 1985—Novak embarked on a string of collaborations on some of the biggest books of the next decade, including Earvin "Magic" Johnson's My Life, Nancy Reagan's My Turn, Lt. Colonel Oliver North's Under Fire, and Tip O'Neill's Man of the House. In fact, Nova...
2021-11-301h 13As Told ToEpisode 5: Laura ZigmanLaura Zigman is one of our leading voices in contemporary fiction. She's the author of five novels, including her genre-defining debut, Animal Husbandry, which enjoyed a second life on the screen as the Hugh Jackman/Ashley Judd starrer "Someone Like You," as well as her most recent novel, Separation Anxiety, which is currently being developed as a limited television series featuring the actress Julianne Nicholson. Laura's novels are known for their wit and insight, as she shines compelling light on women and families on the edge, but many of her most faithful readers are probably unaware of...
2021-10-191h 14As Told ToEpisode 2: David RensinVeteran journalist and collaborator David Rensin is the author or co-author of dozens of books, and a longtime contributor to Playboy, where he conducted hundreds of celebrity interviews for the magazine. As a ghostwriter, he has written numerous books in collaboration with leading show business personalities like noted film and television producer Bernie Brillstein (Where Did I Go Right?), as well as unsung heroes like former Olympian Louis Zamperini, whose World War II survival saga Devil at My Heels introduced readers to an epic tale of courage and survival that was later popularized in the film "Unbroken."
2021-09-0759 minAs Told ToEpisode 1: Michelle BurfordMichelle Burford is having a moment. As the co-author of six New York Times best-sellers, including the #1 best-selling Just as I Am, written with the legendary actress Cicely Tyson and published just days before Ms. Tyson's death in January at the age of 96, she has established herself as one of the leading collaborators in publishing. She actually prefers the term "story architect" to describe her work, over familiar handles like "ghostwriter" or "collaborator", but her work transcends labels or categorization. Michelle's books shine intimate light on the life and work of her celebrity subjects, as she pushes them to...
2021-09-071h 09As Told ToIntroducing As Told ToWelcome to As Told To: The Ghostwriting Podcast, where we take a look at the work behind many of the autobiographies and memoirs that dominate our best-seller lists. Artists, athletes, politicians, business and thought leaders, change agents of various sizes and stripes…a lot of them rely on the talents of some of our guests to help them tell their stories, and we believe there's something to be learned about the art and craft of writing when it is practiced in collaboration. Podcast host Daniel Paisner is a veteran ghostwriter, with more than 70 books to his credit, inc...
2021-08-2302 min
Writer's BoneFriday Morning Coffee: Author Daniel PaisnerDaniel Paisner, author of A Single Happened Thing and co-author of Ron Darling’s Game 7, 1986: Failure and Triumph in the Biggest Game of My Life, talks to Daniel Ford about how he became interested in storytelling, how an obscure baseball player inspired his recent novel, his love for the Mets, and why aspiring authors need to read widely to be successful.
2016-09-0933 min