Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast As Told To
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| Episode 102: Gathering of the Ghosts 2025 | 16 Dec 2025 | 01:14:57 | |
Join 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: Please support the sponsors who support our show:
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| Episode 101: Samantha Rose | 02 Dec 2025 | 01:03:35 | |
"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 the areas of spirituality, health and wellness, personal growth and parenting. Her books have been translated into more than 20 foreign languages and have been featured selections of Reese's Book Club and Target's Bookmarked Book Club. She is the principal of literary development and the head of client relations for Yellow Sky Media, her boutique editorial agency in Petaluma, Calif. Learn more about Samantha Rose: Please support the sponsors who support our show:
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| Episode 94: Ivy Pochoda | 29 Jul 2025 | 00:58:55 | |
Ivy 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 been a finalist for the prestigious Edgar Award. A former collegiate and professional squash player, Ivy has led a creative writing workshop in Skid Row, Los Angeles, and is currently a professor of creative writing at the University of California Riverside-Palm Desert low-residency MFA program. Writing fiction and playing squash are a lot alike, she says. "Both teach self-reliance and self-motivation. And both practice deception." Learn more about Ivy Pochoda:
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| Episode 14: Andrew Neiderman | 01 Mar 2022 | 01:00:34 | |
Andrew Neiderman is perhaps the world's most prolific ghostwriter, and, the most widely-read. Since 1987, he's been writing under the pen name of V.C. Andrews, helping to sustain one of publishing's most successful franchises, following the death of Cleo Virginia Andrews in 1986. Andrews is best-known to millions of readers as the author of Flowers in the Attic, a surprisingly dark family saga that was first published in 1979—a book that now features prominently in many discussions on book banning and cancel culture for its graphic content and its focus on death and imprisonment and incest…not exactly the stuff of school libraries, despite the fact that the book has appealed to young readers for generations. Neiderman, already an established and widely-published novelist in his own right, was hired by the V.C. Andrews estate to keep writing under name, and he went on to publish over 90 additional titles (including 2021's The Umbrella Lady and Out of the Rain) with no end in sight. He's also written nearly 50 books of his own, including The Devil's Advocate, the basis for the 1997 Taylor Hackford film of the same name, starring Al Pacino, as well as the stage adaptation of "Flowers in the Attic" and numerous screenplays. He is the author of the just-published The Woman Beyond the Attic: The V.C. Andrews Story, a celebration of the life and career of the woman who has been his muse for more than 35 years. Learn more about Andrew Neiderman: Please support the sponsors who support our show.
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| Episode 13: Bruce Weber | 15 Feb 2022 | 01:09:51 | |
Bruce Weber has led a rich and varied writing life. He has been a fiction editor, a magazine editor, a national arts correspondent and theater critic, and a metro reporter…oh, and for good measure, a ghostwriter. For many years, he wrote obituaries, weighing in with the final word on more than 1,000 notable deaths, which in his hands sprang from the page like notable lives, well and purposefully lived. Attentive listeners might recognize his voice, which was featured prominently (along with the rest of him) in the acclaimed 2016 documentary "Obit," from director Vanessa Gould, which shined compelling light on the men and women on The New York Times obit desk. A look back at his career reveals a writer with a gift for sharing other people's stories in a way that is truly his own. "I don't think it's self-aggrandizing to say that obituary writing is important work," he wrote in an op-ed piece upon his retirement from the paper of record in 2016. "An obituary is, after all, the first last word on a life, a public assessment of a human being's time on earth, a judgement on what deserves to be remembered." Before his retirement, Bruce found the time to write a couple of books of his own, including the best-selling As They See 'Em: A Fan's Travels in the Land of Umpires, and Life is a Wheel: Memoirs of a Bike-Riding Obituarist, as well as a book in collaboration with the dancer and choreographer Savion Glover (Savion! My Life in Tap). He is currently at work on a biography of the writer E.L. Doctorow. Learn more about Bruce Weber: Please support the sponsors who support our show.
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| Episode 12: Amy Ferris | 01 Feb 2022 | 01:13:07 | |
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 Clooney: Confessions from a Midlife Crisis, a wildly funny and yet achingly wistful collection of middle-of-the-night musings on life and death and connectedness. (Don't just take our word for it: The New York Times called it "poignant, free-wheeling, cranky and funny.") The book helped to establish Amy as a voice of her generation and a leading champion of women and women's issues. She is the co-editor of anthology Dancing at the Shame Prom: Sharing the Stories That Kept Us Small, and editor of Shades of Blue: Writers on Depression, Suicide and Feeling Blue, a collection of essays that looked to shine meaningful light on the shadow of depression. She is a founding board member of the Scranton, PA-based Pages & Places Literary Festival, a co-director of the Story Summit Writer's School, and a frequent guest at writer's conferences and workshops all over the world. Follow her on Facebook, where she posts almost daily on the stuff of her life and the human condition. Oh, and love...a whole lotta love. Learn more about Amy Ferris: Please support the sponsors who support our show.
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| Episode 11: Hilary Liftin | 18 Jan 2022 | 01:13:15 | |
"No one is born a celebrity," notes collaborator Hilary Liftin. As the author or co-author of more than 20 books, including 13 New York Times best-sellers, she knows this as well as anyone. In addition to her work behind-the-scenes helping to pen best-selling memoirs from stars such as Miley Cyrus, Tori Spelling, Mackenzie Phillips and Tatum O'Neil, she's also written three books of her own: Dear Exile, a collection of letters she exchanged with her college roommate while the latter was working for the Peace Corps in rural Kenya; Candy and Me, a memoir told through her lifelong obsession with candy; and the novel Movie Star by Lizzie Pepper, a fictionalized account of a life atop (and, alongside) Hollywood's A-list that Cosmopolitan hailed as "a juicy faux tell-all about the price of fame." "Every book is a puzzle," Hilary says of her collaborative projects. "My authors have the pieces. I help put them together." Learn more about Hilary Liftin: Please support the sponsors who support our show.
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| Episode 10: Michael Jan Friedman | 04 Jan 2022 | 01:22:39 | |
Michael Jan Friedman is one of the most successful sci-fi and fantasy writers on the planet—although in Mike's case we should probably specify the planet. Most of Mike's early work centered in and around the Star Trek universe, as the writer of novelizations based on the show and its many spin-offs. He's the author of the first "Star Trek: The Next Generation" hardcover, Reunion, which became a New York Times best-seller; and, co-writer of the acclaimed second-season "Star Trek: Voyager" episode, "Resistance." He's also written tie-in books for several other DC Comics and Marvel franchises, including the Aliens, Predator, and X-Men series, as well as more than 150 comics, most of them for DC, where he created the popular Darkstar comic book series. In all, Mike's written or co-written more than 70 books, including 11 New York Times best-sellers. Somewhere along the way, to fill the spaces between comics and novelizations, he tried his hand at ghostwriting, most notably with the New York Times best-selling Hollywood Hulk Hogan, written with the famed wrestler, and Ghost Hunting, written with Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson of the Syfy channel's "Ghost Hunters" series. He also became a New York City public school teacher, finding time to write in the evenings and on weekends—ticking yet another box on the checklist of a writing life. Together with a group of seven fellow science fiction writers, he founded Crazy 8 Press, where he continues to publish his original fiction. Learn more about Michael Jan Friedman: Please support the sponsors who support our show.
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| Episode 9: Robert Sabbag | 14 Dec 2021 | 01:33:25 | |
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 Stone, Men's Journal, Playboy, New York magazine, The New York Times Magazine, The Los Angeles Times Magazine, and other publications. Along the way, he also found time to work as a true ghostwriter on a couple of notable business memoirs, and to write the books Smokescreen: A True Adventure, Too Tough to Die, and Down Around Midnight: A Memoir of Crash and Survival. Sabbag is the co-writer of the film "Witness Protection," based on his New York Times Magazine cover story "The Invisible Family," which was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards, including Best Picture. Join host Daniel Paisner as he visits with his longtime friend to discuss his classic debut effort—"one of the most dazzling and spectacular pieces of reporting I have ever read," according to the late screenwriter and novelist Nora Ephron. How Robert Sabbag got that story is must-listening for all writers…and readers. Please support the sponsors who support our show.
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| Episode 8: William Novak | 30 Nov 2021 | 01:13:33 | |
"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, Novak was so busy during this period that he actually turned down the opportunity to work with both Ronald Reagan and Nelson Mandela—an astonishing turn for a writer who candidly admits he was a little out of his element when he got the Iacocca assignment, as he struggled to realize that his job was not to write about Iacocca, as a journalist might, but to help the former Chrysler chairman "write the book about himself, based on how he sees himself." Join us on this episode of As Told To: The Ghostwriting Podcast as we visit with the writer who helped to bring the work of the ghostwriter out of the shadows and into the light. Please support the sponsors who support our show.
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| Episode 7: Joni Rodgers | 16 Nov 2021 | 01:15:48 | |
Joni Rodgers is known to readers and publishers as a novelist, ghostwriter and essayist with an eye for detail, an ear for language and a heart to match her subjects. She's collaborated on best-selling books with Don Lemon (This is the Fire), Kristin Chenoweth (A Little Bit Wicked), Swoosie Kurtz (Part Swan, Part Goose), Elizabeth Smart (Where There's Hope), Justin Bieber (First Step 2 Forever), Rue McClanahan (My First Five Husbands…and the Ones Who Got Away), and Ndaba Mandela, the grandson of Nelson Mandela (Going to the Mountain), among others. In January, 2022, she plans to reissue six books of her own, including the critically-acclaimed novels Crazy for Trying and Sugarland and the deeply personal (and, deeply funny) memoir about surviving cancer as a young mom, following a diagnosis of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma at the age of 32—the best-selling Bald in the Land of Big Hair. Joni's always known how to hold an audience: she grew up on stage, performing in a family bluegrass band called The Dakota Ramblers, and after studying theater in college she thought she'd make her way in the world as a performer—acting, playing music, and doing voice-over work. The cancer changed that—and so, she started writing. "Ghostwriting combines the craft skills I've gained as a writer with the collaborative spirit of my theater roots," she writes on her website. "I use my Stanislavski training to capture the unique voice of my clients, structure compelling stories, and focus powerful messaging." Together with her husband, the multi-media artist Gary Rodgers, she runs the Westport Lighthouse Writers Retreat, on the Pacific Coast, adjacent to Washington's Westport Light State Park. Connect with Joni Rodgers: | |||
| Episode 6: D. Watkins | 02 Nov 2021 | 00:57:33 | |
"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–the housing projects of Red Hook, Brooklyn, and Baltimore. In the future Hall-of-Famer's just-published memoir, Where Tomorrows Aren't Promised: A Memoir of Survival and Hope, an immediate New York Times best-seller, D. helps his celebrated co-author share his story of finding a way out of no way at all, sounding the call for social justice and offering a guidepost for readers looking to pull success from struggle. More than any other athlete's memoir in recent memory, the book offers a perfect pairing of author and subject, as D. brings his own perspective to Anthony's hard-won experience. An editor-at-large for Salon, D.'s work has been featured in The New York Times Magazine, The Guardian, and Rolling Stone, among other publications. He is the author of the New York Times best-sellers The Cook Up: A Crack Rock Memoir and The Beast Side: Living and Dying While Black in America. Connect with D. Watkins: | |||
| Episode 5: Laura Zigman | 19 Oct 2021 | 01:14:57 | |
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 most faithful readers are probably unaware of her work as a collaborator—most notably with the comedian Eddie Izzard, Texas state senator Wendy Davis, and matchmaker Patti Novak. Over the years, she's leaned on her ghostwriting assignments as a way to fill the spaces between novels—and, to sharpen her instincts as a writer as she seeks ideas and inspiration for her fiction. In this episode of As Told To, she tells host Daniel Paisner that she sees herself as storyteller, whether she's helping to craft someone else's story or working in service of her own. "It's a very delicate dance," she says of the tug-and-pull that often surfaces between collaborator and subject. "You have to learn how to handle people. You have to give it back to them sometimes. You have to find that balance between being in service to them and their story and pushing back a little." Here's where you can find Laura online: | |||
| Episode 93: Amy Silverberg | 15 Jul 2025 | 01:03:08 | |
Amy 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, the agony of trying—and failing—to be someone else, and the thrill of discovering yourself along the way." "Somebody is always going through something," she writes in the novel, just published by Grand Central Publishing. "Somebody is always reading a book and finding himself there." Join us for a funny, thoughtful look at the ways Amy's comedy informs her writing, the ways her writing fuels her comedy, and the many ways she finds herself in her work. Learn more about Amy Silverberg: Please support the sponsors who support our show:
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| Episode 4: Lisa Dickey | 05 Oct 2021 | 01:10:52 | |
"Each author is different, and each book a puzzle we figure out together," Lisa Dickey writes, of her work as a collaborator. In the course of her career as one of publishing's most sought-after ghostwriters, Lisa has put together over 20 such puzzles, alongside a rich and varied list of high-profile clients, including first lady Jill Biden (Where the Light Enters); Illinois senator and Iraqi war veteran Tammy Duckworth (Every Day is a Gift); Cissy Houston (Remembering Whitney); and Patrick Swayze and Lisa Niemi (The Time of My Life). She has also written books with California Governor Gavin Newsom; legendary jazz pianist Herbie Hancock; and former Hearst Magazines president Cathie Black, among others. "I'm a storyteller at heart," Lisa writes, "and I feel incredibly lucky to have helped some of the most intriguing, accomplished and eminent people in the world tell their stories." She's not kidding about the "storyteller at heart" piece of the puzzle, because in addition to her collaborative work Lisa is also a "brilliant, real and readable" writer in her own right—at least according to no less an authority on such matters as former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, weighing in on Lisa's Bears in the Streets: Three Journeys Across a Changing Russia, a look at the lives and beliefs of contemporary Russians, based on interviews she conducted with the same subjects over the span of 20 years. Here's Lisa on how learning to speak Russian has informed her work as a writer: "When you start thinking about how [you are] going to express yourself in this other language, you start to really understand how language is put together… and how the native language that you speak affects the way that you think and the way that you express yourself." Lisa's feel for language finds its way into her collaborative work as well, as she translates the innermost thoughts of her subjects onto the page in such a way that their stories ring true. Check her out on stage at the Moth Grand Slam. Facebook: @lisadickeyauthor Twitter: @lisawritesbooks Website: http://lisadickey.com/ | |||
| Episode 3: Steve Kettmann | 21 Sep 2021 | 01:02:39 | |
Sportswriter, collaborator, editor, publisher…Steve Kettmann has just about covered the publishing waterfront. Perhaps his biggest success on the ghostwriting front was his 2005 collaboration with outsized baseball slugger Jose Canseco, Juiced, which made headlines immediately upon publication for its revelations on the widespread use of anabolic steroids in our national pastime and became a #1 New York Times best-seller. After nearly a decade as a sportswriter for the San Francisco Chronicle, highlighted by several years as a beat writer covering the Oakland A's, it seems only natural that many of Kettmann's books have centered in and around baseball—including an uncredited collaboration with another of the game's most controversial figures, Pete Rose (Play Hungry), as well as his own One Day at Fenway, chronicling a single game between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees, and Baseball Maverick, an examination of the life and career of the noted front-office visionary Sandy Alderson. Kettmann has also written extensively about politics, including collaborations with former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (What A Party!) and the late Robert Byrd, long-time U.S. Senator from West Virginia (Letter to a New President), among others. In recent years, Kettmann has turned his talents to editing, compiling a headline-making collection of essays on the aftermath of the Trump presidency (Now What?: The Voters Have Spoken – Essays on Life After Trump); and, a heart-breaking and heart-lifting compilation of reminiscences inspired by the sudden death of his great friend Pedro Gomez, the ESPN reporter and one of the game's greatest ambassadors (Remember Who You Are: What Pedro Gomez Showed Us About Baseball and Life). Both books were published by Wellstone Books, the small, independent publishing arm of the Wellstone Center in the Redwoods, a writer's retreat in northern California founded by Kettmann and Sarah Ringler in 2012. Over the course of his long and varied career, Kettmann has reported from twenty countries on five continents, for publications including the New York Times, New York Newsday, the Los Angeles Times, The New Republic, the Washington Monthly, GQ, and Wired.com. "I have a lot of passion for telling stories through collaborative writing," Kettmann says—and in this episode of "As Told To" that passion comes through loud and clear, as he joins us to discuss what it means to capture the juice and essence of a celebrated subject and a life purposefully (and, in some cases, scandalously) lived. Steve Kettmann: Twitter | Instagram This episode is sponsored by Libro.fm and Writer's Bone. | |||
| Episode 2: David Rensin | 07 Sep 2021 | 00:59:58 | |
Veteran 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." David's written a bunch of books on his own, too—including All For a Few Perfect Waves: The Audacious Life and Legend of Rebel Surfer Miki Dora, which the author himself pegs as "the greatest surf story never told." He's also written books on the legendary William Morris mailroom—and, with his friend Bill Zehme, The Bob Book, an unlikely tribute to the name Bob and to the many famous and not-so-famous men who carry it. "To me, each book is like falling in love," David tells host Daniel Paisner, as he shares insights and anecdotes from his collaborative work with such celebrated personalities as Tim Allen (Don't Stand Too Close to a Naked Man), Chris Rock (Rock This!), Garry Shandling (Confessions of a Late Night Talk Show Host), Jeff Foxworthy (No Shirt, No Shoes…No Problem!). We're delighted to share this free-wheeling conversation with the masterful celebrity interviewer and story-teller David Rensin in this episode of As Told To: The Ghostwriting Podcast, in which he shares stories he's dined out on for years—and a few he's never told before. David Rensin: Website | Facebook | Instagram Today's episode is sponsored by Libro.fm. | |||
| Episode 1: Michelle Burford | 07 Sep 2021 | 01:09:38 | |
Michelle 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 reflect on the choices they've made, the legacies they've built, and the challenges still to come. She asks hard questions and digs for buried truths. In addition to her work with Ms. Tyson, Michelle has also collaborated on the New York Times best-sellers Courage to Soar, with the game-changing Olympic gymnast Simon Biles; More Myself, with the Grammy Award-winning artist Alicia Keys; and, Finding Me, Michelle Knight's harrowing account of her decade-long ordeal following her abduction by Ariel Castro, who later kidnapped and held two other women with her at his Cleveland home. "I still find it a really big thrill to peek over into the life of someone like Simone Biles, Gabby Douglas, or Michelle Knight and have a part in putting that on the page for readers," Burford tells host Daniel Paisner. "A lot of what I do, and what we do as a group of collaborators, is shut up and allow our clients to tell the version of the story they most want us to know." Join us on As Told To: The Ghostwriting Podcast, as the abundantly talented Michelle Burford tells us the version of her story she most wants us to know. Michelle Burford: Website | Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn | Instagram Today's episode is sponsored by Libro.fm. | |||
| Introducing As Told To | 23 Aug 2021 | 00:02:01 | |
Welcome 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, including 17 New York Times best-sellers. He is the "voice" of Serena Williams, Steve Aoki, Daymond John, John Kasich, Whoopi Goldberg, Denzel Washington, Ray Lewis, Ron Darling, Gilbert Gottfried, and dozens of other name-above-the-title celebrities. He has also collaborated with ordinary individuals who have done or seen or experienced something extraordinary. He has been profiled in the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, ESPN: The Magazine and on National Public Radio. New York magazine once called him "the world's most prolific ghost," which may or may not have been a compliment. Join Daniel as he visits with his fellow collaborators as they talk about their time in the trenches with some of the world's biggest celebrities—and what it means to devote yourself to the telling of someone else's story. Our books are read by millions, and yet we work behind-the-scenes, often in anonymity, so perhaps it's time to share a little something of ourselves in these conversations. Yes, everybody's got a story to tell, and here at As Told To, we mean to shine a little bit of light on how a great many of those stories find their way into print—and how it is that collaborative work can help to nourish a writing life. Episodes 1 & 2 air on Sept. 7! | |||
| Episode 92: Carla Sosenko | 01 Jul 2025 | 01:07:46 | |
Veteran 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 So Hot in a Coffin: And Other Thoughts I Used to Have About My Body, Carla writes with candor and great good cheer about growing up with a rare congenital vascular disorder known as Klippel-Trenaunay Syndrome—a disorder that shaped the way she looked out at the world, and the ways the world looked back in turn. "If you are thin, even if you are too thin, life is inherently safer," she writes. "The world order puts thin people at the top, with the rest of us below struggling for air. Many of us have been gasping for decades." In her new book—hailed by Harper's Bazaar prior to publication as "raw, vulnerable, and utterly hilarious—she breathes deep and sounds a clarion call for anyone who has ever been made to feel like an outsider or told they should take up less space. Learn more about Carla Sosenko: Please support the sponsors who support our show:
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| Episode 91: John Kasich | 17 Jun 2025 | 00:53:39 | |
Heaven 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 write about the governor's long-time Bible study group, about his 2016 presidential campaign, and a primer on what it takes to live a life of purpose and meaning, encouraging readers to be the change they wanted to see in this world. In Heaven Help Us, Gov. Kasich continues to explore the themes that have defined his public life, as he shines a powerful light on a group of extraordinary people who are working selflessly to transform their communities—work that is being magnified by their churches, synagogues and mosques. "My goal here is to get readers to think outside themselves for a bit, to think bigger than themselves," he writes. "To open their hearts to what's possible instead of what's impossible." Learn more about John Kasich: Please support the sponsors who support our show:
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| Episode 90: Art Bell | 03 Jun 2025 | 00:58:56 | |
"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 the network's daily live courtroom coverage and the production of hundreds of hours of original true-crime television series, documentaries, and movies, becoming a guiding force behind one of the most successful brand evolutions in cable television. He credits his time at Court TV with helping him to master the mechanics of storytelling. "The challenge," he said in a recent interview, "was to find the pacing that worked for the story, to include twists, exploit red herrings, and most of all, to make sure the audience stayed riveted and came back after the commercial break." Art's first novel, What She's Hiding, was just published by Ulysses Press, which had previously published his memoir, Constant Comedy: How I Started Comedy Central and Lose My Sense of Humor. In addition to his books, he has published short stories, non-fiction and satire in several journals, including Lowestoft Chronicle, The Ocotillo Review, and Aethlon: The Journal of Sports Literature. Learn more about Art Bell: Please support the sponsors who support our show:
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| Episode 89: Alan Zweibel | 20 May 2025 | 01:41:28 | |
"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. Over the course of his 50-year career, he has penned jokes for dozens of Borscht Belt comedians and written for some of SNL's most memorable characters (such as Gilda Radner's "Roseanne Rosannadanna," John Belushi's "Samurai," and Garrett Morris's "Chico Escuela"), and helped to craft SNL producer Lorne Michaels's now-legendary appeal to invite the Beatles to appear on the show for the standard artist fee of $3,000. Alan is the recipient of five Emmy Awards for his work in television, which in addition to SNL also includes "It's Garry Shandling's Show" (which he co-created and produced), "The Late Show with David Letterman," and "Curb Your Enthusiasm." He is the author of 11 books, including the 2006 Thurber Prize-winning novel The Other Shulman, and Bunny Bunny: Gilda Radner—A Sort of Romantic Comedy, and six off-Broadway plays. He also collaborated with Billy Crystal on the Tony Award-winning play "700 Sundays," and with Martin Short on his Broadway hit "Fame Becomes Me," and co-wrote the screenplays for the films "Dragnet," "North," "The Story of Us," and "Here Today." He joins us on the podcast to reflect on a singular career as one of our leading comedy writers and humorists—and a wickedly funny body of work that has earned him an honorary Ph.D. from the State University of New York, and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Writers Guild of America, East. Learn more about Alan Zweibel: Please support the sponsors who support our show:
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| Episode 88: Rachel Holtzman | 06 May 2025 | 01:07:34 | |
How 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 the kitchen at New York's Gramercy Tavern helped to launch her career as an in-demand cookbook co-author and recipe tester and developer. "We're climbing inside the minds or the lives of our clients in order to produce something that is really of them," she reflects, "while also leaving behind a pretty big footprint of our own, because it is of us as well. We're not ChatGPT." Rachel joins us at a busy time on the collaboration front, as she celebrates the publication of four new titles this month—Tahini Baby, a collection of "veg-forward" Middle Eastern and Mediterranean-inspired recipes, written with television food personality Edin Grinshpan; The Wishbone Kitchen Cookbook, featuring seasonal recipes from celebrity chef and style curator Meredith Hayden; Living in Wisdom, a guide to peak living, from wellness educator Devi Brown; and, Playful by Design, a parenting primer on nurturing independent play, from Myriam Sandler, creator and founder of the Mothercould lifestyle platform. Learn more about Rachel Holtzman: Please support the sponsors who support our show:
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| Episode 87: Adam Ross | 22 Apr 2025 | 01:10:08 | |
Adam 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 and Gentlemen, which featured a story entitled "In the Basement," a finalist for the BBC International Story Prize. Adam has been the Mary Ellen von der Heyden fellow in fiction at the American Academy in Berlin, and a Hodder Fellow for Fiction at Princeton University. His non-fiction has appeared in The New York Times Book Review, The Daily Beast, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and other publications. Since 2017, he has been the editor of The Sewanee Review, the oldest, continuously published literary quarterly in the United States. He joins us to discuss his remarkable new novel, and the collaborative aspects of his work as one of our most acclaimed editors and novelists. Learn more about Adam Ross and the topics discussed in the episode: Please support the sponsors who support our show:
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| Episode 86: Salwa Emerson | 08 Apr 2025 | 01:11:05 | |
"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 as St. Martin's Press and DK Publishing. Her most recent publication—The Conservative Environmentalist: Common Sense Solutions for a Sustainable Future, written with environmentalist Benji Backer—was hailed by former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger prior to publication as "an essential read that shows how protecting our natural resources and advancing America's national interests are mutually reinforcing goals." Join us as Salwa shares her thoughts on helping to find an author's "voice", the three clauses all ghostwriters should have in their contracts, and the best ways to engage with readers, fellow writers and potential clients. Learn more about Salwa Emerson: Please support the sponsors who support our show:
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| Episode 85: Elizabeth Shockman | 25 Mar 2025 | 01:01:21 | |
"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 bowed, their bodies corded with muscle, like sallow stalagmites that had mushroomed off the floor of a cave." Womack's story offers a first-hand glimpse of the cutthroat world of ballet, complete with acts of violence and intrigue, tales of eating disorders and body shaming, and profiles of legendary Bolshoi coaches who encouraged obsessive devotion and imposed their uncompromising standards on their young charges. And yet beneath the ugliness of graft and competition, the author's love of dance and her appreciation for the place ballet holds in Russian culture fairly leap off the page, as she reflects on the intersection of art and politics and exposes the shadowy underbelly of the world of professional ballet. First-time collaborator Elizabeth Shockman is a public radio journalist based in Minnesota. Her work has been featured on National Public Radio, Public Radio International, Minnesota Public Radio, and the BBC. She has previously written for Reuters, The Moscow Times, and other publications. She first met Joy Womack on assignment for Reuters in Moscow and spent over a dozen years collaborating with her on this book. (Yes, Elizabeth agrees, that's a very long time to work on one project, but as she shares in this episode of As Told To: The Ghostwriting Podcast, it sometimes happens that life and career take center stage, both for an author and her subject, as memoir waits in the wings.) Learn more about Elizabeth Shockman: Please support the sponsors who support our show:
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| Episode 100: Alex DeMille | 18 Nov 2025 | 00:59:47 | |
Nelson 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 Deserter and Blood Lines, both immediate New York Times best-sellers. Its publication offers Alex DeMille an opportunity to reflect on growing up under the influence of one of our finest storytellers—a backdrop that at first inspired Alex to become a filmmaker. A graduate of the MFA program in film at UCLA, Alex's films have won many awards and fellowships, and have played at festivals worldwide, including "My Nephew Emmett, " which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short in 2018. "I want to thank my father," he writes in an emotional grace note to the new book, "who might be reading this somewhere among the stars with a good scotch in hand. Thank you for all you've given me, all you've taught me, for your love, your encouragement, for making me laugh and making me think. Thank you for trusting me. Thank you for showing me the way. I hope this makes you proud." Learn more about Alex DeMille: Please support the sponsors who support our show:
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| Episode 84: David Peisner | 11 Mar 2025 | 01:06:52 | |
David 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 sure this is the one," he wrote upon the book's publication. That book, Professional Idiot, became a New York Times best-seller, and led to a follow-up title, A Hard Kick in the Nuts, and a string of ghostwriting projects that helped to supplement Peisner's income as a freelance newspaper and magazine writer. Curiously, those two Steve-O books made headlines in December 2024, when they surfaced on the Goodreads account of suspected "CEO Killer" Luigi Mangione, charged with the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson—a connection that put Peisner's work in an unexpected sliver of spotlight. It also brought his collaborative work to the attention of the similarly-named host of this here podcast, resulting in this conversation. Join us for a reflection on what it takes to build a career as a freelance journalist, and how to walk the fine line between writing about a celebrity subject and writing for a celebrity subject. Learn more about David Peisner:
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| Episode 83: Cynthia DiTiberio | 25 Feb 2025 | 01:03:41 | |
"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 she went on to co-author a number of best-selling books with a variety of well-known personalities, including Emmy-nominated actress and producer Roma Downey; author-turned-political activist Marianne Williamson; and business strategist and motivational speaker Tony Robbins. She currently writes the Substack newsletter "The Mother Lode," and is the former publisher of Literary Mama, and her work has appeared in Scary Mommy, The Lily, Mutha Magazine and The Voices Project. Learn more about Cynthia DiTiberio: Please support the sponsors who support our show:
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| Episode 82: Hannah Bos & Paul Thureen | 11 Feb 2025 | 00:33:07 | |
We'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 its three-season run in December, shortly after the creators sat with Daniel Ford to discuss the series—hailed by The Los Angeles Times as "epic television"—and we were charmed by their conversation, inviting listeners behind the scenes to reflect on how the show came about, and the singular place it now holds in the annals of bittersweet television. Paul Thureen is a founder and co-Artistic Director of The Debate Society, a Brooklyn-based theater company. He received an OBIE Award for his performance in the company's Blood Play. Hannah Bos, also a founder and co-founder of the company, received a Drama Desk Award for her performance in the Signature Theater Company's production of Will Eno's The Open House. Together, they have written for "Mozart in the Jungle" and "High Maintenance," and developed pilots for HBO, FOX, Amazon and Paramount. "This has been a dream come true," Hannah reflected on the duo's "Somebody Somewhere" run as the series came to a close. "It was a dream that they made the pilot. It was a dream that they made the first season, the second season, the third season. And it was a dream that we made it with really fun, good people. So I hope we can do it again." Paul's reflections were a little less…well, reflective, as he shared what it was like to write for a group of midwestern-ish characters who weren't used to talking about their feelings. "If it gets a little too real," he said, of the pain and heartache that could often be found at the show's core, "then you have to make a fart joke." Indeed. Learn more about Hannah Bos and Paul Thureen:
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| Episode 81: Laura Morton | 28 Jan 2025 | 01:33:53 | |
"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 Lasega Books, her own imprint at Forefront Books, an innovative independent publisher. Over the years, Laura has worked with a wide range of celebrities, entrepreneurs and innovators, including Joan Lunden, Al Roker, Jennifer Hudson, Susan Lucci, Melissa Etheridge, Justin Bieber, Danica Patrick, John Maxwell, Glenn Stearns, and the Jonas Brothers. Laura is also the writer, co-director, and producer of the award-winning 2022 documentary "Anxious Nation," exploring the age of anxiety and depression, and a leading mental health advocate and workshop facilitator. Join us for a wide-ranging conversation on the changing face of publishing, as Laura reflects on her long career as one of the industry's leading storytellers, and on her recent shift from ghostwriter to "mission-driven" publisher, helping to build a platform for her collaborative clients and other authors looking to land their stories on America's bookshelf. Learn more about Laura Morton: Please support the sponsors who support our show:
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| Episode 80: Benjamin Dreyer | 14 Jan 2025 | 01:13:37 | |
"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 writers such as Michael Chabon, Edmund Morris, Suzan-Lori Parks, E.L. Doctorow, Elizabeth Strout, and Shirley Jackson into print. Somewhere in there, he also found time to write a book of his own: The New York Times best-selling stylebook Dreyer's English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style—a "brilliant, pithy, incandescently intelligent book [that] is to contemporary writing what Geoffrey Chaucer's poetry was to medieval English," according to Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jon Meacham, another Random House author who benefited from our guest's unseen hand. Join us as Benjamin reflects on the collaborative role of the copyeditor in the publishing process, on the joys of creative footnoting, on the particularly lovely frustration of working with Isabella Rossellini, on a writer's lifetime allotment of exclamation points, and the excesses to be pruned from phrases like "assless chaps," "slightly ajar," and "passing fad." (Note the ever-popular serial comma in the previous sentence, and the expenditure of one of those allotted exclamation points in this parenthetical aside!) Learn more about Benjamin Dreyer: Please support the sponsors who support our show:
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| Second Printing: Peter Asher and David Jacks | 31 Dec 2024 | 01:21:57 | |
This 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 asked Asher if he would sit for an interview. The aspiring journalist thought he might use the interview as the basis for an article in a music magazine, but the two-time Grammy-winning Producer of the Year didn't think anyone would want to read it. Nevertheless, that first interview led to another… and another… and on and on. Over the next two decades, the two continued to talk, while Jacks lined up interviews with hundreds of musicians and record industry professionals who had worked with Asher over the years, eventually leading to the publication of Peter Asher: A Life in Music, the first book-length account of the producer's life and career. Join us for a two-part conversation with author and subject, as Asher reflects on a book he never thought anyone would be interested in reading, and Jacks shares what it was like to tease out the story of a shape-shifting pioneer—"a fascinating music business anomaly," according to The New York Times, who could never quite understand what all the fuss was about. Learn more about our guests:
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| Episode 79: Seth Rogoff Returns | 17 Dec 2024 | 01:14:08 | |
Here 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 Kirkus Reviews as "a well-balanced blend of activism and memoir." In that first interview, we talked a little bit about Seth's work as a noted Kafka translator, and we're picking up that conversation here, as Seth celebrates the publication of The Castle—"a palimpsestic fever dream" of a novel, according to another noted Kafka translator, Ross Benjamin. (Go ahead and look up palimpsestic—we'll wait.) In this follow-up conversation, we talk with Seth about the collaborative nature of translation, the state of contemporary memoir, and the never-ending search to find meaningful stories in the life and work of others. Learn more about Seth Rogoff: Please support the sponsors who support our show:
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| Episode 78: Mike Thomas | 03 Dec 2024 | 01:08:32 | |
"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 halted his progress. When he died in 2023, The New York Times cited "Carson the Magnificent" in his obit as one of the entertainment world's "great unfinished biographies." Enter podcast guest Mike Thomas, Bill Zehme's former research assistant and longtime friend, who was tapped to complete the project, which was an immediate New York Times best-seller upon its publication last month. "Everything I needed (and so much more) was there, somewhere, stashed in long-unopened binders and torn envelopes and dusty bins," Mike Thomas writes of this collaboration. "It was mostly a matter of sifting through the stockpile, extracting and sorting the relevant material and reaching out to a handful of Bill's sources, all of whom were eager to help, for further illumination. But I've never lost sight of the fact that, despite my contributions, this is Bill's book." The book, Mike says, has been a blessing, gifting him the chance to keep connected to a close pal with whom he can no longer communicate directly—a mentor who cheered him on during his own career as arts and entertainment features writer at the Chicago Sun-Times, as a regular contributor to Chicago magazine, and as the author of two critically-acclaimed books of his own—The Second City Unscripted and You Might Remember Me: The Life and Times of Phil Hartman. Learn more about Mike Thomas: Mentioned on the show:
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| Second Printing: Winnie Holzman | 26 Nov 2024 | 01:16:40 | |
This 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 her a prestigious Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Book of a Musical, as well as a Tony nomination for Best Book of a Musical. Prior to her Emmy-nominated work on "My So-Called Life," which she created for executive producers Ed Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz, Winnie wrote several scripts for the Zwick-Herskovitz drama "Thirtysomething," and she would go on to serve as executive producer of "Roadies," created by Cameron Crowe, and as co-creator of the series "Huge," with her daughter Savannah Dooley. Join us as Winnie reflects on her wickedly successful career writing for the stage and the small screen, the many ways writers measure their successes, and the give-and-take that has fueled her collaborations with some of the most creative minds in theater and television. Please support the sponsors who support our show:
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| Episode 77: Hal Donaldson | 19 Nov 2024 | 01:02:07 | |
Hal 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 what does all of this have to do with ghostwriting? Well, before launching Convoy of Hope, Hal started out as a journalist and ghostwriter. Early on in his career, on a ghostwriting assignment in Calcutta, he had the opportunity to interview Mother Teresa, who turned the tables on their interview and asked the young journalist what he was doing to repair the world. Hal had no answer, but when he returned to the United States a short while later, he rallied his friends and family and began donating goods and supplies to communities in need. As the organization has grown, Hal has continued to write. He's just out with his latest collaboration, What Really Matters: How to Care for Yourself and Serve a Hurting World, written in collaboration with his daughter Lindsay Donaldson-Kring. Join us for an inspiring conversation on what really matters, as Hal Donaldson reflects on the good works that continue to flow from the first strokes of his pen. Learn more about Hal Donaldson:
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| Episode 99: Matthew Winkler | 04 Nov 2025 | 00:53:22 | |
Student 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 behind, despite being the first female jazz singer to visit the Soviet Union, accompanying bandleader Benny Goodman, and earning the distinction of being one of Duke Ellington's favorite singers. "Public-facing history is very important to me," Matthew told a reporter for Tufts Now, the university's alumni magazine, in an article detailing how the Tufts undergraduate grew a student research project into a feature-length documentary, with the help of his professors and mentors. "I hope this film will make people know who Joya Sherrill is and why we should care about her. On a broader level, I think a documentary like this will make people realize how easy it is for remarkable figures to fall through the cracks of history." With this conversation, it is hoped, he might also signal to aspiring storytellers how easy it is to keep their eyes and ears open for stories that might move us, inspire us, and enlighten us. Learn more about Matthew Winkler: Please support the sponsors who support our show:
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| Episode 76: Aaron Philip Clark | 05 Nov 2024 | 01:11:03 | |
What 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 of becoming a Texas Ranger, who sets off on the tail of a hardened Vietnam vet bad guy who steals the secrets of the rich and powerful. In addition to writing fiction and screenplays, Aaron teaches creative writing at UCLA Extension, and he collaborates with a variety of public figures and luminaries. Learn more about Aaron Philip Clark: Please support the sponsors who support our show:
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| Episode 75: Betsy Lerner | 22 Oct 2024 | 01:19:23 | |
"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 The New York Times best-selling Visual Thinking, written in collaboration with Temple Grandin, in addition to writing several non-fiction books of her own, including the memoir The Bridge Ladies, and the writing guidebook The Forest for the Trees. A recovering poet, Betsy received an MFA in poetry from Columbia University, where she was selected as one of PEN's Emerging Writers, before trading her pen for a red pencil and embarking on a heralded career as an editor. With the publication of her first novel, longlisted prior to publication for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, Betsy kick-starts an exciting new chapter in her writing life, offering a rich, bittersweet tale of sisterhood, mental health, love and loss, and reminding us that it's never too late to become the artist you were always meant to be. Learn more about Betsy Lerner: Please support the sponsors who support our show:
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| Episode 74: Jill Sobule | 08 Oct 2024 | 01:07:20 | |
Over 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 stellar New York singer-songwriters of the last decade"—high praise that has surely applied in all subsequent decades. Jill's songs are enchanting, disarmingly funny and achingly poignant, and many of them are featured in her Drama Desk-nominated autobiographical musical "F*ck 7th Grade," which premiered at the Wild Project in NYC in 2022 and returns for a limited engagement in November 2024. "We didn't have to create a story around these songs," she says of the show, which she really, really hopes isn't dismissed as just another jukebox musical featuring songs from an artist's back catalogue. "These songs are my story. I just wrote a few more to fill out the narrative." Jill joins us on the podcast to discuss her rich and varied career as one of the music industry's most uniquely collaborative artists. She's performed with musicians such as Neil Young, Billy Bragg, Steve Earle, Cyndi Lauper, and Warren Zevon, and once released a concept album of original music with lyrics written by some of her favorite writers, including Jonathan Lethem, Rick Moody, Mary Jo Salter, Vendela Vida, and David Hajdu. She regularly tours with comedian/actress/author Julia Sweeney in their two-woman "Jill & Julia" show. Two highlights from the very many cool, pinch me-type moments that have stamped Jill Sobule's remarkable career: she inducted Neil Diamond into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame, and she appeared as herself on an episode of "The Simpsons." So, you know, there's that. Learn more about Jill Sobule: Please support the sponsors who support our show:
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| Episode 73: J. Michael Straczynski | 24 Sep 2024 | 01:09:58 | |
"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 "Superman," "Wonder Woman," and "Before Watchmen" titles. These days, Joe is spending most of his time throwing rocks on behalf of his late friend Harlan Ellison, the legendary writer of speculative fiction, who is having a bit of a moment more than six years after his death. As the executor of the Harlan Ellison estate, Joe has been the driving force behind the re-release of the first two installments of Ellison's landmark story collections Dangerous Visions and Again, Dangerous Visions, which the author had always imagined as a trilogy. Now, thanks to Joe Straczynski's dedication, the long-awaited third installment of "the most significant and controversial Science Fiction collections of our time," will finally see the light of day with the publication of The Last Dangerous Visions, due from Blackstone Publishing in October 2024. "Harlan was my friend, and I have an obligation to him to get his work where it needs to be, in front of a mainstream audience," Joe reflects on a year that has also seen the publication of a new collection of Ellison's stories (Greatest Hits) as well as a novel of his own (The Glass Box). Join us as we talk with J. Michael Straczynski on his influences as a writer, on the art and craft of storytelling in all its many forms, and on what it has meant to him to be able to breathe new life into the work of an artist hailed by the Los Angeles Times as "a twentieth-century Lewis Carroll." Learn more about J. Michael Straczynski: Please support the sponsors who support our show:
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| Episode 72: Nancy French | 10 Sep 2024 | 01:16:21 | |
Best-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 presidential campaign plane is a joy." Join us as we kick off Season 4 at the podcast factory with an insight-filled conversation on what it means to lend your voice to leaders who share your values, only to find yourself "ghosted" by a political establishment that seemed to want to punish you for your refusal to endorse the 2016 Republican Presidential nominee. Learn more about Nancy French: Please support the sponsors who support our show:
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| Second Printing: Frank Santopadre | 27 Aug 2024 | 01:27:26 | |
Originally 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 he also wrote for Mad and Cracked magazines? And the somewhat less zany The New York Times, The Washington Post, People, US Weekly, and Politico? Along the way, he has created comedy material for an eclectic line-up of celebrated personalities, including Bill Murray, Howard Stern, Sarah Silverman, Meryl Streep, Martin Short, and Ben Stiller, and briefly served as a staff writer on what he proudly calls "the worst sitcom in television history"—a forgettable show from the late '90s called "Lost on Earth," hailed by The Los Angeles Times during its mercifully-brief run as "mirthless." Join us for a somewhat more mirth-filled hour, as we talk about what it was like to help give voice to one of the most singular voices in the annals of American comedy—a joyful burden Frank kinda, sorta shared with podcast host Daniel Paisner, who collaborated with Gilbert Gottfried on his 2011 memoir Rubber Balls and Liquor. Learn more about Frank Santopadre, visit his official website, like his Facebook page, and follow him on Twitter. Please support the sponsors who support our show:
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| Episode 71: Gathering of the Ghosts | 13 Aug 2024 | 01:10:28 | |
Join 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: Please support the sponsors who support our show:
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| Episode 70: Hope Edelman | 30 Jul 2024 | 01:15:49 | |
Hope 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 was being called to write about her mother's death more than a decade earlier. It's a calling that connects Hope to her ghostwriting clients as well. Her first collaboration, a dual memoir written with actors Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez—Along the Way: The Journey of a Father and Son—is informed by the death of Sheen's mother, when the actor was just 11 years old, while her current project, written with Owen Elliot-Kugell, the daughter of the late Cass Elliot—My Mama, Cass—finds its narrative drive in the sudden death of the author's mother, who died in her sleep in a London apartment nearly ten years after she shot to fame as a member of The Mamas & The Papas. The recipient of a Pushcart Prize for Creative Nonfiction, Hope has taught writing at the Iowa Summer Writing Festival, the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center, the University of Iowa, and Antioch University-Los Angeles. Join us for a compelling conversation on what it means to find a way to heal as you find your voice as a writer. Learn more about Hope Edelman: Please support the sponsors who support our show:
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| Episode 69: Adam Nimoy | 16 Jul 2024 | 01:13:43 | |
Television 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 in entertainment law, before becoming a filmmaker, ultimately directing dozens of network television shows—some of them, he allows with self-deprecating good cheer, "sublime", and some of them "eminently unwatchable." He also directed the documentary "For the Love of Spock," which was originally conceived as a collaborative venture with his father shortly before the actor's death in 2015. Adam also taught writing, directing and acting at the New York Film Academy, and filmmaking at Beit T'Shuvah, an addiction treatment center. "Whether you're a Leonard Nimoy fan, a Trekkie, or from another planet," writes noted rabbi and social justice advocate Shmuly Yanklowitz, "you are sure to find this vulnerable, brave, humorous, and intimate story about Spock, the outer limits, a father-son relationship, and teshuvah (recovery and repair) deeply moving." Learn more about Adam Nimoy: Please support the sponsors who support our show:
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| Episode 68: Michael Franklin | 02 Jul 2024 | 01:06:17 | |
Michael 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 Black- and Gen Z-owned and certified LGBT Business Enterprise, Michael has developed a reputation as a leading communications strategist, working with clients in higher education, political advocacy, philanthropy, corporate social responsibility, sports and entertainment. Michael's commitment to telling stories through coalition building, targeted outreach and inclusive communications practices has its roots in his commitment to public speaking and debating. While a student at Howard University, he was the inaugural HBCU Speech and Debate League National Champion in both Parliamentary Debate and Extemporaneous Speaking and helped to lead the school's debate team in 2019's "Great Debate" against Harvard University. Learn more about Michael Franklin: Please support the sponsors who support our show:
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| Episode 98: Michael E. Long | 21 Oct 2025 | 01:16:18 | |
Podcast 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, most on New York stages. He was finalist for the grand prize in screenwriting at the Slamdance Film Festival. A popular keynote speaker, Mr. Long has addressed audiences around the world, including at Oxford University. He teaches writing at Georgetown University, where he is a former director of writing. The son of a southern preacher, Mike's call to writing found him close to home. "I learned how to write," he says, "and how words should go together, by listening to the music of my father's voice." Join us for a fun, freewheeling conversation on a writing life lived at the crosshairs of the written word and the spoken word. Learn more about Michael E. Long: Please support the sponsors who support our show:
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