Book Ghostwriting
You have the expertise, experiences, ideas, and stories. We help turn them into a professionally written manuscript that reflects your voice and vision.
About Pen for Hire
Your Story Is Already Inside You. We Help You Get It Onto the Page.
Your Story Is Already Inside You. We Help You Get It Onto the Page.
You don’t have to be a professional writer to become a published author. You don’t need a finished manuscript, a perfect outline, or even a clear idea of exactly how your book should begin. What you need is something worth saying.
At Pen for Hire, we help entrepreneurs, executives, professionals, thought leaders, and people with extraordinary life experiences turn their knowledge, ideas, and stories into books. Sometimes that means coaching you through the writing process. Sometimes that means collaborating with you. And sometimes that means sitting down with you, asking the right questions, and ghostwriting the book for you.
Our job isn’t simply to put words on a page. Our job is to discover the story that only you can tell—and help you tell it in a way your readers will remember.
The Pen for Hire Provocation Process™
Producing Protagonists 1 Page at a Time
Most people don’t need someone to tell them how to write a book. They need someone to help them figure out what their book should be. That’s why we developed the Pen for Hire Provocation Process™.
“Provocation” is intentional. We believe great books aren’t created by simply asking, “What do you want to write about?” They’re created by asking better questions. What happened to you? Why did it matter? What did you learn? What do you know now that you wish you had known then? Who needs to hear what you have to say? And perhaps most importantly: Why should this book exist?
Our Provocation Process is designed to answer those questions before we ever start worrying about the first chapter.
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1.
Tell Us Your Story in 15–30 Minutes
Start talking. You don’t need to prepare a presentation or write an outline. We simply want to hear your story. In as little as 15–30 minutes, we can begin identifying the experiences, expertise, ideas, and turning points that could form the foundation of your book.
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2.
Uncover Why You Want to Write a Book
There is usually a deeper reason someone wants to become an author. Maybe you want to share your story. Maybe you want to leave something behind for your family. Maybe you have spent decades developing expertise that you want to pass on. Maybe you want to establish yourself as a thought leader. Or maybe you’ve always wanted to see your name on the cover of a book. Understanding why you want to write is essential to determining what your book should ultimately become.
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3.
Define Your Goal
A book is a means to an end. Before we begin writing, we want to understand what success looks like for you—whether that is to educate, inspire, build credibility, attract new clients, generate speaking opportunities, strengthen your personal brand, leave a legacy, sell books, or accomplish something entirely different. Your goal influences everything from the structure of your book to its audience, positioning, publishing strategy, and marketing.
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4.
Determine Your Target Reader
The best books aren’t written for everyone. They’re written for someone. We help you identify who that person is and what they need from your book. Understanding your target reader allows us to make better decisions about your message, tone, structure, examples, stories, and ultimately how the book is positioned in the marketplace.
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5.
Explore How Your Book Can Become a Business Tool
For many of our clients, the book isn’t the end goal. It’s the beginning. A professionally written book can become an extraordinarily powerful business and personal branding tool.
- Establish authority in your industry
- Build credibility with prospective clients
- Generate leads
- Create speaking opportunities
- Support sales and marketing efforts
- Differentiate yourself from competitors
- Strengthen your personal brand
- Open doors to media opportunities
- Create new networking opportunities
- Provide valuable content for presentations, courses, podcasts, and social media
- Create an additional source of revenue
We help you think beyond “How do I write a book?” We help you answer: “What can this book do for me when it’s finished?”
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6.
Choose the Right Pen for Hire Engagement
Not everyone needs the same kind of help. Some people want to write their own books but need professional guidance, accountability, and feedback. Others have the story and the expertise but don’t have the time—or desire—to write the manuscript themselves. And others have already written a manuscript and need help turning it into a polished, publishable book. That’s why Pen for Hire offers flexible ways to work together, including book coaching, ghostwriting, collaborative writing, editing, and publishing support. We’ll help determine which approach makes the most sense for you.
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7.
Lay Out the Publishing Options and Timeline
Once we understand your book and your goals, we’ll help you determine what the path to publication looks like. We’ll discuss the type of book you’re creating, potential publishing options, production requirements, and a realistic timeline for getting from idea to finished book. You shouldn’t have to become a publishing expert just to become an author. That’s what we’re here for.
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8.
Start Writing
Only after we’ve answered the important questions do we begin putting the book together. Because by then, we know your story, your purpose, your goal, your reader, your opportunity—and most importantly, why your book deserves to exist. That’s how we produce protagonists—one page at a time.
More Than Ghostwriting
We Help You Become an Author
Ghostwriting is one of the services we provide, but it’s not the entire Pen for Hire experience. We believe there are many different paths to becoming a published author.
Book Coaching
You want to write the book yourself. We provide the structure, guidance, feedback, accountability, and expertise to help you get it finished.
Collaborative Writing
You want to remain closely involved in the writing process but need a professional writer to help develop and execute the manuscript.
Editing & Manuscript Development
You’ve already written your book. We help transform your manuscript into a stronger, clearer, more compelling finished product.
Publishing Support
We can help you navigate the final stages of bringing your book to readers, including formatting, design, and publication preparation.
Why Choose Pen for Hire?
Because Your Story Deserves More Than a Ghostwriter
There are plenty of people who can write. That’s not what makes a great ghostwriter. A great ghostwriter knows how to listen.
- How to listen.
- How to ask questions.
- How to recognize the important story hidden inside an ordinary conversation.
- How to turn decades of experience into a compelling narrative.
- How to organize ideas that may have taken a lifetime to develop.
- How to make a reader feel like they’re sitting across the table from the person who wrote the book.
Our approach is built around conversation and provocation because we believe the best material often isn’t sitting in your computer. It’s sitting in your head. Our job is to get it out.
From Idea to Published Book
Whether you’re an entrepreneur with a lifetime of business lessons, an executive with expertise to share, a professional looking to establish yourself as a thought leader, or someone with a life story that deserves to be told, Pen for Hire can help.
You don’t have to know exactly how to write your book. You don’t have to know exactly what your book should look like. And you don’t have to figure out the publishing process alone. You just have to start the conversation.
Tell us your story. We’ll ask the questions. We’ll uncover the possibilities. And together, we’ll determine what your book can become.
Our Areas of Expertise
Non-fiction
Being a published author has become a new measuring stick for how proficient one is in their field. While merely writing a book doesn't make one better than someone who has not, it absolutely goes to credibility, reinforcing the author as a subject matter expert.
Fiction
The art of storytelling is as old as the human race. Whether the tales were told verbally, pictorially, or with the written word, stories are integral pieces of who we are. At Pen for Hire, we believe everyone has a story to tell, and no one should be limited by a lack of time or know-how. With passionate writers on staff who work with all genres, Pen for Hire is the right choice for your next project.
Biography/Auto
One of the most moving, compelling, and inspiring things a person can do is share their experiences with the world. It is also one of the most challenging things to do, even for the most experienced writers. Finding the right words to define one's experiences, the questions to trigger the most distant memories, and the organizational skills to compile a lifetime of linear events into a well-written and page-turning book are all skills many cannot do themselves. Sitting with a Pen for Hire interviewer to uncover all this information can be the first step in being able to write it yourself or the push to realize the story needs to be told by somebody else.
Screenplays
Not all ideas are meant for a literary audience and some that are can also be well served visually. Getting on the big screen or streaming into millions of people's homes is no longer as difficult as it once was. Today, there are more avenues than ever to have a movie, sitcom, or documentary produced for the masses. We are here to help turn any concept or completed manuscript into a screenplay so that you may reach your intended audience!
Check Out Our Latest Work
Here is a small sampling of the projects we have helped bring to life.
Matthew Harms — Employed!
Have you ever struggled with finding your purpose in life? Are there numerous people in your circle who are giving you conflicting career advice? Is there something you absolutely know you were destined to but can't seem to figure out how to get your foot in the door? If you answered yes to any of those questions, then "Employed: A Career Readiness Manual" is the answer you have been looking for! "Employed" takes a three-pronged approach to helping young people or transitioning career professionals achieve their employment goals.
View on Amazon →
Matthew Harms — Should Have Known
Jason Carpenter and Richard Colt are childhood friends estranged by events that set them on two very different paths. While one climbed the ranks of a Fortune 500 company this is more than meets the eye, the other fell in with a mercurial crime boss intent on growing his empire at all costs. Years go by before the hand of fate thrusts them back into each other's lives, and puts them to the ultimate test.
View on Amazon →
Matthew Harms — Grow Up
Have you ever felt like there are thousands of decisions to make and no one to turn to? Growing up means making daily decisions on your own and living with the consequences. Whether you are deciding between renting an apartment or buying a house, leasing or buying a car, or figuring out which credit score is the right one, there doesn't seem to be a simple way to figure out the answer. You can go the hard road and learn from your mistakes, or make your life easier and read this book!
View on Amazon →Published Books & Authors
Lainie Liberti
Lainie is an author, speaker, community leader, teen coach and alternative education advocate who helped to spearhead the thriving worldschooling movement.
Lainie co-foundered Project World School with her son in 2012. Liberti designs and co-facilitates the Project World School teen retreats as month-long immersive learning communities to support self directed teens from around the world.
She is also the founder and creator of Transformative Mentoring for Teens that launched in early 2020 offering virtual 1:1 coaching for teens as well as a 12-week course designed to transform lives. Lainie is an adolescent behavioral specialist, certified life coach, specializing in transformational & confidence coaching.
Seen, Heard & Understood: Parenting & Partnering with Teens for Greater Mental Health
In normal times, adolescence is not easy. Changes in the external world can amplify internal changes and make it more difficult for teens to cope, let alone thrive. During adolescence, parents often struggle to remain connected with their teens. Lainie Liberti helps parents understand their teen's developmental stages and behaviors in an easy to follow format through stories, research, applied psychology and science-backed tools.
View on Amazon →
Mac McGregor
Mac is the Founder and Executive Director of "Positive Masculinity", a nonprofit that works to dismantle toxic masculinity and helps masculine people work to create a healthier model of masculinity for all people. He is also known as the "Gender Sensei" — is a speaker who works to educate and train various corporations, colleges, and groups on topics concerning diversity, gender, healthy masculinity and being true to themselves.
Positive Masculinity Now: A Heart-Led Guide For Growth Toward a Conscious, Emotionally Intelligent & Inclusive Masculinity
Positive Masculinity Now takes a deep dive into gender expectations, socialization, and messaging. Through this guide, you will discover different ways to create deep meaningful connections, free from masks and restrictive thinking. You will also learn the importance of breaking free from traditional gender models to create healthy relationships, careers, friendships, and self-images.
View on Amazon →
CJ Amato
C.J. Amato grew up a typical New Yorker, flipping pizzas and learning in many restaurants across the city, becoming a chef. Which then led to a successful career in food sales. In 2017 C.J took a chance and opened a restaurant in Queens, New York. It was successful until the world changed in 2019. Suddenly C.J found a lot of time to kill. Re-finding his love for music, games, movies, and the passion for books. And the burning idea to write my own story.
Dig My Grave (Hymns From The Lighthouse. A dark fantasy tale. Book 1)
After The Great Divide left them isolated by monstrous water mountains. After The Maker's Massacre left them in darkness-leaving them in a world divided between Blue and Black. Buried deep down in their home-holes, the families of The Five have been waiting for a long time for the catalyst that will spark The Maker's Third Atrocity.
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Paula Moore
Founder and creator Paula Moore was the first female A&R research executive in the music industry. During her time as an executive at two major label groups, she built the industry's first A&R research platform, connecting A&R executive staff, scouts, artists, and data. Today, she is still the only female senior level A&R research executive with IP assets.
Glitter & Grit: Be Greater as a Creative
Glitter & Grit is the gritty, raw story of a creative person who won't give up or give into the constant challenges, setbacks, and betrayals that come with trying to build a career out of her creativity. It's the terrifying and thrilling ride of her career path, successes and failures, stories, and advice to help you reach your true potential.
View on Amazon →