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.
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Meet Your Host!
Daniel Paisner is well-known to publishers (and, alas, somewhat less well-known to readers) as the author or co-author of more than 70 books. As a ghostwriter, he has written more than 50 books in collaboration with athletes, actors, politicians, business leaders and ordinary individuals with extraordinary stories to tell. He is co-author of the acclaimed Holocaust memoir The Girl in the Green Sweater, written with Krystyna Chiger; and, the gripping 9/11 diary Last Man Down: A Firefighter’s Story of Survival and Escape from the World Trade Center, with FDNY Deputy Chief Richard Picciotto—both international best-sellers.
In all, seventeen of his collaborations have reached The New York Times best-seller list—including books with Serena Williams, Denzel Washington, John Kasich, Daymond John, and Whoopi Goldberg.
Over the course of his ghostwriting career, Paisner has taken on the real-life personas of dozens of compelling individuals, including a World Series of Poker champion; the son of a Yanomami tribeswoman; a plus-size supermodel; an FBI hostage negotiator; a three-term Democratic mayor of New York City; a three-term Republican governor of New York State; a daytime television talk show host; another daytime television talk show host; still another daytime television host; a #1 ranked women's tennis player; a bilateral amputee mountaineer; an Oscar winner; an Emmy winner; a Tony winner; an "Apprentice" winner; two First Daughters; two network television weathermen; a New York City bail bondsman; an undersea explorer; a world champion surfer; a foul-mouthed, misogynist comedian; an urban fashion mogul; a Cosby kid; an Olympic swimmer; an autistic high school student; an NFL Hall of Famer; and on and on.
In addition to his work as a collaborator, Paisner has written several books of his own, including The Ball: Mark McGwire’s 70th Home Run Ball and the Marketing of the American Dream—a singular tale of the Rawlings baseball that stood for a few fleeting moments as the Holy Grail of sports memorabilia, hailed by ESPN.com as “one of the great quirky masterpieces of baseball journalism.”
He is the author of three novels: A Single Happened Thing ("... poignant and whimsical..." - The Millions); Mourning Wood (“… has the makings of a cult favorite…” – Booklist, starred review); and, Obit (“… a classic mystery novel…” – The Boston Globe). You should probably read them. They are good.