Beyond the Spotlight: Meet the Ghostwriters of Celebrity Memoirs
October 28, 2024
Sometimes, a good story writes itself. Other times, it must be dragged onto the page, kicking and screaming.
With the number of famous names penning and publishing memoirs and autobiographies these days, it can certainly seem like the former is much more common than the latter. Surely, if all these celebrities and high-profile personalities can write their life stories themselves, anyone can… right?
The truth is, however, that behind many great celebrity memoirs or autobiographies is an even greater ghostwriter you’ve likely never heard of. These illustrious individuals behind the scenes of such famous ghostwritten books aren’t fly-by-night companies or content mills, but seasoned professionals with decades of experience who have worked their way to the top of the industry.
A surprisingly small number of writers have collaborated with a surprisingly large number of celebrities to bring their stories to life; here are just a few of these unknown superstars and the clients they’ve helped.
Hilary Liftin
Hilary Liftin is a ghostwriter based in Los Angeles who has collaborated on over 16 New York Times bestselling titles.
Included among those bestsellers are Danny Trejo’s memoir Trejo: My Life of Crime, Redemption, and Hollywood, Miley Cyrus’s autobiography Miles to Go, and Tori Spelling’s memoirs Stori Telling, Uncharted TerriTori, Mommywood, and more.
How did Liftin reach the point of assisting multiple celebrities in bringing their stories from thought to page?
Over twenty years of experience in the writing and publishing industry, that’s how.
Liftin co-wrote and published her first book, DEAR EXILE, in 1999, before she even began writing full-time. After transitioning to writing full-time in 2006, she went on to produce two more books under her own name and worked in publishing for ten years across editorial, marketing, and business development roles at firms like Houghton Mifflin and Barnes & Noble.
Her lengthy career as both a writer and publisher has granted Liftin a myriad of skills, connections, and inside knowledge.
She regularly uses that knowledge to help smooth the production process for her clients, earning her roaring praise from many of them.
Liftin has said that she especially prides herself on her punctuality, great attention to detail, and conscientiousness — qualities she highlights on her official site.
Daniel Paisner
Daniel Paisner, an acclaimed journalist, author, and podcaster, has written over 70 books throughout his career, with 17 making the New York Times best-sellers list. More impressive than his sheer volume is that about 50 of those books have been ghostwritten collaborations with names like Gilbert Gottfried in his fictional memoir Rubber Balls and Liquor, Denzel Washington in his memoir A Hand to Guide Me, and Serena Williams in her memoir On the Line. And those are just three of the dozens of celebrities he’s worked with over the years.
How did Paisner become the Stephen King of Hollywood memoirs and earn the moniker “the world’s most prolific ghost” from New York Magazine?
As you may have guessed, it’s decades of industry experience.
Paisner started his collaboration journey rather humbly, working alongside weathercaster Willard Scott to produce America Is My Neighborhood in 1987.
From there, he continued to build his prolific portfolio, producing everything from murder mystery novels to a journalistic deep dive on the history of Mark McGwire’s 70th home run ball.
Like Stephen King, Paisner has had his fair share of hits and misses. He’s not shy about admitting as much on his official website. But masters often fail more times than novices have even attempted, and if one thing is clear about Paisner, it’s that he’s willing to acknowledge and grow wiser from his failures just as much as his many home runs.
David Fisher
David Fisher began his career as a staff writer for the late Joan Rivers’ talk show, That Show, and over the course of thirty years, went on to join Life Magazine as the youngest reporter in the publication’s history.
He made his debut on the best-sellers list with Killer, a confessional written by a Mafia hitman. He then arranged the surrender of John William Clouser, and later collaborated with him to produce The Most Wanted Man in America.
He created an entire educational reference system from the ground up in What’s What: A Visual Glossary of the Physical World, which went on to sell over one million copies and be published in nine languages.
His further accomplishments include being the only reporter ever allowed full access to the FBI’s famous crime lab, which he used to write Hard Evidence and invigorate interest in forensic sciences worldwide, among many other feats that this article likely cannot fully capture.
In terms of celebrity memoirs, a small sample of the works he’s helped create includes Johnny Cochran’s autobiography A Lawyer’s Life, Terry Bradshaw’s autobiography Keep It Simple, and Leslie Nielsen’s autobiography The Naked Truth.
While Daniel Paisner may be the Stephen King of Hollywood memoirs and “the world’s most prolific ghost,” David Fisher is nothing short of a living literary legend. With over 80 books (more than 20 of which are bestsellers) and countless adventures throughout his decades-long career, Fisher has collaborated with figures of all different stripes since almost the beginning. It’s little wonder that even now his name continues to command respect and admiration not just from fellow ghostwriters but from many writers in general.
In Closing
As you can see, publishing a memoir or autobiography is far from as simple or easy as celebrities make it seem.
Behind the best celebrity memoirs is an even better ghostwriter or autobiography writer, and behind every great ghostwriter or autobiography writer are often years, if not decades, of blood, sweat, and tears spent honing their craft and earning their place at the top of the industry.
If you have a life story you’d like captured on paper, don’t hesitate to reach out to one of these seasoned ghostwriters. Your book will likely be all the better for it.
