As Told To

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.

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.

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.

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!