Jim Sloan
Author, Ghostwriter & Book Coach
You have an idea for a book. The idea is consuming you. You think about it all the time, and your friends and partners keep telling you: Write!
The problem is the process. Most great thinkers are not necessarily great writers, and what you put down on paper sounds flat and uninspired. Then other things get in the way. There isn’t enough time. There are too many distractions. The words never seem to flow, and when they do, they seem too skimpy to capture the breadth of your ideas. Maybe this isn’t such a great idea after all, you think. You lose confidence.
If any of this sounds familiar, then you came to the right place.
Over the last six years, I’ve worked with dozens of first-time and experienced authors to bring their books to life. Some call what I do ghostwriting, book coaching, or scribing, but I think of it as a partnership. You bring your ideas and vision, and I help you mold them into something that flows, builds, and inspires. When your book comes out, it’s filled with your ideas, delivered in your voice, and shot through with the kind of urgency and clarity that your readers can’t resist.
About Me
After years as an investigative reporter, I left journalism in 2008. I worked in academia and wrote a couple of books before I started taking work as a ghostwriter about six years ago.
For me, ghostwriting was like slipping into a comfortable old work shirt. I loved it. The work allowed me to meet some of the most brilliant people of our time and help them bring their ideas to life.
Over the last six years, I’ve written over thirty books, working with engineers, business owners, lawyers, CEOs, doctors, therapists, financial advisors, Navy Seals, professional athletes, former Mob bosses, and wealthy philanthropists. These wonderful people had vital messages to share, and my job was to capture their voices and insights and organize their ideas into a compelling story.
Each of these authors came away with a book they were proud of, written in their personal style. They were authors, and suddenly their ideas were out in the world, and people were inviting them to consult, speak at conferences, or partner in a new enterprise.
Today, I help authors in many ways, from ghostwriting to developmental editing. Over the years, I’ve developed a process that ensures our collaboration produces books that readers can’t put down.
Personal Work
I've written several books under my own name, and my stories have appeared in several anthologies. Here's what people had to say about some of my work.
NEVADA:
True Tales from the Neon Wilderness
About the book
This was a collection of nonfiction stories about the modern-day crooks, schemers, and ne’er do wells who made names for themselves in the gambling halls, brothels, and outback of the Silver State.
From the Los Angeles Times Book Review
Unlike many Western writers, Sloan ignores the desert environment for gamblers, con artists and losers Nevada attracts. In deadpan prose, he recounts the trials of brothel-owner Joe Conforte and the tribulations of police officer Glen Henderson, and finds curious parallels in the careers of a quack healer and a mechanical wizard who rigged slot machines to pay off. Sloan vividly portrays a curious state -- and state of mind: "Lives are exaggerated here, wrung out and stretched thin by broken hope, or clenched tight and made sudden and quick, like a rifle shot into the empty night sky."
From the Library Journal
Superbly written ... this exceptional collection has obvious regional appeal but should also find a place wherever fine writing is appreciated.
RENDER SAFE:
The Untold Story of Harvey’s Bombing
About the book
In 1980, I was working as a reporter at Lake Tahoe when authorities found 1,000-pound, homemade bomb in an executive office at Harvey’s Resort Hotel. After a grueling, three-day effort to “render safe” the device, the bomb exploded, destroying the high-rise casino. I covered the bombing for California newspapers and over the next several years covered the hunt for the bombmaker, his arrest, and his subsequent trials. Twenty-five years later, I revisited the event, conducting countless interviews with detectives, bomb experts, and Harvey’s employees to piece together this retelling of those tense three days.
From Goodreads
An absolutely fantastic retelling of a true story that made me feel as if I was reading a comedy. Sloan brings you close to the characters' personalities and the anguish felt by each while giving you chuckles over the bungling. In the end, I wondered who would be cast for the movie version! Great story!
From Booklist
Sloan appears to be fleshing out news stories here, but he brings to his unusual and universal story the sensitivity, style, and ironic distance of a great fiction writer. A wonderful book.
