Writers for Hire
About This Event
Have you ever wondered what it’s like to put words in someone else’s mouth?
Join us for a spirited discussion of the ghostwriting trade! Keir Graff, Barry Pearce, and Christine Wolf have had very different experiences in writing for hire, and moderator Sharon Woodhouse has not only hired ghostwriters but shepherded books through every stage of publication. Whether you want to know more about ghostwriting, co-writing, book coaching, book doctoring—or all of the above—our panelists promise to share the tricks of the trade.
(Along with some of their best ghost stories, naturally).
Featured Authors
Graff, Keir
Keir Graff writes thrillers, mysteries, and nonfiction for adults, and mystery and adventure novels for younger readers. Recent works include Chicago’s Fine Arts Building: Music, Magic, and Murder, I Did Not Kill My Husband (coauthored with Linda Joffe Hull as Linda Keir), and The Double Trouble Puzzle (coauthored with James Patterson). His work as a ghostwriter includes memoirs, business books, fiction, and screenplays. The former executive editor of Booklist, he lives in Chicago, where he is the cofounder of the much-loved literary gathering Publishing Cocktails and the cohost of The Filmographers Podcast. He provides essays, advice, and reading recommendations in his free monthly newsletter, Graff Paper.
Sharon Woodhouse
Sharon Woodhouse founded and ran Lake Claremont Press for 25 years. She now heads the Conspire Creative agency, offering coaching, consulting, and business strategy services to authors and indie publishers. Through S. Woodhouse Books, she serves as a concierge publishing partner for ghostwriters whose clients want a high-quality, strategically conceived, fully customized book—managed from concept to finished product. Ten years in the making, she recently launched Storied Hotel Books, an innovative partnership model pairing installments in an original mystery series with luxury and historic hotel partners. She writes about all aspects of creating holistic, income-generating, sustainable author businesses on Substack.
Barry Pearce
Barry Pearce won the Nelson Algren Award for fiction in 2019. His stories have been published in Colorado Review, Cimarron Review, Cagibi, the Chicago Tribune, and elsewhere. He lives in Chicago.
Christine Wolf
Christine Wolf is a trauma-informed memoir coach, developmental editor, and now ghostwriter. A former Chicago Tribune columnist and a Moth StorySLAM champion, Wolf founded Writers' Haven Literary Center in Evanston and is now building The Center for Shared Grief. She's a contributing author to the acclaimed anthology on family secrets, Relative Strangers: Inheritance, Identity, and the Meaning of Kinship, and coauthor of Politics, Partnerships, & Power: The Lives of Ralph E. and Marguerite Stitt Church. Wolf teaches writing and entrepreneurship at Northwestern University, and comparative literature through the 92nd Street Y's Roundtable. She's currently working on her own memoir about losing one sister and discovering another. Her Substack is Writers' Haven by Christine Wolf.
About the Venue
after-words bookstore
A massive, two-story shop with over 70,000 new and used titles and an equally wide range of subjects. One of the few independent bookstores left in downtown Chicago, and the only independent bookstore in River North.
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