Andrew Crofts - Ghostwriter
London, United Kingdom
I have published over 80 ghostwritten books, many of them Sunday Times bestsellers, and have guided many clients through self-publishing.
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Overview
My name first became known among publishers for the stories I brought them by the otherwise disenfranchised. Travelling all over the world I worked with victims of enforced marriages in North Africa and the Middle East, sex workers in the Far East, orphans in war-torn areas like Croatia and dictatorships like Romania, victims of crimes and abused children everywhere.
The success of these books brought many very different people to my door; first came the celebrities from the worlds of film, music, television and sport, and then the real elite in the form of world leaders and the mysterious, powerful people who finance them, arm them and, in some cases, control them.
As well as using traditional publishers to reach readers, I have also published my own fiction, most recently “Secrets of the Italian Gardener”, which draws on my experience among the powerful and wealthy, and "Pretty Little Packages", a thriller set in the world of people trafficking and sex slavery. Both novels have ghostwriters as their narrators.
My books on writing include “Ghostwriting”, (A&C Black) and “The Freelance Writer’s Handbook”, (Piatkus), which has been reprinted eight times over twenty years and a memoir, “Confessions of a Ghostwriter” (Friday Project).
Throughout his bestseller, “The Ghost”, Robert Harris quotes my book, “Ghostwriting”. Harris’s book went on to become a major movie by the same name, directed by Roman Polanski and starring Ewan McGregor as the eponymous ghost. The opening lines in Robert Harris’s book sum up my philosophy:
“Of all the advantages ghosting offers, one of the greatest must be the opportunity that you get to meet people of interest”.
I was on the Management Committee of the Society of Authors from 2012 to 2015. I lecture on the subject of making a living from writing at Kingston University and frequently guest at writing workshops, such as the Guardian Masterclasses, literary festivals and in the media.
The success of these books brought many very different people to my door; first came the celebrities from the worlds of film, music, television and sport, and then the real elite in the form of world leaders and the mysterious, powerful people who finance them, arm them and, in some cases, control them.
As well as using traditional publishers to reach readers, I have also published my own fiction, most recently “Secrets of the Italian Gardener”, which draws on my experience among the powerful and wealthy, and "Pretty Little Packages", a thriller set in the world of people trafficking and sex slavery. Both novels have ghostwriters as their narrators.
My books on writing include “Ghostwriting”, (A&C Black) and “The Freelance Writer’s Handbook”, (Piatkus), which has been reprinted eight times over twenty years and a memoir, “Confessions of a Ghostwriter” (Friday Project).
Throughout his bestseller, “The Ghost”, Robert Harris quotes my book, “Ghostwriting”. Harris’s book went on to become a major movie by the same name, directed by Roman Polanski and starring Ewan McGregor as the eponymous ghost. The opening lines in Robert Harris’s book sum up my philosophy:
“Of all the advantages ghosting offers, one of the greatest must be the opportunity that you get to meet people of interest”.
I was on the Management Committee of the Society of Authors from 2012 to 2015. I lecture on the subject of making a living from writing at Kingston University and frequently guest at writing workshops, such as the Guardian Masterclasses, literary festivals and in the media.
Services
Languages
English (AUS)
English (CAN)
English (NZ)
English (SA)
English (UK)
English (US)
Non-Fiction
Biographies & Memoirs
Business & Management
Entertainment
Political Science & Current Affairs
Travel
Writing & Publishing
Work experience
Author and ghostwriter
Self Employed
December, 1975
–
Present
(almost 44 years)
Freelance writer, author and ghostwriter for 40 years.
Portfolio (30 selected works)
Secrets of the Italian Gardener: A Novella
Andrew Crofts
Mo, the wealthy dictator of a volatile Middle Eastern country, enlists a ghostwriter to tell his story to the world and enshrine him in history as a glorious ruler. Inside Mo s besieged palace the ghost forms an unlikely friendship with a wise and seemingly innocent Italian gardener who slowly reveals that the regime isn t all it appears to be. As a violent rebellion threatens all their lives ... read more
Confessions of a Ghostwriter (The Confessions Series)
Andrew Crofts
HE’S WRITTEN MORE THAN 80 BOOKS. HE’S SOLD MILLIONS OF COPIES ACROSS THE WORLD. HE IS THE MAN BEHIND A DOZEN SUNDAY TIMES TOP 10 HITS, SPENDING OVER 120 WEEKS IN THE BESTSELLER CHARTS.BUT YOU PROBABLY HAVEN’T HEARD OF HIM.Andrew Crofts is a ghostwriter, an author for hire, employed to write other people’s stories – everyone from film stars to footballers, hitmen to hookers, world leaders to ab... read more
Pretty Little Packages
Andrew Crofts
When a girl called Doris informs ghostwriter, Joe Tye, that someone has “stolen her beautiful new breasts” and asks for his help, he is plunged into the dark and dangerous worlds of people-trafficking and modern slavery. At the same time as dealing with the amorous advances of the sixteen year-old daughter of a gangster, who also happens to be his client, and navigating his way through drug de... read more
Ghostwriting (Writing Handbooks)
Andrew Crofts
Ghostwriting is a thriving, secretive industry. As a ghostwriter you can create best-selling books for film stars, footballers, pop singers, presidents, business tycoons, gangsters, gurus, spies, mercenaries, courtesans, four-star generals, royals and anyone else with an interesting story to tell. This book reveals all the essential secrets of how to turn ghostwriting into a successful and luc... read more
Sold: One Woman's True Account of Modern Slavery
Zana Muhsen
A newly updated edition of a young girls' account of her terrifying experiences with being sold by her father as a modern day sex slave in YemenZana Muhsen, born and bred in Birmingham, is of Yemeni origin. When her father told her she was to spend a holiday with relatives in North Yemen, she jumped at the chance. Ages 15 and 13 respectively, Zana and her sister discovered that they had been l... read more
The Overnight Fame of Steffi McBride
AJ Crofts
When Steffi McBride is plucked from obscurity and lands a starring role in the country’s most popular soap opera, it seems as if all her dreams have come true. Little does she realize the far-reaching effects her newfound fame will have. The whole country falls in love with her, including the gorgeous pop star she had a crush on throughout her teenage years. For the up-and-coming star, it seem... read more
The Change Agent: How to Create a Wonderful World
Andrew Crofts
It had been 20 years since Andrew Crofts had last seen Jim Martin when I read in the press that he had donated $100-million to Oxford University to found The James Martin 21st Century School. Jim's latest book, The Meaning of the 21st Century, was the most borrowed non-fiction book from British libraries in 2008, beating Bill Bryson, Peter Kay, Richard Dawkins and all the other famous names. A... read more
Secret Child
Gordon Lewis, Andrew Crofts
The shocking true story of a young boy hidden away from his family and the world in a Catholic home for unmarried mothers in 1950s Dublin.Born an 'unfortunate' onto the rough streets of 1950s Dublin, this is the incredible true story of a young boy, a secret child born into a home for unmarried mothers in 1950s Dublin and a mother determined to keep her child, even if it meant hiding him from ... read more
Pete: My Story
Pete Bennett
W**kers! Cheese! Eeezamanna! Pete Bennett, the 24-year-old Tourette's sufferer who shot to fame as winner of Big Brother 7, stole the nation's heart with his outrageous, loveable nature. Pete's incredible autobiography reveals what the tabloids didn't see. His story will make you cry, have you in stitches, and inspire you with its amazing honesty.Suffering with Tourette's Syndrome since the ag... read more
Through Gypsy Eyes
Kathy Etchingham, Andrew Crofts
Kathy Etchingham ran away from home, not for the first time, when she was sixteen. Escaping from a miserable and disturbed childhood, she landed in London in the centre of the swinging sixties and among a clique of musicians who were in the process of changing the world. Friends included Brian Jones, Keith Moon, Pete Townshend, Lennon and McCartney, Eric Burdon, Chas Chandler, Georgie Fame, Er... read more
For a House Made of Stone: Gina's Story
Gina French, Andrew Crofts
The latest ghosted memoir from Andrew Crofts, the bestselling ghost writer of The Little Prisoner, The Kid and Just A Boy. This is the extraordinary true story of a young woman from the Philippine mountains who wanted to help her family and ended up on trial for murder in the UK in 2001.
Nowhere to Hide: Mother's Ordeal in the Killing Fields of Iraq and Kurdistan
Susan Francis, Andrew Crofts
Married to an Iraqi and a resident of Baghdad for 30 years, Susan Francis endured Allied bombs, then fled to the mountains with other refugees to escape Saddam Hussein's retribution. Now living in England, she tells of people terrorized by bombs and poisoned by chemical weapons.
What if your first love was your soulmate and perfect sexual partner but you made the mistake of letting them go? Chances is the true story of the most erotic of love affairs, of the most intense and rewarding relationship possible between a man and a woman - a relationship that blossomed out of heartbreak. It started with teenage love at first sight for Penny and James and was shattered a few... read more
Mr Music Man: The Life and Times of a Music Promoter
Mervyn Conn, Andrew Crofts
By the age of 21 Mervyn was running his own drinking club in Soho's Gerrard Street, frequented by a young crowd of soon to be pop stars, actors, business tycoons and criminals. After joining forces with the legendary agent, Joe Collins, (father of Joan and Jackie, partner of Lew and Lesley Grade), he staged the first Beatles Christmas shows and went on to work with virtually all the pop and ro... read more
Leonard of Mayfair
Leonard Lewis
Iqbal Masih was gunned down by an assassin in cold blood. He was just 13 years old. Andrew Crofts, the bestselling ghostwriter of "The Little Prisoner and The Kid", tells the heart-wrenching story of this courageous child martyr, who died trying to end child slavery. After six years of bonded labour in a Pakistani carpet factory, Iqbal escaped the clutches of his tyrannical carpet-master, and ... read more
The Disappearing Duke: The Improbable Tale of an Eccentric English Family
Tom Freeman-Keel, Andrew Crofts
Shortly after the fourth Duke of Portland died in 1854, the fifth duke began construction of a fantastic underground palace beneath the family's estate. Was it a physical representation of a secret underground life he was living as a London businessman with two families? In this work of historical detection, the authors reconstruct a century of controversy surrounding the Cavendish-Benticks, c... read more
My Family Is All I Have
Helen-Alice Dear
Helen-Alice Dear was only 15 when she left London to visit Bulgaria on a family holiday in 1937. Just weeks after her arrival, she found herself unable to leave and struggling to survive in an increasingly hostile and terrifying environment. Her marriage to a Bulgarian man bore her four children but they were often homeless, cold and hungry. Despite these hardships, Helen refused to give up ho... read more
Extradited!: One Man's Prison Hell and His Lover's Fight for Justice
John Packwood, Jane Amestoy, Andrew Crofts
A man wrongly imprisoned in a foreign country for drug smuggling and the girlfriend who led the fight to free him tell this extraordinary account of prison horror and endurance, laced with romance and adventure. John Packwood and Jane Amestoy alternate chapters as they recount John's Spanish imprisonment and extradition to Morocco, as Jane's case eventually catches the attention of politicians... read more
The Fabulous Dreams of Maggie De Beer
Andrew Crofts
Fifteen year-old Maggie arrives in London on the run from her humdrum suburban life, determined to make it big in show business. For more than thirty years she is exploited by both men and the media. She struggles against endless set-backs and disappointments, always remaining optimistic, always believing that this time her big break has come...Starting in 1970 Maggie de Beer’s journey mirrors... read more
Basil Brush: My Story
"Basil Brush"
Showbusiness personality Basil Brush tells the story of his rise to fame and his struggle to survive in the heartless world of television. He tells of the Swinging Sixties, how television changed his life and how after finding success with a number of comic partnerships he decided to go it alone.
An inspirational true story of a 4 year old girl who fell into the power of a man whose evil knew no bounds. She encountered terrifying mental and physical torture from her psychopathic stepfather for a period of 17 years until she managed to break free, her spirit still unbroken Jane Elliott fell into the hands of her sadistic and brutal stepfather when she was 4 years old. Her story is both ... read more
Disgraced
Andrew Crofts Saira Ahmed
Betrayed
Lyndsey Harris, Andrew Crofts
For the first few years of her life, Sarah Harris was a normal, happy, popular little girl. But from the age of six she was targeted by a vicious, manipulative but invisible enemy — and her life became a living hell.Before long she was suspended from school, alienated from her friends, completely bewildered and utterly terrified. Her happy childhood had been destroyed forever.For her mother, L... read more
Hijack: our story of survival
Lizzie and HAYES, Katie ANDERS
London published Civil Aircraft
Tears At Bedtime
Tom Wilson, Andrew Crofts
At just six years old Tom Wilson fell prey to a predator of the worst sort. David Murphy was supposed to be his carer, instead he endured years of abuse in the dead of night.Over forty years later, a newspaper article unlocks terrible memories and the painful battle for justice begins…
Shattered
Andrew Crofts
Sometimes a family’s love can achieve the impossible.On 12th October 1995, Mavis Marsh was waken to the news every parent dreads most. ‘It’s your son,’ the policeman told her. ‘He’s been in an accident.’Only hours earlier Matthew had been set for a dazzling future but, in one terrible night, a devastating tragedy altered everything. Days later, Mavis found herself standing at her son’s bedside... read more
Bienvenida: The Making of a Modern Mistress
Bienvenida Sokolow, Andrew Crofts
This rags-to-riches life story of Countess Bienvenida Sokolow is the tale of the rise of a contemporary courtesan, who emerged triumphant from the poverty of the backstreets of Valencia to enjoy the five-star lifestyle of the upper echelons of British and American society. From Middle-Eastern sultans to a US ambassador and the UK Chief of Defence, Bienvenida practised the secret art of pleasin... read more
Princess and the Villain
Andrew Crofts
Based on a true story, The Princess and the Villain tells of how one of Britain's most wanted men, came to become personal bodyguard to Princess Jarmina, a Middle-Eastern princess and one of the wealthiest and most heavily protected women of the world. It also tells how these two opposites came to have a passionate affair (behind closed doors and without the knowledge of the other members of t... read more
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