Carolyn Jourdan

Carolyn Jourdan – Ghostwriter

USA Today, 6-time Top-10 Wall Street Journal, and Top-10 Audible bestselling writer and ghostwriter of biography and memoir.

Overview

I am the author/co-author/ghostwriter for biographies and memoirs that have made major national bestseller lists in all three formats: print, ebook, and audio. My work has been praised by a wide range of sources from the National Academy of Sciences to Dolly Parton.

I have degrees in Biomedical Engineering and Law. I worked as Counsel to two U.S. Senate Committees in the fields of science, technology, energy, and environment.

I am credited as the author or co-author on fifteen published works. Contact information for the people I've co-written/ghostwritten for is publicly available. I can provide additional details on request.

My books have been recommended by NPR, Voice of America, Sirius/XM Radio, and the NY Public Library, among many others.

I've worked with over 100 rangers and other wilderness experts to create four books about national park wildlife; as well as more than thirty physicians and sixty nurses to create five medical books.

My writing has been praised by the Smithsonian, National Science Foundation, National Academy of Sciences, American Library Association, National Science Teachers Association, and public television.

"Heart in the Right Place" was chosen as a "Book Sense Best Book Club Book of the Year" and a "#1 Non-Fiction Pick in the Nation" by the American Booksellers Association. It was Family Circle magazine's first ever Book of the Month and won awards from Elle and More magazines.

It received a starred review from Publishers Weekly: “Jourdan’s dispatches from the reception desk make for a stirring, beautiful memoir that is alternately hilarious and heartbreaking, and ultimately a triumph.” It was deemed a "Great Book about Extraordinary People" by Great Books, Great Libraries.

Physicians Weekly named "Medicine Men" to the list of "Five Books Every Health Care Professional Should Read." Both "Bear in the Back Seat" and "Out on a Limb" made BookRiot's list of "Must Reads for the 100th Anniversary of the National Park Service."

Several of my books have received awards from Amazon for extremely high sales volume.

Fannie Flagg — Author of "Fried Green Tomatoes" — said my writing was: “Heartwarming, funny and utterly appealing.”

Dolly Parton — Singer, Songwriter, and Actress — said: “[Heart in the Right Place] is a wonderful book. I would have enjoyed it even if Carolyn wasn’t a neighbor of mine in East Tennessee. She is a great writer.”
Services
Non-Fiction
Biographies & Memoirs Earth, Space, & Environmental Sciences Law Life Sciences Medicine, Nursing, & Dentistry Nature Technology Travel
Languages
English (US)
Awards
  • USA Today Best Seller "Out on a Limb" in 2017. A Best Kindle Book of 2014.
  • #9 Wall Street Journal Best Seller "Heart in the Right Place" in 2017.
  • #6 Wall Street Journal Best Seller "Medicine Men" in 2015.
  • #5 Wall Street Journal Best Seller "Medicine Men" in 2014.
  • #9 Wall Street Journal Best Seller "Bear in the Back Seat" in 2013.
  • #7 Wall Street Journal Best Seller "Heart in the Right Place" in 2012.
  • A Best Book Club Book of 2008. Book Sense, American Booksellers Association, Independent Bookstores.
  • Great Books about Extraordinary People 2010. Great Books, Great Libraries.
  • Family Circle Magazine, Elle, and More magazine awards.
  • 15 Books Every Healthcare Professional Should Read. Physicians Weekly.
  • 100 Must Reads for the 100th Anniversary of the National Park Service. Only author with 2 books on the list. Book Riot.
  • #9 Wall Street Journal Best Seller "Medicine Men" in 2022.
Certifications
  • B.S. Biomedical Engineering
  • J.D. Law

Work experience

Self-employed

Jan, 2001 — Present

Author of 12 works of nonfiction in biography, memoir, medicine, and wildlife and 3 works of fiction.

Portfolio

For everyone who's ever wanted to write a memoir but is having trouble starting, finishing, or is stuck somewhere in between. Here's the place to get the answers to your questions (and to the questions you didn't know to ask) in one concise volume.Learn the ro... read more
Seven European tourists set off on the trip of a lifetime—a Grand Circle Tour of the American West.Unaware that a desperate journalist has hidden evidence in their van that could bring down a high-level criminal conspiracy—or that they are being pursued by rut... read more
4-time Wall Street Journal Top-10 best selling author! Is it cancer or just a bad pixel? "Talking to Skeletons" chronicles seven extraordinary nights Jourdan spent shadowing a radiologist in a teaching hospital. Told with the wit and warmth that have earned Jo... read more
4-time Wall Street Journal Top-10 best selling author! Is it cancer or just a bad pixel? Radiologists are the physicians we rarely get to see. "Radiologists at Work" contains the most memorable moments from the careers of twenty radiologists who practiced from... read more
Have you ever wondered what it's like to be a nurse?From a 6-time Top 10 in the USA author, this book is a collection of the most memorable moments from the careers of over sixty nurses. It covers nearly seventy years of practice from World War II to the prese... read more
A Wall Street Journal Top-10 Best Seller in 2014 & 2015An Amazon All-StarChosen for "15 Books Every Health Professional Should Read" by Physicians WeeklyMedicine Men is the follow-on to Heart in the Right Place. Both books have made national bestseller lists a... read more
A USA Today best seller! Jourdan is an audible, 5-time Wall Street Journal, and USA Today best selling author. "Out on a Limb" is a #1 Mystery and #1 Cozy Mystery on Amazon. Reviewers describe this cozy, scientific, medical mystery as "CSI Meets Animal Planet.... read more
Explore one of the world’s most dangerous and bizarre landscapes alongside an extraordinary team of wildlife photographers, scientists, wilderness guides, rangers, and professional trackers. This book contains nearly 100 real-life experiences from a wide varie... read more
Newest addition to the Wall Street Journal best selling “Bear in the Back Seat” series. A collection of hilarious, heartbreaking, and terrifying encounters with wild black bears in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.Rangers, scientists, wildlife photograp... read more
Second volume of true stories from a national bestselling series set in “[a]n extraordinary landscape populated with befuddled bears, hormonally-crazed elk, homicidal wild boars, hopelessly timid wolves, and nine million tourists, some of whom are clueless."Th... read more
Wall Street Journal Top-10 in the USA Best SellerAudible Top-10 in the USA Best SellerVoted A Must Read for the 100th Anniversary of the National Park ServiceThis is the first volume in a series of true stories from "[a]n extraordinary landscape populated with... read more
Carolyn Jourdan, an attorney on Capitol Hill, thought she had it made. But when her mother has a heart attack, she returns home—to the Tennessee mountains, where her father is a country doctor and her mother works as his receptionist. Jourdan offers to fill in... read more

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