Overview

I am a high-end, bestselling ghostwriter and author. I have written or ghostwritten over 25 print and eBooks, and several hundred articles and blog posts. Non-fiction is my passion; I can and have written on just about any topic. However, my preferred genres are business, memoir, biography, corporate history, food, travel, and humor.

PLEASE NOTE: My current fee is $1 USD per word. So for an average size book, that is $75,000 USD.

Built Not Born—A Self-Made Billionaire’s No-Nonsense Guide For Entrepreneurs, which I co-authored with Tom Golisano, was a Wall Street Journal and Publisher's Weekly bestseller and was a number one bestselling business book with Barnes and Noble and Amazon. I also worked with Golisano on his autobiography, The Italian Kid Did It, which will be published by Harper Collins, February 2022.

Fire From The Sky – A Diary Over Japan won a silver medal for the best military memoir of 2005, awarded by the Military Writers Society of America.

As an author in my own right, Harper Collins Leadership published my two books How Not to Manage People, and How Not to Sell, in 2021.

I have more than 40-years' experience in mainstream and custom book publishing, and for the last twenty-one as a writer. In my early career, I worked for many of the great publishing houses including Random House, Michael Joseph, and the Pearson-Longman group. I founded one of the industry’s first special publications divisions, publishing corporately-sponsored books and specialist publications. I subsequently became managing director and part-owner of two custom publishing houses.

I am a rarity among ghostwriters – a writer who has extensive general book publishing experience. I understand the process from the ground up – from concept to delivery of the printed (or electronic) product. My over four decades of experience in the writing and publishing world has given me the ability to know what makes something readable, what entices the reader to enter your world and react positively to your words.

My clients range from a cross-dressing, American quantum physicist living in Budapest to a multi-billionaire business leader, and from the son of a WWII war hero to one of the world's leading experts on trust.

What my clients, other authors, and reviewers say about me.

“I’d also like to extend my thanks to my ghostwriter, Mike Wicks. Mike listened to me talk about my life for hundreds of hours and was able to accurately transpose my words and thoughts to the written page. His commitment to helping me find my “voice” and tell my story was invaluable.”
Tom Golisano: Author of Built Bot Born and The Italian Kid Did It!

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"In my 20 years of experience as a published writer, editor, and ghostwriter for clients that include Google, L’Oréal Paris, The Week, and Paramount Studios, I’ve worked with very few professionals that meet their marks and consistently generate thoughtful, thorough, and engaging material. Mike Wicks joins only one other writer in my orbit who stands strong in such rarified air. When I managed his projects at the ghostwriting agency, I had only to provide him with the project framework and he’d create diamonds out of coal. Our clients were extremely pleased with his work—and his work ethic—and he remained a writer of constant request during his time with the agency."
Shelley Moench-Kelly: Author of Here's Your Pill Kitten.

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"You're not only a great writer but a consummate professional that clients love. I wish we could figure out a way to clone you!"
Ian Corson, Kevin Anderson and Associates

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"After working with Mike on my first book Professional Corporations – The Secret to Success in 2003 I went back and asked him to help me update it and work on my second book The Financial Navigator. After my experience with the first book, I went back because of Mike’s handling of the entire project. From concept development to ghost writing and printing Mike ensured the highest quality product. I’m proud to be associated with Mike and would recommend him to anyone who wants to get the most from their publication.”
Tim Paziuk: Author of Professional Corporations: The Secret to Success, and The Financial Navigator

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"I picked up "Fire From The Sky" and was just going to look take a casual stroll through the first few pages to see what it was about, but I got hooked on the reading of the air battles over Japan and of the men who flew these missions. The authors make great use of Herbert Greer's personal diary that he kept during those dangerous and historic flights. You get some wonderful insights and not just facts and data about what happened. You read about the fears and feelings of the real men and what it was like to be a member of a B-29 Bomber crew.

The diary they use to set up the storyline of the book deals with more than just the 28 air combat missions that Greer flew over Japan as a radio operator. We get a little glimpse about his early life before his service; as a youth on the farm and to being involved with the construction of the Grand Coulee Dam. However, it is the riveting stories of those fire bombing missions of Japan's largest cities that becomes spell binding.

The authors make great use of the actual diary entries along with comments and thoughts from the now much older Greer to make you feel like you are a part of the flight crew. The reader will begin to feel and almost experience their emotions, as the stories of their missions unfold. These men took great risks and put their own personal lives on the line for their country; this book captures this piece of history, preserving it for future generations. Even though these men were all heroes; they were not supermen of any kind but regular flesh and blood men who did some very astonishing things in their young lives. They really did help to end the war with Japan.

This is a book you will not be able to put down until you are done. It is a well-told memoir of the men whose missions will live forever in history! Meeting them in this book is a cherished privilege for the reader. It was my honor to have read the book; it felt almost sacred to be allowed to look inside a crew member's personal diary--truly a treasured artifact of historic and sentimental value. This is a book worth reading several times. Great black and white photos as well. I fully recommend buying and reading this wonderful book about aviation and the men who crewed B-29s."

W.H. McDonald Jr. (Judge) 2005 Silver Medal Award for Best Military Memoir

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“Very good writer with loads of great ideas, excellent research skills, and a delightful sense of humour. Mike is a pleasure to work with. Carolyn Camillieri (Editor and Writer).

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“I’ve always thoroughly enjoyed working with you. You just seem to “get” the relationship thing, and how beneficial loyalty can be to all parties. Also, your openness, honesty, and transparency virtues serve you well.”
Gerhard Aichelberger (Printsmith Group)

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“Mike is an excellent “people manager” and has dynamic ideas. Not only that, his sense of humor and true interest in people make him a creative thinker who can “move” ideas to finished products very smoothly and efficiently.”
Robert McCammon (New York Times bestselling author).

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“Mike is great. He is always positive, open to new ideas, writes well, and is also a very good speaker.”
Georgina Camillieri (Publisher, Page One Publishing).

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“Mike’s experience as a writer both on and offline is second to none.”
John Espley (Director of Marketing and Communications, Accent Inns).

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"History is so often a cold recounting of facts and figures on a national or international scale. ‘Fire From The Sky’ brings history to life at the personal level. This is a great read! ‘A Diary Over Japan’ is an enlightening revelation of a young man-boys experience documented in his personal diary.”
Nels Running Major General, USAF (Ret).