Ep. 107: Behind the Scenes of Ghostwriting with Barbara Feinman Todd (Author of Pretend I’m Not Here) + Book Recommendations
Sarah's Bookshelves Live
Sarah Dickinson
4.9 • 732 Ratings
🗓️ 23 March 2022
⏱️ 52 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In Episode 107, Barbara Feinman Todd (author of Pretend I’m Not Here) takes me behind the scenes of ghostwriting after a career of writing for many top names in Washington, DC. Barbara is wonderfully candid and we have a fascinating discussion all about the nuts and bolts of ghostwriting, and the emotional and personal side of the business.
This post contains affiliate links through which I make a small commission when you make a purchase (at no cost to you!).
Highlights
- How Barbara’s ghostwriting career began
- Nothing is typical when it comes to ghostwriting including the services offered
- The reasons people might need a ghostwriter
- The surprising distinction between author and writer.
- We discuss confidentiality agreements and the vetting process
- How ghostwriters get paid
- Who has veto power and control of the information
- The allure of the job and protecting your own legacy
- The struggle with the moralities and ethics of ghostwriting
- How Barbara handled balancing the work with the intimate access to other people’s lives
- Figuring out the perspective and angle for writing about the subject
- A surprising person who requested her ghostwriting services
- What Barbara is currently working on (it’s fiction!)
- Her ongoing nonfiction project that started with a diary from 1872
Barbara’s Book Recommendations [29:43]
Two OLD Books She Loves
- Henry and Clara by Thomas Mallon | Amazon | Bookshop.org
[30:00]
- Bleaker House by Nell Stevens | Amazon | Bookshop.org [32:07]
Two NEW Books She Loves
- The Latinist by Mark Prins | Amazon
| Bookshop.org [35:20]
- Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers | Amazon | Bookshop.org [38:02]
One Book She DIDN’T LOVE
- Trump: The Art of the Deal by Donald J. Trump with Tony Schwartz | Amazon| Bookshop.org
One NEW RELEASE She’s Excited About
- Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel (April 5, 2022) | Amazon | Bookshop.org
Last 5-Star Book Barbara Read
- Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty | Amazon
Other Books Mentioned
- It Takes a Village by Hillary Rodham Clinton [01:08]
- Veil by Bob Woodward [01:11]
- Loyalties by Carl Berstein [01:13]
- A Good Life by Ben Bradlee [01:15]
- Open by Andre Agassi [19:17]
- A Woman’s Place by Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky with Barbara Feinman [18:41]
- Open Book by Jessica Simpson [25:07]
- Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty [28:14]
- Briefly, A Delicious Life by Nell Stevens (July 19, 2022) [34:57]
- The Secret History by Donna Tartt [36:20]
- Possession by A. S. Byatt [36:25]
- The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel [46:04]
- Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel [46:07]
Other Links
About Barbara
Barbara Feinman Todd is the author of the 2017 memoir Pretend I’m Not Here. She taught journalism at Georgetown University for 25 years, where she was the founding Journalism Director and is currently professor emerita. Cofounder of the Pearl Project, she coauthored the e-book The Truth Left Behind: Inside the Kidnapping and Murder of Daniel Pearl. Her work has appeared in the Washington Post, Glamour, the Huffington Post, the Daily Beast, Newsweek, and on NPR.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Sarah's Bookshelves Live. I'm Sarah of the blog Sarah's Bookshelves. Each week I'm |
| 0:15.5 | talking with one bookish guest about two old books they love, two new books they love, one book they don't love, and one new |
| 0:22.7 | release they're excited about. We're going to get real, and sometimes a bit snarky, about all |
| 0:27.9 | things books. If you like the show, I'd really love your support. Spread the word to your |
| 0:32.9 | reader friends, subscribe to the show, rate and review it wherever you listen to podcasts. Let's get rolling. |
| 0:39.9 | Y'all have heard me talk about wanting to have a ghostwriter on the show for quite a while now, |
| 0:45.2 | and I am thrilled to have finally found the perfect guest. Barbara Feynman Todd is the author of her |
| 0:51.3 | 2017 memoir, Pretend I'm Not Here, How I Worked with Three Newspaper |
| 0:56.2 | Icons, One Powerful First Lady, and still managed to dig myself out of the Washington |
| 1:01.0 | Swamp, where she talks about her experience researching and ghostwriting for some extremely |
| 1:05.6 | heavy political hitters. Former First Lady Hillary Clinton's, It Takes a Village, Bob Woodward's Vale, Carl |
| 1:12.9 | Bernstein's Loyalties, and former Washington Post executive editor Ben Bradley's A Good Life, |
| 1:18.6 | among others. You sort of hit the trio of Watergate in there. I did. Barbara taught |
| 1:24.9 | journalism at Georgetown University for 25 years and was the founding director of Georgetown's journalism programs. |
| 1:31.6 | She is now Professor Emerita at Georgetown University. Welcome, Barbara. |
| 1:36.6 | Thank you, Sarah. I'm so excited to be here. |
| 1:39.7 | I'm thrilled to talk to you. And as I was listening to your memoir, I kept a list of questions, |
| 1:46.1 | and that list went very, very long. So I'm so excited to hear more about ghost writing. I feel like |
| 1:51.6 | this is a field in publishing that the general public doesn't know a lot about. So we have a lot of |
| 1:58.9 | curious listeners. Great. I'm excited to tell them everything, |
| 2:03.9 | almost. I mean, you've already told a lot in your memoir. No, I did. Believe it or not, |
| 2:08.4 | there were a few things I didn't put in there, but you can't tell everything. Of course not. |
... |
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