My name is Simon Petherick and I have worked for many years as a ghostwriter, working on a huge range of projects with clients around the world. I would like to take the opportunity to tell you a little about me.
I studied Modern History at Merton College, Oxford, and first worked as a writer at the publishers Robert Hale in London when I left university. After spending some time reading what used to be called “the slush pile” (the manuscripts submitted by authors) I progressed to writing jacket blurbs. I then worked at Michael Joseph publishers, writing copy for them.
I moved to the Government’s communication department, the Central Office of Information, where I spend seven years writing leaflets, books and adverts on anything from advice on social security benefits to Royal Air Force recruitment. It was a tremendous training in how to write English that was above all comprehensible, clear and authentic.
I began writing books at this stage. I was asked to ghostwrite a book for the hypnotist Joe Keeton:
I went on to write guide books for publishers, novels under my own name which you can see here, and many ghostwritten books for clients all over the world.
Almost all of the books I have written for clients have been done under strict confidentiality terms which we mention elsewhere on this site, so I don’t publicise my involvement. I would be happy to talk about these face-to-face under non-disclosure terms. But to give you an idea, these are some of the books I have worked on over the last few years:
- The life and business story of a successful UK consumer goods businessman who changed the face of his industry
- The memoir of a leading USA rock music manager and mogul
- A ghost novel written for a client based on a dream he had had for the previous thirty years
- The autobiography of one of the UK’s most successful Muslim entrepreneurs and philanthropists
- The memoir of a Chinese businesswoman of her childhood years in Beijing
- The account of one of the leading members of the Nigerian military on his battle on behalf of his country against Boko Haram
- A history of the Blitz in Plymouth during World War Two
- A popular reference book about the spice saffron
- A geopolitical study of one of the most influential tech companies to come out of China
I live in London and have done all my adult life. I used the city as the backdrop to my most recent novel, Like Fire Unbound. My two grown-up children live and work in London, one a writer in the travel sector, the other a charity fundraiser. When I can, I get away to Cornwall, where I grew up and where I co-own a 40-year-old Nicholson 33 sailing boat with an old friend. We took her to the Scillies recently:
I’ll be more than happy to answer questions about my career and experience and how I might be able to be of service to you as a ghostwriter. Do feel free to make contact here.