I bring a journalist’s mindset to writing books.

After spending a decade in New York City working for the New York Daily News, New York Post and ABC News, I was burned out. Too many coffee-fueled late nights and early mornings. Too much stress and pressure. Constantly monitoring breaking news alerts and managing personnel across shifts and time zones. More than anything, however, I was tired of FaceTiming with my then two-year-old son on train rides home because it was his bedtime and I'd missed his entire day.

I needed to find a better work-life balance and with it a new career that built on the unique set of skills I’d acquired in the newsroom:

• Writing and editing crisp copy on deadline

• An investigative journalist's tenacity

• The flair of feature writing

• The curiosity to dig deeper and explore the depths of a story

• Management chops to keep projects and people on track

The possibility of helping authors write and edit their books spoke to me. So I left the newsroom in 2019 and made a career shift. I didn’t expect to find my purpose through books, but that’s exactly what I discovered as a book ghostwriter, author coach and manuscript editor. I am gratified by helping people share their stories with the world. I’ve written or ghostwritten 50 books in a wide range of genres, including business, sports, memoir, leadership, true crime, genealogy, tech, self-help, politics and disability inclusion. Four of the books I’ve collaborated on have become national bestsellers (Amazon, USA Today and Wall Street Journal).

I enjoy taking on a wide range of projects, just as I did in my journalism career when breaking news happened. I love the continuous education that comes with ghostwriting, the chance to plug in the port in the back of my mind like Neo in The Matrix and become an expert on the topic at hand. I relish the opportunity to help authors unlock the power of their stories and achieve the authority, closure, satisfaction or momentum they were seeking in writing their book.

I particularly enjoy tapping into an author’s purpose and helping them achieve their anticipated outcomes from the book. For instance, purpose was at the forefront of my collaboration with entrepreneur Jonathan Stanley. I started working with Jonathan after he completed his book draft, first as an editor and later as a writing coach. I helped Jonathan strengthen the structure of his book and infuse it with a deeper sense of meaning. He published Purposeful Performance in 2024, and the next year a viral TikTok moment at a book signing brought Jonathan widespread visibility and coverage by the Washington Post, People and NBC’s Today. His book became a national bestseller, and his powerful message has spawned a global movement.

While it’s been rewarding to see the wide impact of Jonathan’s book, success means something different for each author and book—often something other than selling thousands of copies. The authors I’ve worked with have used their books to achieve a life goal, document their family stories, drive six-figure revenue, and establish their expertise or speaking platforms.

I’ve also written books on my own. Among them is a biography about baseball star Ken Caminiti, Playing Through the Pain (Abrams Press, 2022) that received a starred review from Publishers Weekly and was nominated for a CASEY Award as one of the year’s best baseball books. I spent eight years working on that book and interviewed 400 people, chipping away at the project during my newsroom days.

I grew up in Pennsylvania with the dream of becoming a sportswriter and went to Penn State, but after transferring to Millersville University in my native Lancaster County, I fell in love with investigative reporting while running my school’s student newspaper, The Snapper (in the nineteenth century, students of the opposite sex, discouraged from speaking to each other, snapped their fingers to express interest). My coverage for The Snapper exposed misspending in the women’s athletic department, and I uncovered a long-lost cemetery where the town founder likely is buried.

I also worked in local TV, first as a videographer and later, a producer and on-air reporter. I contributed to my newsroom’s coverage of a horrific shooting at an Amish school house, a motivating factor in my shift to hard news.

I came to New York by way of New Jersey after spending three-plus years working at The Press of Atlantic City. My experiences there included everything from interviewing actor Mickey Rooney and writing about Billy Mays’ Boardwalk pitchman past to breaking news coverage of a bowling alley arson and a Bonnie-and-Clyde crime duo’s arrest. I also directed two documentaries, including one about Enoch “Nucky” Johnson, the real-life political boss behind the fictionalized HBO series Boardwalk Empire, that aired on a local NBC affiliate. For my efforts I was named the newsroom’s employee of the year.

I live outside of New York City with my wife and son, where I collect baseball cards, walk on nature trails, practice taekwondo (I’m currently a yellow belt), and paint watercolors. I enjoyed living at the beach and still visit when I can. Something about the waves and sand and salt air are calming to me.