Daniel Paisner

Daniel Paisner is one of the busiest collaborators in publishing. He has written over seventy books, on topics ranging from business and sports, to politics and popular culture, including seventeen New York Times best-sellers. He is the host of the popular podcast "AS TOLD TO: The Ghostwriting Podcast," featuring long-form, free-wheeling conversations with some of publishing's top ghostwriters/collaborators - a production of the Writers Bone Podcast Network and available wherever you get your podcasts. He is also the author of the new novel, "Balloon Dog," published in June, 2022 by Koehler Books. A darkly comic tale of longing and legacy, "Balloon Dog" tells the story of a brazen art heist gone wrong and prompts readers to consider what what it means to leave a mark and what it takes to be swept up in the same currents that move almost everyone else. Paisner's work has been profiled in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, ESPN: The Magazine and on National Public Radio. (In a recent New York Magazine article on how to write someone else's memoir, he was referred to as the "most prolific living ghost" - a title that may or may not have been meant as a back-handed compliment.) He is co-author of best-selling books with tennis champion Serena Williams; NFL great Ray Lewis; Emmy Award-winning baseball analyst and former All-Star pitcher Ron Darling; MSNBC News personality Mika Brzezinski; the late New York City mayor Ed Koch; and, Academy Award-winning actors Denzel Washington, Whoopi Goldberg and Anthony Quinn, among others. Recent books include "Blue: The Color of Noise," with ground-breaking deejay Steve Aoki; "It's Up To Us," with former Ohio governor John Kasich; and, "Powershift," with FUBU founder and "Shark Tank" co-star Daymond John. Forthcoming titles include "Reach: Hard Lessons and Learned Truths from a Lifetime in Television," with legendary television producer Arthur Smith; and, "Unforgiving: Lessons from the Fall," with snowboarder Lindsey Jacobellis, a two-time Olympic gold medalist. He has also collaborated on books with former world champion longboard surfer Izzy Paskowitz; bail bondsman Ira Judelson; legendary high school basketball coach Bob Hurley; and, the late Gilbert Gottfried, the brilliantly potty-mouthed comedian. Over the years, Paisner has worked with dozens of "ordinary" individuals with extraordinary stories to tell, including Krystyna Chiger, whose chronicle of her family's horrific ordeal in a Polish sewer during the German occupation, "The Girl in the Green Sweater," makes an important contribution to the literature of the Holocaust. The story is the basis for the Academy Award-nominated film, "In Darkness," from director Agnieszka Holland. Perhaps his most notable collaboration has been the best-selling account of a New York City firefighter's epic tour of duty at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, "Last Man Down," written with FDNY Battalion Commander Richard Picciotto. The book was #1 on the London Times best-seller list, and remained a top ten seller in the U.K. for over six months; it reached the #1 spot on the Amazon.com.uk "Hot 100" list. Paisner has also written several books of his own, including "The Ball: Mark McGwire's 70th Home Run Ball and the Marketing of the American Dream," which was hailed by Amazon editors as one of the best sports books of the year. If you want to really make him happy, consider reading one of his previous novels: "Obit", "Mourning Wood," and "A Single Happened Thing." They're pretty good. For more information, visit his website: www.danielpaisner.com. Oh, and listen to his podcast.