Linda Kulman is a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling ghostwriter who has successfully collaborated on more than a dozen books. She has shaped compelling narratives for an elite list of clients, including former Morgan Stanley CEO John Mack, two-time heavyweight boxing champion George Foreman, former First Lady Hillary Clinton, Senator George McGovern, former Secretary of the Treasury Nicholas Brady, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, and Amanda Knox, who was wrongfully imprisoned for murder in Italy. Kulman is known for her expertise at telling each person’s unique story in the most powerful manner possible.
HOW I WORK
My superpower is capturing other people’s voices.
People often think ghostwriting is simply dictation. For me, interviewing the client is just the start. I internalize their voice, how they talk, and the words they use. To put the reader in the room, I immerse myself in my clients’ worlds.
I treat ghostwriting as an all-in partnership. The client’s role is to be present; to open up about not just their triumphs but their failures and to be willing to answer personal questions—with the understanding that they have the final say about what gets published.
Across my career, I have noticed that many accomplished people are too busy to pause and figure out the overarching themes of their lives. It’s my job to capture the complexities and nuances of human experience and human nature in a way that rings true to both the subject and the reader.
I love what I do. One of the frustrations of journalism is that you always have to move on to the next article before you’ve had enough time to break through the surface. Working with someone for a year or more—seeing the elementary school playground where they got into a fight, visiting the ice cream shop they worked in as a teenager, looking out from their corner office—allows me to go deeper; to truly grasp who my client is and to capture the mark they’ve made on the world.
MY BACKGROUND
A graduate of the Columbia University School of Journalism and a former New Yorker fact checker, I approach my work with a passion for in-depth reporting and a commitment to accuracy. As an award-winning journalist for more than two decades, I have honed the ability to explain complex ideas to a general readership, whether it is finance, politics, entrepreneurship, Italian criminal law, or boxing. I take on every new manuscript and book proposal with fresh, eager eyes and the grit and the experience to get the story right.
I am also the author of my own book, Teaching Common Sense. It details the celebrated Grand Strategy Program at Yale University, which exposes future leaders to high-level decision-making. Henry Kissinger wrote the Foreword.
I have extensive experience as an editor and writing coach. I also craft annual reports and other strategic communications, bringing to each project my trademark intensity, clarity, and professionalism.
Born in Atlanta, Georgia, I graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill with a degree in American Studies. I live in Washington, D.C., with my family and two dogs.
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CONTACT
(202) 251-4857