BLOG: An Interview with Niall Edworthy

Being a writer can mean many things, which is fortunate because many authors today must rely on a ‘portfolio’ career. For those who can keep the portfolio in the industry, they are often also speakers, panellists, sometimes journalists or reviewers, writing much more than just their own novels. To make a living being a writer is an achievement.

We sat down with one of the UK’s most prolific authors and ghostwriters, Niall Edworthy, who agreed to dish the details on the facets of his portfolio. Niall is a spook of the book world, with over 26 ghost written titles to his (or someone else’s) name. We first met in 2021 when Niall’s novel, Otto Eckhart’s Ordeal, was shortlisted for the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize. Come 2025, Niall continues to write but is also now a publisher, having established independent publishing house Badger Books last year, determined to forge his own way in an industry currently dominated by the big houses.

WNSF: Thanks for taking the time to join us, Niall! Let’s start at the beginning - how did you get into writing? Which kind of writing was your first calling? 

Niall: Thank you! It was more a drifting than a calling, if I am honest. I had no idea what to do for a career after university, but I loved books and I had always enjoyed writing … once I got down to it. (I am sure that even seasoned writers will know what I mean by ‘getting down to it’. There is always resistance! It’s hard.) I caught a break very young, about 23, when I became a cricket correspondent for the Independent on Sunday and before I knew it, I was a reporter. I worked for some broadsheets, then with the international wire agencies AFP and Reuters on Sport and News. When I was asked to write the official history of the England football team, I landed an agent, and a year later I was ghosting for the actor David Jason (I am allowed to admit that because he insisted my name joined his on the cover!) 

WNSF: Can you tell us how being a ghost writer works? How does the work land on your desk? Who comes to you - the subject or an agent? How long does it take to ghost a book?

Niall: The work has come from all angles. At first, it came mainly through my agent, then directly from publishers I had worked with, plus a few projects by word of mouth or kind recommendations made to those in the hunt for a writer. I have also ghosted a few privately published memoirs.

Ideally, you don’t want less than 6 months to ghost a full-length but, for reasons I have never fully understood, that’s about as long as you ever get. I was recently asked if I’d like to ghost a book for a leading politician and do it all in 3 months. I said, ‘No, thanks!’ The writing is often the shortest phase, but three months from start to finish was too tight. Much of the time is spent interviewing the subject to get the story and that can involve many meetings. After that, transcribing the interviews is laborious but great for absorbing the story deeply and thinking as you go. Most of the books I have ghosted have taken 3 to 4 months in the writing.

WNSF: You’ve written for a range of people, and on various topics: military history, biography, natural history, sport, humour - do you need experience in these areas yourself? Can you tell us about a couple of them?

Niall: I argue that a lack of knowledge is an asset because you come to the subject with fresh eyes and curiosity, and you never take the reader’s knowledge for granted. You have to assume someone is reading the book because they are curious and hungry for insights into an alien world. I am always extremely eager to learn, and the ‘ideal reader’ I have in mind when writing is the one keen to know everything about the world I describe. If it’s an adventure for me to write, then I like to think it will be an adventure to read. Rarely have I enjoyed a book in which the author has assumed I know as much as they do. 

WNSF: How do you research e.g. do you always sit down with the person? How do you decide on style and structure for the book? 

Niall: Research takes many forms: any material the ‘subject’ of the book can offer, old books for background and context, the local library, the British Library sometimes and the web. Lately, I have found AI to be a great help for quickly pointing me in the right direction. Instead of disappearing down a thousand rabbit holes on Google, AI cuts to the chase, saving a great deal of time. I have no fears of AI taking over the role of the long-form writer. Even if it can do that, no one wants to read a book written by a robot and I am sure there will be legislation for books to declare their artificial souls. So, I am very happy to use AI as an unpaid, hard-working, extremely knowledgeable research assistant. I have never used a human one so I am not depriving anyone of a living!

WNSF: Whose responsibility is fact-checking for a ghosted book? Have you ever had a subject tell a tall tale?

Niall: The ‘subject’ or ‘author’ of the book holds the copyright; the ghost is no more than the amanuensis, or craftsperson, who helps put that story into words. (Writing is a craft, not a gift!) The ghost will check everything and list queries for the subject, pointing out any discrepancies or areas of doubt. The ghost has skin in the game too and wants the book to be as verifiably accurate as possible. No one wants to be associated with a shoddy piece of work. But, the subject, not the ghost, signs off the manuscript for the publishers.

I have had one awful experience. I was commissioned to ghost the story of an incredible adventure that, quite literally, proved too good to be true. It was doubly awful because I landed the subject a very handsome deal with an excellent publisher. He was a very impressive man with all the right credentials and endorsements. The deeper we went into the story, the greater my doubts grew. I kept going with it for fear I might be accused of bottling the challenge, but as soon as I delivered it, I sent the publishers a list of about 60 ‘facts’ or points that I felt cast serious doubt on the authenticity. The book was pulled. It was a huge waste of time and money and caused me a great deal of stress.

WNSF: Do you think we’d be able to recognise a ghosted book as yours from the writing? 

Niall: No, never! At least I hope not. I would not be doing my job very well if the narrative voice sounded like me.

WNSF: We’ve seen your fantastic Dopamine Cupboard on your website so we know there are frequently non-disclosure agreements in place. Ghost writers can’t have an ego, but just how invisible do you have to be?

Niall: It’s all about not diluting the brand. I get that. Publishers want ghosts to remain hidden from view in case they spook customers. I don’t think there is any shame or con in a ghosted book. It is a collaborative effort. The subject tells the story and the ghost, using his craft skills, helps put it into the best possible form, telling that story as well as it can be told. 

I argue that a memoir or autobiography is also better for being ghosted because the ghost will ask questions that the subject may not be willing or minded to ask themselves. The story is not just better told, but fuller and richer for the experience. So what if the subject does not have the craft skills to write their own book? How can they be expected to be a first-rate writer as well as an expert or champion in whatever field has led a publisher to want their story? There’s a reason why we don’t wire or plumb our own houses. 

In a perfect and fair world, I believe the ghost should have their name, not on the cover, but inside on the Title page, prefixed with ‘Written with…’ There should be a short author’s note explaining the process. I have written a great many books, but being a ghost, I have only a very faint public profile and when I publish books under my own name, it’s hard to make an impact because no one knows who the hell I am!  

WNSF: You're now a publisher too - how have you found this step? Have there been many learnings?

Niall: It’s been very interesting to work on the other side of the fence. I will never moan to a publisher ever again, now that I am a gamekeeper as well as a poacher! I now understand how much work goes into the production of a book, how many little details need to be addressed, how hard it is to elbow your book to the front of the market.

It’s been fascinating – and I’m hooked. The thrill for me has been adding speed, power and control to my game. Until technology enabled authors to become their own publishers or to use independent publishing in some form, getting a book published was always a slow, laborious process of submitting quite long proposals, entering into long discussions and, eventually, maybe, agreeing a deal. Years can pass before a project gets lift-off. More often than not, there will be no deal, and all that time spent preparing, researching and pitching comes to naught. Time is money for authors trying to make a living from books alone, and even successful authors earn very little. No one pays you for putting together a proposal.

The beauty of Indie publishing is you can have a book out in months rather than years, you can back your own idea and you have full control over every aspect of its production and its life in the market.

I have recently produced a series called Healthy Habits, working with three experts in Nutrition, Resilience & Well-Being and Physiotherapy. They have produced three brilliant, beautifully illustrated and designed little handbooks, about 140 pages each. We started in mid-September and all three books were out there in a global market on all the platforms by mid-January. You could never do that in traditional publishing. There is more royalty to be enjoyed too, not riches, but you’re in the game with control over how to promote and sell.

I spent a year or two learning all the elements of the ‘Indie Pub’ process, and I am pleased that I haven’t made any terrible rookie mistakes. It’s been hard work but very rewarding and I hope that adding this option to my work will allow me to carry on writing books forever. It’s very hard to make good money in books, and unless you break through into the big money, it is a volume game – and volume demands major effort. Volume is a problem in a wider sense. There are now so many books out there, many times more published each year, the mountain of choice keeps growing but the number of books each year remains roughly the same.

WNSF: You’ve told us before, ‘I have enjoyed a great diversity of books, but the ones I enjoy most are those in which it is all about the story and the writing invisible.  The books I enjoy the least are those where you are being invited to admire the writing and the story has taken a back seat. For me, in reading and writing, it’s story, story, story all the way and I seek it out in every genre.’  Of course, opinions can change. Do you still stand by this now, and as a publisher? What is it you’re looking to publish?

Niall: I will always believe that story trumps all in fiction and narrative non-fiction. You only have to think as a reader to know that to be true. You turn the pages for the story, to find out what happens next. Story, of course, is not what you expect in other forms of non-fiction. In those genres and categories, you just want the information and knowledge, but in a novel, a memoir or a history, the reader will always want to be sat down by a fireside and told a good compelling tale. 

WNSF: Of all your hats, which one do you enjoy wearing the most? 

Niall: I have written only two novels – the second to be published this year – but I’d have to say, Fiction, a work of the imagination, an act of creation emerging out of nothing, is the greatest challenge and the most exciting adventure. To look at a blank page and take some steps into that virgin snow, to create a character that did not exist a minute earlier, to bump off a baddie, or marry off your protagonists, to do whatever you like with your world, is an exhilarating privilege.

WNSF: Thank you so much for taking the time to answer our questions. It’s been great to catch up!

Where to buy Niall’s books?

You can purchase your copy of Otto Eckhart’s Ordeal or another of Niall’s books, here.

You can also find out what Niall’s been up to each month via his blog, or by following him on social media:

Instagram @nialledworthybooks

Substack @nialledworthy

Facebook @nialledworthy

Website www.nialledworthy.com