Become an author.
All you have to do is talk.
Writing a book is not only life-changing. It’s identity-changing.
The instant you release your finished book into the world, you officially become an author. Just like that, you’re in a new league. You’re no longer CEO and Founder–now, you’re CEO, Founder, and Author. Forever. It’s something your loved ones and colleagues will never cease to mention, from wedding speeches to your obituary.
Becoming an author means authority, credibility, visibility, influence, bigger stages, and better clients. New doors will open. People will respond to you differently. When they hand you their business cards, you’ll hand them a book. Whether your goal is advancing in business or cementing your legacy, the book is just the beginning.
The problem is, you haven’t written it. Yet.
Who I Work With
I ghostwrite books for people whose extraordinary stories contain extraordinary lessons. I specialize in rags to riches memoirs, where the rags and riches aren’t only financial, but spiritual, emotional, creative, and philosophical.
If you’ve lived a remarkable life, accomplished something special in the face of serious odds, and want your book to help and inspire your readers, then you’re in the right place.
Maybe you’re at the top of your professional game and want to take your career to the next level. Or maybe you’re ready for your book to serve as the capstone of your life and career.
Maybe you can already write well, but simply don’t have the time to complete an entire book. Maybe you can barely string a written sentence together, but you still have a story that needs to be told.
Maybe you’ve already done a fair bit of writing, but you can’t seem to organize it all into something gripping and coherent. Maybe you don’t know if you’re ready, or if you have what it takes.
If any of these sound like you, you’re also in the right place.
I’m Alec Quig, the interview-first ghostwriter.
If you take one thing away from reading this page, make it this:
The key to ghostwriting a great book isn’t the writing. It’s the interviews.
Why? Because when you work with a ghostwriter on a book, the raw material comes from you. The interviews are where you make your core contribution to your book. They’re where the spontaneous creativity, unexpected revelations, and synergistic magic happen. They’re where you speak your life story into existence as only you can.
I’m a little different from other ghostwriters in that I see myself as an interviewer first and a writer second. Over and over again, I’ve seen that when you really nail the interviews, the writing that follows can’t help but sparkle with life.
My function is similar to what McCartney and Lennon did for each other: when you bounce your ideas off a highly creative collaborator, those ideas will evolve and improve beyond what you thought possible. The key is to get the creative gears in motion before the writing even starts.
…but interviews alone don’t make a book.
There’s an alchemy to turning conversations into 200+ page book. My job is to capture not only what you say, but how you say it, then translate it all to the page so it feels both natural and true. It’s a unique skill, and I didn’t learn it overnight. I’ve been dedicated to interview-first writing for twenty years.
I cut my teeth at the mecca of long-form interviews, BOMB Magazine in New York, where I transcribed and edited hundreds of pages of interviews before conducting my own. I later conducted hundreds of interviews with complete strangers as the “Man on the Street” for The Chicago Tribune’s Redeye, The Portland Mercury, and beyond. I later became a business ghostwriter at Forbes Books, where I turned interviews with CEOs, founders, and entrepreneurs into several career-changing books.
Some examples of my past clients:
• The businessman who taught himself IT technology on YouTube, became the head of IT Security for the biggest airline in the US, then helped over six hundred other Black men follow in his footsteps during the Covid pandemic.
• The tenacious girl who went from straight-A student, to stripper, to sales prodigy, to alcoholic–then conquered her demons to become a devoted wife, mother, Christian, CEO, and serial entrepreneur.
• The Colorado doctor who beat cancer twice and climbed a 14,000-foot mountain before her hair grew back.
• The “slacker dropout”-turned-CEO who traded his Lamborghini for an international journey of psychedelic self-discovery.
• The professor who developed a telehealth app for academic research, watched its user base explode into the millions over the first weeks of the pandemic, then teamed up with an ER doc to write the book on telehealth.
These people couldn’t be more different, but my interview-first process just works. If it worked for a Brazilian Victoria’s Secret supermodel, a Singaporean roboticist, and a banker from Memphis–past clients all–it will work for you.
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“Raw, inspiring memoir of business, faith, and finding a path to success.”
Booklife by Publishers Weekly
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“Her narrative skill enables her to tell this tale from a confident, healed perspective, so we know that no matter how dark the world gets, we’re in good hands to guide us back through to the light.”
Readers Favorite
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“A vivid, engrossing account of spunk, determination, and forgiveness.”
Kirkus Reviews
How Ghostwriting Works
My interview-first process is designed to produce a manuscript of 200 pages in approximately six months.
For the first four, you’ll be in the driver’s seat, telling your story your way, while I act as your navigator and co-pilot. We’ll speak once or twice a week for 90-120 minutes at a time. Our first two weeks are huge: after a handful of interviews, I’ll deliver your book’s blueprint and, more importantly, its first chapter.
When you read that chapter, several things will click. You’ll see how your voice translates into print. You’ll get an instant feel for how my process works. This will make us better collaborators, and our subsequent interviews will run like a well-oiled machine. Insights, buried memories, and epiphanies will arise; we’ll address them in further interviews one by one. The rest of your book will proceed as above, and I’ll deliver it in three parts: beginning, middle, and end.
Once you’ve approved all three sections and said all you have to say, the manuscript will be edited by two seasoned editors, after which I’ll make another comprehensive edit from top to bottom. Meanwhile, you’ll discuss your options with a handful of designers and publishers. After one more final edit and your approval, it will undergo a final revision by a professional proofreader. When their work is through, your manuscript will be ready for print and publication.
How The Interviews Work
My process is designed to make our conversations natural and effortless. I’m not the kind of interviewer you see on 60 Minutes, lobbing hardball questions at public figures. I don’t need to say much–the more you talk, the better. My role is about posing the right question, the right way, at the right time. I will be trying at all times to shake up your perspective, and to push your story further and deeper. If you tend to take a 30,000-foot view, I’ll get you looking through a microscope.
For us to succeed, I’ll need two things from you. First, you need to come to each interview on your A-game, ready to go deep and talk expansively. Second, you must be willing and able to respond promptly and constructively to drafts of our work in progress. Beyond that, I’ll do the heavy lifting while you sit back and focus on the rest of your life.
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"What sets this book apart is its ability to interweave personal anecdotes with practical advice. It delves into personal transformation as a way of navigating life."
D. Moreno
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"This is an exhausting, inspiring, and almost unbelievable story–she doesn't hide the struggles, or the failures. Her honesty is beautiful."
B. Pagett
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"The story managed to communicate a powerful message of resilience and determination. No matter the challenges, we must continue to forge ahead."
M. Lujan
FAQ
Will you work for percentage of a future book sales?
No.
Do you own any of the rights to my book?
No; it’s all yours.
Do I have to pay up-front?
No. I charge 5% of my total fee for your first chapter and book plan as a “test drive,” so you can get a feel for me and the process before making a bigger commitment. From there, I bill in four equal payments, each tied to deliverables: drafts of the first, second, and final third of your manuscript, and its final draft.
Does the book have to be done in six months? Do you charge more if it takes longer?
No. I’ve managed to complete one book in just fifteen phone calls, while others have taken well over a year. Each book is ultimately as different as its author. The most important thing is that I’m with you until the end, and my fee doesn’t change.
Are you strict about length?
No. Some of my clients’ books have been complete at 45,000 words, and others were over 90,000.
Pricing
I charge $100,000 to ghostwrite a 200-page manuscript.
If the thought of writing a book won’t stop rattling around in the back of your head, I want to work with you. If the idea of becoming an author has been eating at you for years, I especially want to work with you.
Don’t put it off any longer. Everything you need to do this is already right where you need it: between your ears. Let’s get your story out of your head and into a book while it’s still fresh. If you have a few hours to spare a week, you have enough time to become an author. Choose me as your ghostwriter and you’ll be crossing this off your bucket list in a matter of months.
Get in touch however you’d like–my contact info is below, or you can schedule a discovery call here.
