Author J.S. Menefee

How did I come to be writing both a handbook on Ghostwriting and a paranormal Urban Fantasy set, all while maintaining my freelance writing career? By bouncing all over the place and trying a lot of different things, first!

I have been a writer and editor for over twenty years, in one capacity or another. I turned my tech ghostwriting into a job in Marketing & PR with a high tech agency in the Silicon Valley, and then did freelance PR, for 7 of those years. Most of what I did there was writing, too.

I also spent 6 years of that time managing a security company. I wrote their marketing materials, handbooks, sales pitches, and most of their reports. So, yet more writing!

Then a few years ago I went back to freelancing, after deciding that writing/editing was truly what I loved. I've been doing that ever since, happily. I still do.

In early 2015, someone who found me through my Goodreads profile contacted me to ghostwrite a novel for him. It would be my first fiction ghostwriting, and I discovered I loved it. He'd later hire me to write my second fiction novel, too. I learned a ton about fiction during that time, but the biggest thing I learned? I love fiction writing!

After ghostwriting a dozen novels ranging from 40k to 140k words in several genres, I decided I want to write my own. My long-term goal shifted, and now I want to eventually write fiction for a living, without the freelancing or ghostwriting. For now, though, I'll do both.

So, in early 2017, I began writing my first novel in a paranormal urban fantasy set. I'll write a trilogy plus a prequel novella by April of 2018 and launch them one after the other.

Right after I began that, the Professional Indie organization contacted me, saying they'd like me to write a ghostwriting handbook for them, and they'd publish it--with me as author. I was going to decline, but then I learned more about their organization. I truly support the goals of Professional Indie, so I eventually agreed. Thus, the Professional Ghostwriter's Handbook will be published in late 2018 -- look for it!