Award-winning published author and screenwriter specialising in memoirs and extraordinary true stories — with an eye to their screen potential.
THERE’S A BOOK IN THIS
Perhaps you’ve said it yourself.
Or perhaps somebody has been saying it to you for years.
“There’s a book in your life.”
Sometimes they’re right.
But having the story is very different from knowing how to turn decades of experience into a book somebody else will want to read.
Where does it begin? What belongs in it? What should be left out? Which memories matter and which merely happened?
That is the work I do.
I take the raw material of a life — conversations, memories, diaries, photographs, documents, recordings and existing writing — and find the story inside it.
YOUR VOICE.
YOUR STORY.
Good ghostwriting should not sound as though somebody else has written your life.
It should sound like you — only with the structure, pace and storytelling craft of a professional author behind it.
I work closely with you to uncover the moments that matter, find the natural voice of the book and shape the material into a narrative with character, tension, humour, emotion and momentum.
Not simply a record of what happened.
A story people want to keep reading.
SOME STORIES HAVE ANOTHER LIFE
My background also includes screenwriting.
That means I naturally look at a true story through two different lenses: as a book and as potential drama.
Not every memoir belongs on screen.
But some contain characters, relationships, conflicts and events with genuine film or television potential.
If yours does, I’ll recognise it.
That doesn’t mean making promises about Hollywood. It means your story is being developed by somebody who understands what makes real events work both on the page and dramatically.
I currently have three television and film projects in development.
THE STORIES THAT INTEREST ME
- Remarkable or unconventional lives
- Extraordinary family histories
- Survival and reinvention
- Business and entrepreneurial stories
- Crime, conflict and high-stakes experiences
- Travel and lives lived far from the ordinary
- Untold stories supported by archives, diaries or letters
- True stories with possible screen potential
The person does not need to be famous.
The story needs to be worth telling.
ABOUT JOE
Joe Cawley is an award-winning author, journalist, ghostwriter and screenwriter.
His memoir More Ketchup than Salsa was voted Best Travel Narrative by the British Guild of Travel Writers and became a Kindle bestseller.
His journalism has appeared in national and international publications including The Telegraph, The Sunday Times, The Times, The Guardian, The Observer and the New York Post.
He has also ghostwritten books for two global industry leaders. Those projects remain confidential under non-disclosure agreements.
Alongside his books and journalism, Joe currently has three television and film projects in development, giving him a particular interest in true stories that may have a life beyond the printed page.
HOW IT WORKS
Tell me the story
A few paragraphs are enough. I want to understand whose story it is, what makes it worth telling and what material already exists.
We talk
If I think I can help, we’ll discuss the story, the likely scope of the project and what you would like the finished book to achieve.
We build the book
Interviews, source material, structure, writing and revisions are shaped around the needs of the project.
TELL ME ABOUT YOUR STORY
You don’t need a synopsis or a finished manuscript. A few paragraphs are enough for me to understand whether there may be a book here.
Every enquiry is treated confidentially.