CELEBRITY CO-AUTHOR NICK CHILES: HOW TO CONVINCE CELEBRITIES TO FACE THEIR UNFLATTERING HISTORIES, BOBBY BROWN’s CONFESSION, WHY ONE CELEBRITY CO-WRITER CAUSES MORE PERSONAL GROWTH THAN ENTOURAGE OF 100 (MF GALAXY 149)

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WHAT AL SHARPTON FORCED HIM TO ANSWER WHILE THEY WERE WORKING ON SHARPTON’S BOOK; HOW CELEBRITIES ARE LIKELY TO VIEW A CO-AUTHOR WHO FORCES THEM TO FACE REALITY

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Okay, so you’re a writer and you write a book and if you’re lucky it sells more than ten thousand copies, but you probably sold far less than that and then you’re looking through a bookstore and you find books written by Betty White, Robe Lowe, Patton Oswald, Miley Cyrus, Mindy Kaling, or Justin Bieber (who probably can’t even read)?
And you get furious and think how the deck is totally stacked against you, because how can you compete against someone whose book publicity machine is the entire music industry or Hollywood?
And then you get smart and say, “How can I get a cut of that action?”
And the good news is, you don’t have to be famous to do it.
Enter author and now agent Nick Chiles. He’s been in the writing game for more than three decades—not only as the editor-in-chief of Atlanta Blackstar, but as a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and multiple award-winning education reporter, and now as a best-selling author and celebrity co-writer. Chiles has co-created books with singer Bobby Brown, with political organiser Al Sharpton, with former Governor of Massachusetts Deval Patrick, and with NBA star Etan Thomas, among others.
So the lesson to all struggling writers is clear: you’re not famous, but you could write with someone who is, get paid, and get to attach the title “best-selling author” to your name for the rest of your career. 
Nick Chiles spoke with me on November 6, 2017 by Skype from his office in Atlanta. We discussed: 
  • How to convince celebrities to face and disclose their unflattering history, and the disturbing truth he got Bobby Brown to admit
  • What Al Sharpton forced him to answer while they were working on Sharpton’s book
  • Why one celebrity co-writer can cause more personal growth than an entourage of a hundred, and
  • How celebrities are likely to view a co-author who forces them to face reality

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