About

Hiya, I’m The Friendly Ghostwriter…

Q: What do writing and ghosts have in common?

A: They can both be quite scary.

Some people find writing scary. That doesn’t mean you don’t have a great story to tell. It also doesn’t mean that, with help, advice, and practice, you can’t get to a place where writing becomes fun. All you need to find is a friendly ghostwriter.

Let me introduce myself. My name is Alan Campbell, but my friends call me Al. Back in the day I was lucky enough to go to a good Grammar School in Kent and then University College London where I took my first degree in Geography and Economics. The first I still love, the second continues to fascinate me. To me Geography is about people and their stories – unless there are humans there is no human to tell a story, and stories are what fascinate me. Economics largely seems to be about how we seem to screw things up.

Early Years

I always wanted to be a writer but wasn’t allowed to do A Level English. Part of the reason for that was that I’m dyslexic. That doesn’t have anything to do with my ability to write. Rather it’s that I saw things differently and more creatively than a curriculum full of Shakespeare and Chaucer could cope with.

Being creative I went into advertising as a copywriter. Being dyslexic and seeing business a different way I quite quickly started my own agency. With me as CEO and Executive Creative Director it grew to 35 people, and I wrote ads and commercials. Then I got into directing commercials for radio and TV and promotional videos. This is still part of my life today – who doesn’t want to fly off with a crew to the Mediterranean and film a travelogue?

In terms of paid writing I sold my first piece, a porn story for a Top Shelf magazine, at the age of 23. In a somewhat less louche vein I have had a column and features published in The Observer. I have also covered sport for local newspapers and had short stories published in various magazines.

Understanding Business

Commercially I started consulting to major banks, the Big Five consultancies and FTSE 100 companies on marketing and communications. I understand business well – my copywriting career has embraced a lot of areas of banking and investment, organisation and management, pensions, and fin tech. I’m good at writing business books.

Creative Fiction

In terms of non-corporate work, just before lockdown I was accepted for an MA in Creative Writing. Then came lockdown and I turned the filmscript I was working on into my first novel, The Daisy Chain. I learned a huge amount from the experience- not least because after a successful launch my small

publisher went out of business. So, apart from the traditional side of book publishing I have had to learn the disciplines of self-publishing.

As A Friendly Working Partner

In one shape or form I have spent my entire life as a writer, but those who have worked with me have always told me I’m a very good, very inspiring and very friendly teacher.

I look forward to the chance of working with you.

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