Author - Eric Koester

Linda Morris is a lifelong storyteller—novelist, screenwriter, and editorial consultant—who spent decades helping others shape stories before fully claiming her own as an author.

Her book, The Grizzly Gourmet, is a creative work rooted in imagination, persistence, and the courage to pursue a vision even when confidence wavers.

For Linda, the book wasn’t just a finished product. It was a reclamation of creative identity.

Modern Author Program

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“I finally believed I could do this, and I didn’t have to do it alone.”

—Linda Morris

What Changed?

Writing the book forced Linda to confront a familiar tension for creatives:
knowing how to help others while doubting her own voice.

Through the process, she learned that momentum doesn’t come from pressure.
It comes from permission—to rest, revise, and trust the work.

What emerged wasn’t just a manuscript, but confidence, clarity, and renewed belief in herself as a creator.

Goal

Clarify and organize my ideas
Publish a legacy or mission-driven book

Constraints

Needed structure and accountability
Limited time / full-time job

Role

Memoir & Fiction Project

Author - Eric Koester

Ian Lemke is a real estate investor and entrepreneur who built his business by prioritizing trust, transparency, and long-term relationships over transactional wins. His book, People Over Property, documents not just how he invests, but why—positioning ethical decision-making and partnership as competitive advantages in real estate.

Rather than writing a tactics manual, Ian wrote a values manifesto that now functions as a credibility filter for investors, partners, and collaborators.

Modern Author Program

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“This book became my business card. People read it and already trust how I operate before we ever talk.”

—Ian Lemke

What Changed?

During the writing process, Ian let go of the idea that the book needed to perform, rank, or impress.

What mattered was clarity.

As he rewrote and refined the manuscript, the book stopped being about proving expertise and started doing something far more valuable:
pre-qualifying relationships.

The result:
• Fewer conversations
• Higher trust
• Better-aligned partners

Goal

Build authority or thought leadership
Publish a legacy or mission-driven book
Use a book as a business asset

Constraints

Limited time / full-time job
Needed structure and accountability
Balancing book with business or leadership role

Role

Founder / entrepreneur
Nonprofit or mission-driven leader

Alexandra Shapiro

Author - Eric Koester

Former federal prosecutor and one of the leading appellate lawyers in the United States, who has argued before the Supreme Court, clerked for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and won numerous appeals resulting in exonerations of wrongfully convicted defendants.

Despite decades inside the legal system, this project emerged from a moment where the system failed someone she believed to be innocent, and she failed to fix it through the courts.

Modern Author Program

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“This case keeps me up at night, and I really wanted to tell that story.”

— Alexandra Shapiro

What Changed?

The book became a second courtroom.

A case too complex and constrained for nonfiction was transformed into a novel that preserved truth while shedding procedural barriers. Fiction allowed Shapiro to expose how the presumption of innocence erodes in practice, even for defendants with resources, influence, and capable counsel.

Goal

Publish a legacy or mission-driven book
Build authority or thought leadership

Constraints

Limited time / full-time job
Needed structure and accountability
"Wanted editorial guidance, not ghostwriting"

Role

Memoir & Fiction Project

Watch the Deep Dive

Alisa Parenti

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Author - Eric Koester

Award-winning broadcast journalist, Bloomberg host and reporter, and adjunct professor of journalism at Georgetown University, with a master’s degree from Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism. Deeply experienced in reporting, storytelling, and teaching others how to write clearly under pressure.

This project marked a shift, from daily journalism to long-form historical fiction, examining women’s rights and power through the lens of Ethel Rosenberg’s story, motivated by Parenti’s desire to leave a meaningful intellectual legacy for her daughters.

Modern Author Program

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“What I didn’t expect was the way they would take the content and elevate it, and spread the message to a much wider audience.”

— Alisa Parenti

What Changed?

The book process expanded what Parenti believed was possible. What began as a deeply researched historical novel became a vehicle for broader conversation, reaching audiences beyond her existing journalism platform.

The shift wasn’t just format, it was scope.

Goal

Build authority or thought leadership
Publish a legacy or mission-driven book

Constraints

Limited time / full-time job
First-time author
Needed structure and accountability

Role

Executive / C-suite
Consultant / advisor

Watch the Deep Dive

Andrea Goulet

Author - Eric Koester

Andrea Goulet is a founder and UX leader who understands how trust and positioning are built.

She entered the Manuscripts process not to “become an author someday,” but to turn her expertise into a clear public framework, one that could create authority, demand, and opportunity in real time.

Her story proves something important:

Books don’t just capture credibility.
They generate it.

Modern Author Program

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“One unfinished chapter turned into 21 leads and a $250,000 opportunity pipeline, before the book was even done.”

—Andrea Goulet

What Changed?

Andrea didn’t wait for a polished manuscript.

Through the Manuscripts process, she began publishing and sharing ideas while the book was still forming.

That early visibility created an unexpected result:

The market responded before the product was finished.

Goal

Build authority or thought leadership
Support a consulting or speaking business
Use a book as a business asset

Constraints

Limited time / full-time job
Needed structure and accountability
Balancing book with business or leadership role

Role

Founder / entrepreneur
Consultant / advisor
Healthcare or technical professional

Jim Camp Jr.

Author - Eric Koester

Jim Camp Jr. is a retired U.S. Air Force Major General, leadership advisor, and co-owner of Camp Negotiation Systems. After years commanding under pressure and coaching executives on high-stakes negotiation, Jim recognized a deeper pattern: leaders weren’t struggling to negotiate deals, they were struggling to lead decisively.

The book Start With No was the beginning of Camp Negotiations, which became a foundational text in negotiation by challenging the compromise culture. But over time, Jim saw that the real leverage wasn’t in deals. It was in leadership.

Lead From No emerged as a reframing of negotiation as a leadership discipline, one rooted in clarity, responsibility, and emotional control.

Modern Author Program

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“Pressure doesn’t reward instinct. It rewards a system.”

—Jim Camp Jr.

What Changed?

Writing Lead From No forced Jim to articulate something he had practiced for decades but never formally named: leadership itself is a form of negotiation.

Not persuasion.
Not compromise.
But decision-making under pressure.

The book reframed the Camp System from a negotiation methodology into a leadership operating system, helping Camp Negotiation Systems evolve from a training firm into one of the most respected leadership development organizations in the country.

Goal

Build authority or thought leadership
Use a book as a business asset

Constraints

Limited time / full-time job
Balancing book with business or leadership role

Role

Founder / entrepreneur
Consultant / advisor

Watch the Deep Dive

https://campnegotiations.com/

Ashlee Berghoff

Author - Eric Koester

Ashlee Berghoff is the founder of Smooth Operator, America’s go-to process and systems specialists for event-based businesses. She helps entrepreneurs replace 7-figure chaos with 7-figure profits by building operational engines that scale without burnout.

With an MBA from Georgetown and experience inside high-growth entrepreneurial ecosystems, Ashlee specializes in turning visionary ideas into structured, profitable execution.

Her book, Eureka Results, distills her philosophy into a field guide for entrepreneurs who are drowning in ideas but starving for systems.

Modern Author Program

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“Even if no one read the book, it would have been incredibly helpful for me.”

—Ashlee Berghoff

What Changed?

When Ashlee entered the program, she didn’t have a polished thesis. She had a messy middle.

Pregnant, running a business, navigating life in a slowed-down COVID world, she gave herself permission to start without clarity.

Over 10 months, structure did what structure always does.

It turned:
• vague passion
• scattered insights
• instinctive pattern recognition

into:
• frameworks
• language
• intellectual positioning

Writing forced her to articulate why systems matter and how they unlock freedom. The book didn’t just capture her thinking. It deepened it.

Friends told her they’d tried to write books for 10 years and never made it past chapter two. She finished because the process wasn’t motivational fluff. It was structured.

Goal

Build authority or thought leadership
Clarify and organize my ideas
Use a book as a business asset

Constraints

Limited time / full-time job
Needed structure and accountability
Wanted editorial guidance, not ghostwriting

Role

Consultant / advisor

Jaime Jay

Author - Eric Koester

Jaime Jay is a systems-minded entrepreneur, former 82nd Airborne paratrooper, and the founder of Bottleneck Distant Assistants—a company that helps business owners reclaim 20–40 hours a week through smarter delegation.

After decades in operations, sales, and remote team management, Jaime wrote Quit Repeating Yourself to codify what actually works when businesses stop relying on memory and start relying on systems.

The book became a forcing function. It clarified his thinking, sharpened his offer, and positioned his company as a category leader.

Within a year of release, Bottleneck Distant Assistants crossed seven figures in revenue.

Modern Author Program

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“The book didn’t just explain what we do. It forced me to systemize it, and that changed everything.”

—Jaime Jay

What Changed?

Before the book, Jaime had experience and intuition.
After the book, he had language, structure, and repeatability.

Writing forced him to slow down, name the patterns, and turn lived knowledge into a transferable framework. That framework didn’t just help readers, it aligned his team, improved sales conversations, and made growth predictable instead of reactive.

The book wasn’t the finish line.
It became the operating system behind the business.

Goal

Build authority or thought leadership
Use a book as a business asset

Constraints

Limited time / full-time job
Balancing book with business or leadership role
First-time author

Role

Founder / entrepreneur

Gregory Offner

Author - Eric Koester

Gregory Offner is a leadership speaker and culture strategist who helps organizations build accountability, trust, and human-centered performance.

After publishing The Tip Jar Culture, Gregory’s work crystallized into a message that traveled—fast. The book didn’t just capture his ideas. It made them portable, bookable, and scalable.

Within a short window, Gregory was signed by Eagle Talent Speakers Bureau and began delivering keynotes nationwide.

Modern Author Program

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“The book gave people a way to understand what I do—and a reason to bring me in.”

—Gregory Offner

What Changed?

Before the book, Gregory was doing strong work inside organizations.

After the book, decision-makers could:
• Understand his philosophy quickly
• Share his framework internally
• Justify bringing him in at scale

The book became a credential, a conversation starter, and a sales asset—not a vanity project.

Since publication, Gregory has delivered keynotes to thousands of leaders across the U.S., spanning industries from healthcare to government to professional services.

Goal

Use a book as a business asset
Support a consulting or speaking business

Constraints

First-time author
Balancing book with business or leadership role

Role

Consultant / advisor

Dr. Kathleen Muglia

Author - Eric Koester

Kathleen Muglia, DNP, APRN, CPNP-PC, is a Mental Health Nurse Practitioner, Clinical Professor at Marquette University, and leader in behavioral health, pediatric nursing, and therapeutic innovation.

Her book, Synergistic Caregiving, bridges clinical expertise with holistic healing principles, empowering caregivers to care for themselves while serving others.

Kathleen’s work spans academia, hospital systems, nonprofit initiatives, and community health.

Modern Author Program

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“Confidence changes everything.”

—Dr. Kathleen Muglia

What Changed?

Before the book, Kathleen was already accomplished.
But authorship shifted her identity.

The book became:
• A credibility amplifier
• A bridge from clinician to founder and advisor
• A platform to lead conversations beyond the classroom

It allowed her to move from practitioner to thought leader.

Goal

Build authority or thought leadership
Establish a category or methodology
Support a consulting or speaking business

Constraints

Limited time / full-time job
Balancing book with business or leadership role

Role

Healthcare or technical professional