Authors
How real authors used their books to create leverage, clarity, and lasting impact
These are not influencer stories or overnight success narratives.
They’re professionals who used a serious book to do serious work.
How to Read These Stories
Every author comes to Manuscripts with different goals, fears, and constraints. This page is designed to help you find stories that feel familiar, not aspirational. Filter by what matters to you, and see how others navigated the process.
While the majority of authors we work with are publishing thought leadership nonfiction, we also support select memoir and fiction projects where editorial depth, originality, and long-term intent are central to the work.
Cleola Davis is a U.S. Army veteran and author of Forged in Battle: African American Officers Serving in the United States Army.
Her work documents the stories of African American officers whose leadership and sacrifice shaped military history.
Jamie Russo is the founder of Tweetjoy and runs a boutique content agency serving startups.
he operates at the intersection of:
• Writing
• Brand building
• Community
• Multi-format content creation
Angela Chanowsky is the founder of Unique Genius, where she helps business owners reclaim focus, freedom, and growth by building elite virtual teams.
Katie Joy Duke is a mindset coach, retreat leader, and former disability attorney.
Her memoir, Still Breathing, chronicles love, loss, Stage IV breast cancer, and reinvention.
Sam Perez is a weekend morning anchor, traffic anchor, and multi-skilled journalist at WBIR 10News in Knoxville, Tennessee.
She was named the 2024 South Carolina Reporter of the Year after covering major statewide stories including the Alex Murdaugh trial, legislative updates, and high-profile sporting events.
Alisha Wielfaert is a best-selling author, transformational coach, speaker, podcaster, and artist who empowers creatives, entrepreneurs, and seekers to align with their inner wisdom and build flourishing lives and businesses.
Victor Barnes is a CPA and MBA with a career grounded in financial rigor, analysis, and professional standards. He approached authorship with skepticism, not sentiment, and evaluated the book process the same way he would any serious professional undertaking.
Dr. Miriam “Dr. Z” Zylberglait Lisigurski is a physician and wellbeing expert who has spent her career inside the systems that reward endurance, perfection, and self-sacrifice. Like many physicians, she was trained to prioritize competence over connection and performance over presence.
Lori Mazer is a strategist and leader whose work centers on helping individuals and organizations clarify their voice, sharpen their reputation, and expand their impact.
Dr. Ardeshir Mehran is a psychiatrist and public thinker whose work sits at the intersection of mental health, identity, and personal agency. Trained to diagnose and treat, he increasingly felt constrained by systems that prioritize comfort over truth.
Bob Jones is a veteran entrepreneur, executive, and innovation leader with decades of experience building consumer products, scaling businesses, and turning around underperforming public companies. His work spans early-stage ideation, customer discovery, product-market fit, and retail distribution, long before “Lean Startup” became a movement.
Senior marketing and strategy executive with decades of experience at companies like AWS, Intel, and Honeywell, known among peers as an “idea machine,” who had long been fascinated by how decisions actually get made, but had never consolidated that thinking into a single framework.
Former Wall Street executive who rebuilt her life from childhood poverty in Brazil, climbed to senior leadership at top financial institutions, and ultimately faced a pivotal question: could her value exist beyond the career she spent decades building?
Lawyer. Computer scientist. Policy architect.
Neil has advised the Federal Trade Commission, guided national debates on digital regulation, and now leads AI policy strategy at the Abundance Institute.
Physician and nonprofit leader carrying a deeply personal story that required care, structure, and emotional safety to translate into a finished memoir rather than remaining an unwritten burden.
Founder, entrepreneur, and advisor with deep Silicon Valley experience who had built and exited multiple businesses but hadn’t yet formalized her core philosophy into a single, shareable point of view.
