Debra Ollivier

Senior Book Collaborator & Project Development Director

Debra works closely with writers one-on-one to make great books happen, leveraging a unique skill set as a bestselling author, collaborative writer, seasoned book coach, and thinking partner.

 She began her career as a contributing editor to Salon based in Paris and an author of two bestselling books about French culture: What French Women Know (Penguin) and Entre Nous (St. Martin’s Press). Her work is also featured in the bestselling anthologies Mothers Who Think: Tales of Real-Life Parenthood (Villard) and Because I Said So: 36 Mothers Write About Children, Sex, Men, Aging, Faith, Race, and Themselves (Harper Perennial), as well as in Harper's Magazine, Playboy, The New York Times, Parents Magazine, Le Monde and other media. Debra also worked as an Acquisitions Editor for Parallax Press and a Managing Editor for The Huffington Post.

 She has now ghostwritten and book doctored over 20+ titles, working collaboratively with authors on a broad range of subjects. She works primarily on idea and mission-driven nonfiction and prescriptive memoir. Each book has its own DNA and architecture, and each author has their own writing path: Debra can work as a full-service ghostwriter, taking your project from concept to completion. Or if you’re involved in your own writing process (whether you have the seed of an idea or have been struggling with a manuscript for years), she can work as a literary coach and book doula, employing creative strategies to help you tap into the deep think of your book and bring to life the true stories that want to be told. Along the way she helps you tackle craft-related issues, hold yourself accountable for the process, and weave together the narrative threads of an eminently readable book.

 In both capacities she brings to the table deep listening, well-honed experience, and insatiable curiosity about your world.

 For more information on how she works, listen in on this As Told To podcast where she explores the craft of collaborative writing and what’s behind a book with illustrious ghostwriter Dan Paisner. Or visit her website here.