Your expertise is worth a fortune.It's currently free on LinkedIn.
Hey. I'm Crystal Adair-Benning, 4x NYT bestselling ghostwriter & book coach. 30 yrs, 200+ authors, 12+ countries, and not one of those bestsellers has my name on the cover. That's the job.
What I actually do all day is help accomplished people turn what they know into a book, and turn that book into an Author Empire: the stages, the clients, the fees, the doors that open because you're the person who literally wrote the book on it.
I'm in New Zealand for 2 weeks. I'm running 2 rooms. 12 seats each.
Sorry. Very American of me. I'll stop now.
Pick your city. I'll bring the framework and the snacks.
First 3 bookings in each city bring someone free. There are 12 seats. Do that maths quickly.
Want to know which stage of the Author Empire you're already at? Take the quiz — 2 minutes, and it'll tell you what your book is worth to your business.
You've been "about to write it"since a whole prime minister ago.
Someone at a dinner said "you should write a book." You said "I know." That was 2 years ago. Since then you've told the story another 40 times from stages, on podcasts, in rooms where people leaned forward and took notes on your material.
The material got better. The book got no closer. Meanwhile the person with half your experience and a mediocre paperback is getting the keynote you wanted, because they have the one thing you don't. A book with their name on it.
The material is all there. What's missing is the shape it goes in. A shape is a 1-day problem, which is wildly annoying information when you've been hauling this thing around for 2 years.
Come if this is you
- You have years of material and no idea what order it goes in
- You've started 3 times and every draft wanders off into the weeds
- You're magnetic out loud and weirdly flat on the page
- You've published before and you know the first one was missing something
- You want the book to earn its keep: stages, clients, fees. Shelf decoration doesn’t pay rent
Give it a miss if
- You want me to write it for you. That's ghostwriting. Lovely conversation, different day, considerably more money
- You want AI to do it. Not in your pages. Not one line. I will be insufferable about this
- You're coming to network. Everyone here is busy with their own book
- You want a nice day out with a notebook. This one has homework
The 1-sentence test.No pressure. Nobody's reading it but you.
Tell me what your book is about in one sentence. Not the pitch you've practised. The actual thing. It's the exact question I open with. It's also where most people find out they've been carrying a brochure with ambitions.
Nothing is saved, sent or stored.
You're doing 2 jobs at once.That's why the doc keeps closing.
Every time you sit down, you're deciding what to say and saying it in the same breath. 2 jobs, same hour, both hard. So you get up and answer emails instead, and then feel bad about it at 11pm.
You've built harder things than a book. This was never about discipline.
A book needs a foundation before it needs words: what it's actually about, who it's for, and what it has to do for your business. Settle those 3 and every session after it is just writing... which is the part everyone thinks is hard and is actually the fun bit nobody gets to.
That foundation is a day's work. You've been giving it 2 years. It only feels impossible because you keep trying to build it and write it in the same sitting.
Your book coach for the daywrites NYT bestsellers for a living.
I don't teach writing in theory. I do this at the top of the industry, 4x onto the NYT list, and not one of them has my name on it. 30 yrs in means I've watched which books earn and which ones sit in a garage in boxes. 200+ authors means I'll know what your particular flavour of stuck is by about 11am.
One of the books I wrote has since been challenged. I can't tell you which one (NDA), and I'd write it again tomorrow.
And the alternatives you've been weighing up? A $49 course gives you 40 videos and no deadline. A weekend retreat with a nice view gives you a nice view. ChatGPT gives you 60,000 words that sound like a LinkedIn post wearing a hat. Another year of meaning to is free and has worked out great so far.
6 hours, 12 people, your actual book on the table, and someone across from you who's done this 200+ times telling you the truth about it. Do you want to join me?
Not a slide deck read aloud at you. 30 yrs of this, in rooms of 12 and rooms of 200, and I'd rather be in the room of 12.
10am to 4pm.No vibes-based agenda.
Publishing & writing strategy
How this industry actually works in 2026. What each route to publication really costs you, who makes money where, and how to write a book that gets finished instead of abandoned at chapter 3 with the others. 30 yrs of it with the nonsense removed. Most people make their biggest decision of the year before lunch.
Actual food. Included.
Eaten with 11 other people who also have a book in them and also haven't written it. You will feel extremely normal. It's lovely.
The storytelling framework, on your book
You build the structure for the book you walked in with, and you find your throughline. It's almost always the throughline. By mid-afternoon most people realise their book is about something better than they thought it was at breakfast.
Building your Author Empire
The part nobody plans. What the book does for you once it exists: the stages it books, the fees it raises, the clients who arrive already sold. Books and talks go hand in hand, and the people who plan for that before they write get a different outcome entirely.
You leave with a book that has a shape
And a plan stapled to it. Then out into whatever the weather has decided on by then. I'm told that's part of the deal here.
A book opens 7 doors.Go on. Open one.
This is the part nobody plans for. Most people write the book and then wonder what it's supposed to do for them. Open the door you're walking toward and I'll tell you what I’ll have you doing between 2pm and 4pm.
Hover one. Tap, if you’re on your phone.
Books are a long game, not a sprint, and the money is rarely instant. Which is exactly why you want to know which door you're walking toward before you write chapter 1.
Can't tell which door is yours? That's what the Author Empire Quiz is for. 2 minutes, and it'll tell you where your book sits right now and which door it's closest to opening. Then come and build it.
I’m only here once a year.Make it count, would you.
I come a long way for these and I don’t run them often. Here’s what the room actually looks like. Real writers, real books, zero stock photos.
12 chairs. One table.Pull one out and sit down.
Every room I run has a version of these people in it. Tap a chair. You'll find yourself somewhere in there, and you'll spend the day next to people you'd never have met otherwise.
The amber one is me.
I'm in it all day, and past 12 people I stop being able to get round the table properly. That's the whole reason for the cap. Tap a numbered chair to meet the room.
Their words.Printed in their own books.
"Crystal became my writing coach, principal cheerleader, and literary fairy godmother. We met weekly for nine months and with much sparkling energy, everything started to gather purpose and clarity."
Peter MerrettAuthor, Wonderlicious
You came in with a thought.You leave with a structure.
- Your throughline. The spine of the whole book
- Your framework. Built by you, on paper, for your book
- A publishing decision. Which route, what it costs, what it gets you
- An honest read on your idea. Including whether this is the book, or whether book 2 is the one you actually want to write first
- Your Author Empire plan. What this earns once it's out in the world
- 11 people who now know exactly what you're writing and will ask you about it forever
$997 NZD.2 ways it gets better.
1 · Bring someone. Free.
Your ticket covers 2 seats. Books get unstuck in conversation, so bring the person you already talk about yours with. Business partner, co-founder, or the friend who keeps asking when it's out and deserves an actual answer.
First 3 bookings only. Both names when you book. There are 12 seats, so do that maths quickly.
2 · Your $997 comes back
Book anything with me within 90 days and your full ticket comes off the price. A 4-day Createcation, coaching, the lot.
So it's either the best day you'll spend on your book this year, or it's free. I'm comfortable with both.
"I'll write it when things calm down."Mate. They never calm down.
The questions I getevery single time.
I haven't written a word. Too early?
No. Half the room has never written anything. You've been talking about this for years, which means the material already exists. It's in talks, notes, voice memos and your own head, and sorting that is literally the day.
I've already published. Too basic?
The people who get the most out of this are usually on book 2 or book 7 and know the first one missed something. Structure is the thing almost nobody gets taught, including people with a book already on a shelf.
Will you make me read my work out loud?
Never. You can sit there quietly building your framework all afternoon and I'll come to you. Nobody performs. Nobody shares anything they don't want to.
How many people are in the room?
12. That's the cap and it stays the cap. I want to get to everybody, and past 12 that stops being true.
What do I bring?
Your laptop or your notebook, whichever one you actually think in. Plus whatever already exists: half a draft, talk notes, the list of stories you keep telling. Bring the mess. The mess is raw material.
What kind of book works here?
Business, expertise and memoir is the sweet spot. Fiction on occasion, if you entice me.
Is the lunch any good?
Yes. Tell me your dietary requirements when you book and they're sorted before you arrive. Nobody gets handed a sad side salad while everyone else eats properly.
I'm still not sure this is my year.
Take the Author Empire Quiz. 2 minutes, and it tells you where your book actually sits right now and what it would do for your business. Then decide.
2 cities. 24 seats.Then I fly home.
Christchurch, Tuesday November 17th. Auckland, Wednesday November 25th. 10am-4pm, lunch included, $997 NZD, and the whole ticket comes back to you if you keep going with me inside 90 days.
Your book has been in your head long enough. Do you want to join me?
Want to talk it through with me first? Book a free validation call — 30 minutes, free.
P.S. I get to New Zealand once a year. The next time I'm in the room with you after this, it's a 4-day Createcation and 4 figures more. This is the cheap door, and I'm telling you that out loud because I'd rather you walk through it.