What Is a Ghostwriter? The Truth About Hiring One for Your BookEpisode 1
Keynotes · Workshops · In person & virtual
The session theystill talk aboutnext year.
I’m Crystal Adair-Benning, 4x NYT bestselling ghostwriter & book coach. I’ve spent 30 years getting the good stuff out of experts’ heads and onto the page. On stage I do it to a whole room at once, and they leave with a decision instead of a notebook full of quotes.
“Crystal didn't just speak — she moved the room.”
Karan Nijhawan
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NYT Bestselling Ghostwriter Credits
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Authors Coached On & Off Stage
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Countries I've Spoken In
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Years in books & publishing
Rooms I’ve held
International Confex · UK✦Speak Up Light Up · Dubai✦SheEvolves · Fiji✦The Good Company · Fiji✦NextLevel · Columbus✦Failure Ball · Colorado✦Camp Dovetail · Maine
Featured in Life & Style Magazine · Voyage LA · The Thought Leader Revolution · Healthy Wealthy & Smart · Lean Out Your Business · Editor-in-Chief, RetreatBoss Magazine
For whoever is holding the run sheet
You booked the speaker with the great reel.Then they read their slides.
Ran 12 minutes over. Lost the room by minute 9. Your attendees went home remembering the lunch (it was a very good lunch).
That one’s on the speaker, but it lands on you. Your name is on the programme, and the feedback forms come to your inbox.
What you’re actually booking
Low lift for you.High lift for them.
01
1 Monday move
Every talk is built around 1 thing your audience will actually do on Monday. They leave holding a decision instead of a notebook full of quotes.
02
Built for your room
Tell me who’s in the room, what keeps them up at night and what you need them to do next. I tailor every talk, at no extra charge.
03
No babysitting
I ran a luxury events company before the books, so I know your side of the run sheet. I arrive prepped, I’m easy to work with, and I make you look good.
“She made my whole event look good.”Sarah Pirie-Nally · SheEvolves Host, Fiji
The lineup
4 keynotes.
1 workshop.Pick your room.
Every one of them is built on 30 years of getting the good stuff out of experts’ heads and onto the page. On stage I do it to a whole room at once.
Signature keynote · 45–60 min
Build Your Author Empire
Your book and your talk are the same asset.
Speaking without a book leaves money on the table. A book that never becomes a talk loses it. This keynote puts the 2 together, through the 7 doors a book opens: speaking, bookish events, courses, retreats, consulting, media and licensing.
- Which 1 or 2 of the 7 doors are actually theirs, and which ones to ignore.
- Why the royalty cheque is the smallest number in the whole equation.
- The order to do it in, so the book and the talk feed each other from day 1.
Best for: entrepreneur and women’s business conferences, speaker communities, coaches and consultants, masterminds.
Keynote · business & IP
You Don’t Own Your Method
Your framework isn’t property. The book you write about it is.
- The line between an idea and its expression, and which side their slide deck sits on.
- Why Canada, the US, the UK, Australia and New Zealand give 4 different answers on AI-generated work.
- 1 decision about their own material: publish it, licence it, or keep handing it out.
Best for: CEO and executive groups, associations, consultants, anyone with a named method.
Keynote · publishing
The Bestseller List Is Rigged. Here’s the Rigging.
How the lists actually work, from someone who’s been behind 4 of them.
- The lists are curated. Some shops count more than others. A fast week beats a good year.
- What bulk buying does, what it doesn’t, and how people get burned trying.
- A real first 90 days, and an honest answer on whether to chase a list at all.
Best for: author summits, publishing conferences, speaker summits. Give it a Q&A.
Keynote · leadership & AI
Unscrapable
Expertise in the age of AI: what a machine can’t fake.
- The difference between information and judgment. One of them is free now.
- 3 things AI can’t make up: the failure, the exception, and the call made with half the facts.
- 1 rule for using AI without getting eaten by it: it can take dictation. It can’t be the source.
Best for: leadership summits, professional-services firms, any programme with an AI slot to fill.
Workshop · the mini-Createcation™ · 90 min to 4 days
Blank Page to Bestseller
Strategy first. Pep talk optional.
They come in convinced they’ve got nothing and leave with a plan specific enough to hand somebody else. 90 minutes gets the first 2. A day gets all 5. 4 days gets actual chapters.
- 1 sentence on what the book is for.
- 1 reader, with a name.
- The spine: the argument, in a paragraph.
- A chapter outline good enough to hand an editor.
- The next step, with a date on it.
Best for: masterminds, corporate retreats, leadership programmes, offsites, member days. Needs tables or laps.
Every talk works live-virtual too. Need something else? Brief me on your audience and I’ll build to fit. Download the speaker one-sheet (PDF)
See me work a room
Watch the keynotebefore you book it.
2 full keynotes, 2 continents, same promise: your audience leaves holding a decision instead of a notebook full of quotes. There’s more on my YouTube channel.
Start Playing Big · Speak Up Light Up, Dubai 2024
Start Playing Big · She Evolves, Fiji
Formats & fees
Pick the format.I’ll build the rest.
Keynote
45–60 minutes on the mainstage. Conferences, summits, association annuals.
Workshop
90 minutes to a full day, hands on. Masterminds, offsites, member days.
Virtual
Any keynote or workshop, live to a remote room. Full mainstage energy, zero webinar voice.
Custom
Brief me on your audience and your theme, and I’ll build to fit.
Fees from $2,500. Community rooms: ask me. If your budget is fixed, say the number on the first call and I’ll tell you straight whether it works.
Hosting a community, not a conference?
Founder circles, coaching programmes, writers’ networks, member lunches. Some of my favourite rooms aren’t on a mainstage. Tell me about your people and I’ll tell you what I’d bring them.
The people who booked me
The rooms arestill talking about it.
★★★★★
Easiest speaker I've ever booked. Prepared, warm and completely dialed in to what the audience needed. Crystal has spoken for me twice in Fiji. Once poolside and intimate with tears, laughter and storytelling. Another keynote, end of day, high energy and engagement. She made my whole event look good.Sarah Pirie-NallySheEvolves Host · Fiji
★★★★★
Crystal didn't just speak — she moved the room. Half our audience came up afterward saying they'd finally started the book they'd been sitting on for years.Karan NijhawanBusiness coach & event host
★★★★★
We've booked a lot of speakers. Crystal is the one attendees still email us about. Rebooking her the second she's free.Shauna ArnottEvent producer
★★★★★
She turned a room full of curious participants into authors in 2 days during her workshop. I saw attendees go from shy and reserved to eager participants, writers and powerful voices. People were quoting her to me for months after!Renita ReddyThe Good Co · Fiji
★★★★★
Our virtual session had the energy of a live mainstage. I didn't think that was possible over a screen — Crystal proved me wrong.Talie Davis WeirICF Trainer
★★★★★
I love watching people when she speaks. They’re bowled over, loving it and scribbling notes as fast as their hands will let them.Kady RomagnuoloHost
My own mic
Write. Publish. Change everything.
My show. Publishing editors, ghostwriting truths, and the questions people usually only ask me privately. 11 episodes on what a book actually costs you, and what happens in the messy middle nobody posts about.
On the mic
I write books. I also talk a good game.
Every appearance, in one place. Hosts book me because I turn up with something their audience can use on Monday. Listeners write in afterwards, which is my favourite bit.
Booking me for a show? Pick the lane your audience cares about. I’ve got a full talk track for each.
How a book actually gets written, ghostwriting from the inside, and why the manuscript is the easy part.
The Quantum Copy Method™: persuasion, psychology, and copy that sells without selling your soul.
The long game: building a business around words, working from anywhere, and what keeps me going.
- The Soul and Science of Great WritingDo It for the Plot: The Truth About Bestseller Lists, Traditional Publishing and Book MarketingSpotify
- Your Dream Life with Kristina KarlssonUnlocking the Author in You: Expert Tips for Crafting Your StorySpotify
- The Thought Leader RevolutionCreating a Thought Leader Brand Through a Book FunnelSpotify
- The Inspired ChoiceBlending Sales Psychology and StorytellingSpotify
- Business. Wealth. Impact.Writing a NYT Bestseller and NOT Getting PaidSpotify
- Digital Trailblazer Success PathwaysCrafting Word Magic and Best-Selling Books with Crystal Adair-BenningYouTube
- The Travel CollectiveWriting Away with CrystalYouTube
- Hera’s JourneyEpisode 2: Crystal Adair-Benning, spellbinding sageYouTube
- The Antom PodcastThe Best Kept Writing Secret, with Anthony TomizzaApple
- The Wealth EquationBeating cancer & bankruptcy with a multi-NYT bestselling ghostwriter, with Kristin WonchApple
- This Isn’t About MeTalking Word Witchery with CrystalSpotify
- Align With Your DharmaNYT bestselling ghostwriter Crystal Adair-BenningYouTube
- Dissecting SuccessEp. 090: The Happiness Metric, with Blair Kaplan VenablesListen
- Ginger Biz163: So You Want to Be a Writer? Word Magic CopywritingListen
- The Events CastHow to Write Copy to Better Market Your Events and Sell More TicketsListen
- Lean Out Your BusinessE95: Supercharge Your Sales with Quantum CopyListen
- Healthy Wealthy & Smart603: Connect, Convert & Catalyze Conversation Through CopyListen
- The Boss Lady in Sweatpants ShowHow to write better copy with the Quantum Copy Method™YouTube
In the room
What it looks like when I have the mic.
Ballrooms, boardrooms and kitchen tables on 5 continents. Every image here’s free to use for event listings, programmes and editorial coverage. Please credit Word Magic Copywriting Inc.
On stage
Table of Stories
My intimate workshop format. One table, a small room, and everybody’s story shared by the end of it. Hosted around the world.
Retreats & intensives
On stage
Rooms I’ve held.
Conferences, summits, retreats and coaching intensives across 9 countries, in person and virtual.
Speak Up Light UpDubaiThe Good CompanyFijiPurpose to Profit AcademyDovetailTorontoFederation of BC WritersCanadaVictoria Writers NetworkVictoria, BCIn print
Features, bylines & recognition.
RetreatBoss MagazineEditor-in-ChiefRead an issue →
Life & Style MagazineTop 10 Impact-Driven LeadersRead it →
Voyage LAThe long-form interviewRead it →
International ConfexOn camera with HubiloWatch →Press enquiry? I answer these myself and can usually turn around a quote within 24 hours. Email me →
What hosts say
What it’s like when I move the room.
“Having Crystal speak in Mexico at my high-level business coaching event was a true treat. She truly listened to the audience, offered wonderful insight, and gave activities that were gamechanging to everyone in the room.”
Karan NijhawanBusiness coach & event host
“Every chance I get to speak with Crystal is like unlocking doors I didn’t even know existed. She’s constantly learning, updating and creating compelling content that audiences consistently love. I’d hire her for a stage, a podcast or anywhere her genius copy light can truly shine.”
Shauna ArnottEvent producer
“What can I say about the Word Magician that hasn’t already been said? She’s just got a way of teaching the art of copy that truly gives people these massive ‘aha’ moments. I love watching people when she speaks. They’re bowled over, loving it and scribbling notes as fast as their hands will let them.”
Kady RomagnuoloHost
Meet Your Speaker
A note from me.
30 years of turning experts into published authors teaches you exactly how to make a room believe their book is possible.
I got paid for my first NYT bestseller in dog food. Not a metaphor. I've married my husband 15 times on 4 continents, survived 3 terminal diagnoses, and own an alarming number of pens. The good stories are just the warm-up. On stage, that same warmth and candor is what sends an audience home fired up and clear on their next step.
The part you actually care about: I arrive prepped, I’m easy to work with, and I tailor every talk to your room. Low-lift for you, high-lift for them.
Press kit
Everything you needto announce her.
Grab it now so you aren’t emailing me for a headshot at 11pm the night before your programme goes to print.
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Bios
3 lengths, written to be pasted straight in. No edits needed.
Short · 25 words
Crystal Adair-Benning is a 4x NYT bestselling ghostwriter & book coach who has helped 200+ authors in 12+ countries turn what they know into books.
Medium · 60 words
Crystal Adair-Benning is a 4x NYT bestselling ghostwriter & book coach. She started at 15. 30 years later she has written books for founders, experts and speakers in 12+ countries, coached 200+ authors, and runs Createcation™ writing retreats. About 95% of her work is under NDA, which is exactly how it was supposed to go.
Long · 120 words
Crystal Adair-Benning is a 4x NYT bestselling ghostwriter & book coach, and the founder of Word Magic. She wrote her first bestseller at 15. In the 30 years since she has written books for founders, executives, speakers and memoirists across 12+ countries, coached 200+ authors, and built the Word Magic Method™ and the Quantum Copy Method™ that sit underneath all of it. She runs Createcation™ writing retreats, edits RetreatBoss Magazine, and is the reason several people you have heard of are called authors. About 95% of her work is under NDA. She is fine with that.
Questions event planners actually ask
Who pays for travel?
You do, on top of the fee. Business class and a 4-star standard. I'm based in Victoria, BC, so factor that in if you're booking from somewhere with an awkward connection.
How far ahead do I need to book you?
14 days is the preference. Shorter than that comes down to availability, and it’s always worth asking, because sometimes the answer is yes.
Do you do virtual?
Yes. No travel on the invoice, and no 5am airport run for either of us. Same talk, same tailoring, same me.
Will you tailor the talk to my audience?
Always, and at no extra charge. A keynote that could be given to anybody is a keynote nobody remembers. Tell me who is in the room, what they’re worried about, and what you need them to do on Monday morning.
Is there anything you won't do?
I don't love a panel but the right one... can entice me. I also don't love a room that gives me under 30 minutes of speaking time, because that isn’t long enough to change how anybody thinks. If that’s what you've got, tell me anyway and I'll be honest about whether it’s worth your budget.
Book me
Let's get your audience on their feet.
Tell me a little about your event and I'll personally be in touch within 2 business days with my availability, formats, and next steps.