Hilary Liftin has collaborated on eleven NYT bestselling books and counting.
SELECTED COLLABORATIONS
Hilary Liftin collaborates with authors to write books that are true to their voices and stories. For more information see her bio.
PERSONAL PROJECTS
Movie Star
"[An] irresistable debut . . . With its sympathetic narrator, suspenseful plot pivots, snappy pace, and dishy details about Hollywood's inner workings, Liftin's compelling, highly readable novel is likely to engage even readers who remain blissfully unaware of the tabloid characters who may or may not have inspired it. Dishy Hollywood fiction at its finest. --Kirkus Reviews “With its fast pace and combination of mystery with juicy celeb details, it’s a surefire hit. Fans of the showbiz tales of Sophie Kinsella, Lauren Weisberger, and Rachel Pine will love this book. The beach read of the summer, it will keep you up long after the sun has gone down.” --Library Journal (Starred Review) Actress Lizzie Pepper was America’s Girl Next Door and her marriage to Hollywood mega-star Rob Mars was tabloid gold – a whirlwind romance and an elaborate celebrity-studded wedding landed them on the cover of every celebrity weekly. But fame, beauty, and wealth weren’t enough to keep their marriage together. Hollywood’s “It” couple are over – and now Lizzie is going to tell her side of the story. Celebrity ghostwriter Hilary Liftin chronicles the tabloids’ favorite marriage as Lizzie Pepper realizes that, when the curtain falls, her romance isn’t what she and everyone else thought. From her lonely holidays in sumptuous villas to her husband’s deep commitment to a disconcertingly repressive mind-body group, Lizzie reveals a side of fame that her fans never get to see in a story that will have every reader guessing the real-life inspirations for its players. Full of twists and turns, Movie Star by Lizzie Pepper is a breathless journey to the heights of Hollywood power and royalty and a life in the spotlight that is nearly impossible to escape.
Press
Candy and Me
As a seven-year-old child, Hilary Liftin poured herself a glass (or two) of powdered sugar. Those forbidden cups soon escalated to pound bags of candy corn and multiple packets of dry cocoa mix, launching the epic love affair between Hilary and all things sweet. In Candy and Me: A Love Story, Liftin chronicles her life through candy memories and milestones. As a high school student, Hilary used candy to get through track meets, bad hair days, after-school jobs, and her first not-so-great love. Her sweet tooth followed her to college, where she tried to suppress the crackle of Smarties wrappers in morning classes. Through life's highs and lows, her devotion has never crashed -- candy has been a constant companion and a refuge that sustained her. As Liftin recounts her record-setting candy consumption, loves and friendships unfold in a funny and heartbreaking series of bittersweet revelations and restorative meditations. Hilary survives a profound obsession with jelly beans and a camp counselor, a forgettable fling with Skittles at a dot-com, and a messy breakup healed by a friendship forged over Circus Peanuts. Through thick and thin, sweet and sour, Hilary confronts the challenges of conversation hearts and the vagaries of boyfriends, searching for that perfect balance of love and sugar. Written with a fresh dry humor that will immediately absorb you into Liftin's sweet obsessions and remind you of your own, Candy and Me unwraps the meaning found in the universal desire for connection and confection. Treat yourself to Candy and Me -- being bad never read so good.
Press
Dear Exile
A funny and moving story told through the letters of two women nurturing a friendship as they are separated by distance, experience, and time. Close friends and former college roommates, Hilary Liftin and Kate Montgomery promised to write when Kate's Peace Corps assignment took her to Africa. Over the course of a single year, they exchanged an offbeat and moving series of letters from rural Kenya to New York City and back again. Kate, an idealistic teacher, meets unexpected realities ranging from poisonous snakes and vengeful cows to more serious hazards: a lack of money for education; a student body in revolt. Hilary, braving the singles scene in Manhattan, confronts her own realities, from unworthy suitors to job anxiety and first apartment woes. Their correspondence tells--with humor, warmth, and vivid personal detail--the story of two young women navigating their twenties in very different ways, and of the very special friendships we are sometimes lucky enough to find.
Press
Hilary works closely, organically, and in collaboration with her authors to develop a written voice that feels natural and true. For more information, please see her bio and if you’re interested in hiring Hilary, please contact her.
Here are some of the kind words clients have said about Hilary.
“Hilary was excellent in every way: indefatigable, responsive, extremely creative but unfailingly willing and able to work within the author’s voice and my structural and narrative/polemical requirements.”
--Eamon Dolan, VP, Executive Editor, Simon & Schuster
“We are a true team. I don’t think there’s any kind of book we couldn’t do together. Through all of it Hilary is my rock.”
-–Tori Spelling
“Hilary is a dream collaborator. Infinitely patient, dogged, punctual, and funny. She’s a tremendous writer and incredibly fast! Why haven’t you hired her yet?”
-–Lauren Spiegel, Executive Editor, Gallery Books
“Hilary Liftin is a skilled and gifted writer and a wonderful collaborator. She has that uncanny ability to take a thought, a word or a sentence fragment and to work it into strong and compelling text. I loved working with Hilary – she is witty and insightful. She knows when to let an idea rest and when to push for more detail or greater clarification to make a piece shine. She loves deadlines and never misses one. I loved our collaboration – my books are the better for her word craft and contribution.”
-–Peter Walsh
“Hilary Liftin is on our very short A-list of collaborators. We know that if she’s on a project, it will be superbly written, on time, and both the client and publisher will be over the moon. Working with her is a delight.”
-–Jennifer Bergstrom, Publisher, Simon & Schuster’s Gallery Books
ABOUT
Hilary Liftin is a ghostwriter/collaborator specializing in celebrity memoir. Since 2006 she has worked on fifteen books, ten of which hit the New York Times bestseller list. STORI TELLING by Tori Spelling was a #1 New York Times nonfiction bestseller, stayed on the list for 19 weeks, and won the 2009 Bravo A-List Award for Best Celebrity Autobiography. MILES TO GO by Miley Cyrus was a #1 New York Times children’s bestseller. Other bestselling titles include HIGH ON ARRIVAL by Mackenzie Phillips and IT’S ALL TOO MUCH by Peter Walsh.
Hilary has also written three books under her own name. The first, DEAR EXILE, is letters that she exchanged with her co-author, Kate Montgomery, when Kate was in the Peace Corps in Kenya and Hilary was in New York. It was published by Vintage in 1999 and is still in print. CANDY AND ME: A Love Story is Hilary’s memoir told through different kinds of candy. See press.
Hilary grew up in Washington, D.C. She is a graduate of Yale College, where she was editor of the Yale Literary Magazine. Before becoming a full-time writer in 2006, Hilary worked in the publishing industry for ten years, holding positions in editorial, marketing, and business development at Houghton Mifflin, Barnes & Noble.com, and the ebook division of Time Warner Books (now Hachette). She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and children.
MOVIE STAR BY LIZZIE PEPPER is her first novel.
