Jonathan Jordan

Wordrobe Media

Book Coach | Ghostwriter | Storyteller. Brilliant but busy executives have partnered with me to transform their stories into results. 2025 Andy Award nominee for Business & Thought Leadership for ghostwriting collaboration. Books I've worked on have won awards, hit #1 on Audible, and received rave reviews from Publishers Weekly and Kirkus. 30+ publishing accolades.

Founder | Chief Storyteller

Greenleaf Book Group

Developmental editing and book coach for business nonfiction titles.

Developmental Editor and Book Coach

Kevin Anderson & Associates 

Ghostwriting, book coaching, and editing for Kevin Anderson & Associates, including authors publishing with Big 5 Publishers.

Ghostwriter, Book Coach, and Editor

Amplify Publishing Group

Book Coach and Editor

Forbes Books

Since 2020, ghostwriting, book coaching, and book planning for executive-level authors publishing under both Advantage Media and Forbes imprints.

Ghostwriter, Book Coach, and Book Planner

Scribe Media

Book coach for 2 projects: business and memoir.

Book Coach

RightNow Media

Senior Account Manager

Connect with small business leaders and identify video resources to help them engage their employees, care for their workforce, and develop themselves and other leaders around them.

Account Manager

I connect business leaders with the correct point person of our nonprofit to best fit their needs, whether they are looking for HR tools to best care for their people, partner with us in leadership development, or identify content to help develop and impact other businesses.

Senior Account Coordinator

I connected church leaders across the country and in Canada with our Senior Director of Partnerships for both online and in-person demonstrations of our online media resources and addressed benefits for the church's mission and ministry needs.

Senior Sales Coordinator

New Degree Press

Contract developmental editing and book coaching for semester-long publishing program in collaboration with Georgetown University.

Upbring

I supervised a caseload of foster families and the children in their care through monthly visits, compliance to state and organizational regulations, and regular service plan meetings. I was also on a rotating on-call schedule for emergency placements and ongoing training presentations for foster families.

Family Services Case Manager

Stretch-n-Grow International

My wife and I owned the Frisco Franchise for Stretch-N-Grow International, a children's fitness and nutrition company founded in the early '90s in Galveston, TX. We contracted with preschools, day cares and other child service providers to provide fitness programs for children as young as 18 months up through elementary-aged children. Our programs included general fitness/exercise, dance, sports, and yoga depending on the client's needs. My wife was the day-to-day business runner, and I helped with finances, purchasing, marketing, web content, and meet and greet marketing events.

Franchise Owner

Unleash your Inner Storyteller | Book Coach & LinkedIn Ghostwriter | Let's empower your Story to transform Ideas into Impact.

Billion dollar founders and rebel CEOs trust me with their nonfiction books for one reason:

Because great storytelling leads to great results.

As a former social worker and multi-business owner, I help CEOs and founders tackle their Page Fright, unleash their Inner Storyteller, and turn stories into ROI.

From Silicon Valley CEOs to serial entrepreneurs, my clients have won 7-figure customers, launched courses, gained speaking opportunities, and sold thousands of books.

Here’s how I can help you turn your story into status:
1. Follow me to learn effective writing.
2. DM me about my group book coaching program.
3. Go read "Start With Story." Get it from bookshop.org/a/106317/9798991327008 to support your local bookstore.

Book coaching and editing services.

These 5 phrases make your writing sh!tty. ⤵️ 

I know because I've used them all.

Don't make the same mistake.

>>>What sh!tty phrase would you add?
=====
♻️ Share to help free the world from sh!tty writing
🏃‍♂️‍➡️ Follow for more writing advice that's helped my clients win awards
☎️ Schedule a call to chat about your writing

I help rebel CEOs turn stories into status | 2025 Andy Award nominee for ghostwriting l Book coach to billion $ founders

5 Sh!tty Phrases to Cut from Your Writing

Confession:
In 25 years of driving, I’ve never owned a new car…

That changed in 6 hours on Saturday.

Growing up with a “car guy” as a dad, it was engrained in me to “never buy new…you lose so much value driving off the lot.”

My first car was a 1990 Geo Prizm that shot out cigarettes from the air vents.
[talk about a bonus feature]

My graduation car was a 1996 Jeep Cherokee that had no cup holders.

I was almost 30 before I ever had a car payment.
[a staggering $124/month]

So buying a brand new car was a little anxiety inducing.

But also motivating.

Motivating me to scale up every area of my life:

-to be a better provider
-be a better business owner
-be a version of myself who dreams bigger

Posting this is actually hard for me.
‘Cause I’m so afraid of failure.

But hey…
…maybe that’s a good fear.

>>>how are you dreaming bigger?

No alternative text description for this image

STOP trying to sound like a PhD.
Even if you actually are a PhD.
Just follow this simple writing rule:

Never try to sound smart.
Make the reader FEEL smart.

That's exactly what Andrea Mata, Ph.D. does in "The No. 2 Parenting Book."

When she needs to define an unfamiliar term
[scaffolding]
she uses simple words.
And an anecdote about wiping butts.

3 practices to follow:

1. Use AuthoredUp to check the reading level of your content. 
-If it's above a 10, you're in trouble.
-Bring that sucker down to at least an 8.

2. Have someone in your ICP read your work before hitting publish or post.
-Ask them to mark anything they had to read twice.
-Rewrite anything they marked.

3. Be relatable.
-Jargon pushes people away.
-Stories about wiping butts pulls them in.

[P.S. Butt-wiping parents, you can find a link to Andrea's book below.]

>>>What practice do you follow to make readers feel smart?

At least 53.8 times a week, 
I do something that totally undermines my credibility:

Make a typo.

It happens:
- here on LinkedIn
- in my own web copy [gasp]
- and even in clients' work [clutch thy pearls]

I used to let this bother me.

But in the age of AI...
I see typos as a friend.

They prove I'm human.
That I'm not the grammar police.
Not out to shred my clients' work.

Maybe I'm not the best editor ever.
But I'm human.
And I care.

And that tends to be more than enough.

[P.S. I titled this meme "war of the words" on my computer]

>>>What typo are you always at war with?

LinkedIn just helped me land $14,000.
[even though my numbers aren't special]
Here's how:

A publisher set up a meeting for me with a book coaching prospect.

Two minutes in, the author said:

"I went and checked you out on LinkedIn first."

We talked for about 20 minutes after that.
Less than 24 hours later, the author pulled the trigger.

That's $14K more in my pipeline.

Yes, our convo sealed the deal.
But LinkedIn opened the convo.

Look, my biggest post ever got 65,000 impressions.

And got me 0.00 DMs from prospects.

But most of my posts?
300 to 1,500. [just bein' real.]

You don't need 50,000 followers.
You don't need 5,000,000 impressions.
[but yeah, they help.]

What you need is to:
- Provide value.
- Be consistent.
- Be real.

Next step?
Turn that $14,000 into $140,000.
And then into $1,400,000.

>>>How has writing helped you earn business?

Freelancers:
Stop seeing other professionals as competition.
Start seeing them as colleagues.

A few weeks ago, a new ghostwriter reached out to me to ask for some advice.

I didn't hesitate.

Because when I started, I knew NO ONE to talk to.
And I would've scaled my business much faster if I'd had some 1:1 counsel.

[Most courses can't give you that, just sayin'.]

So she scheduled a 30-minute call.
I decided to give her a full hour.

And when she had some follow up questions, I answered those too.

3 years ago, that wouldn't have happened.
[first off, no one wanted my advice, but let's ignore that...]

When I went full-time in 2022, I saw other ghostwriters as "the competition."
That shifted a year later when I realized:

-I suck at networking
-I have no idea if I'm being paid fairly
-I should see if there are smarter ways of working.

Learn from someone who's 10 steps ahead of you.
Help out someone who's 10 steps behind you.
There's plenty of room for us all to win.

P.S.
I loathe the word "freelancer" with the fire of 1,000 suns.
I prefer "independent professional" or "solopreneur."
[okay, soapbox over]

>>>Have we met? Reach out in the DMs. Let's schedule a call.

Stephen King's "On Writing" has 291 pages.
These 7 are the most important:

Because they're actually about editing.

Stephen King doesn't lack talent.
[no one publishes 60+ books without talent]

And he doesn't lack results.
[he's made $500 million+ from his writing]

But all those markups and notes you see?
They're not mine.
They're his own edits.
[I'd be petrified to give King any notes.]

Here's the painful truth of publishing:

→ No one's first draft is good.
→ Every great book gets rewritten.
→ There is no great writing without ruthless editing.

Abandon perfection.
Embrace the process.
[and the process WILL hurt like hell.]

>>>My editing slate is currently packed. If you're a book editor...say hey in the comments and tell me which type of editing you like most [developmental, line, copy, proofreading].

Back in 2010, my then-fiancée Christa Jordan came up with a weird way to invite guests to our wedding:

We send them an audio invite.
On CD. [man, that makes me feel old.]

Since tomorrow's our 15th anniversary,
I'm extending a new invitation:

Because I turned our invite CD into a Spotify playlist.
[minus 2 tracks:
-a verbal invite we recorded
-an original track that doesn't exist on Spotify]

But the rest of the playlist?
Still slaps.

Enjoy some love vibes.
Right here on Spotify:
https://lnkd.in/gAgfaDZ4

And if you want to check out the original track, it's here:
https://lnkd.in/g974kwzT
[please ignore the other tracks on that page...]

>>>If you listen, tell me your favorite track.

For the 1,035,322nd time:
You don’t need a writing routine.
[ice baths are terrible desks]

When I worked a 9-to-5 job, I wrote:

→ Late at night.
→ During lunches.
→ 30 minutes before work started.
→ While my son was in gymnastics practice.
→ And even while Ubering, waiting to get the next ping.

No one has "time to write."
You have to make the time.

→ Turn off Netflix
→ Stop doomscrolling
→ Click the "X" on your LinkedIn tab
→ Say "no" to Cheryl's kid's birthday party

No routine will magically make words appear.
Only writing does that.
-----
Hi, I'm Jonathan Jordan, and I help aspiring authors break kill the myth of "routine" and replace it with rituals. Apply for the ForWord Writing Book Coaching Program here: https://lnkd.in/gmXdc7yf

My comments are 37% better than my posts.
[according to a new study by me]

1. I’m funnier in comments than in real life.
[I legit believe people leave disappointed after meeting me.]

2. I’m more philosophical in comments than in real life.
[around the house, my dialogue is 30% asking where stuff is, 25% dad jokes, 25% talking about how great the ‘90s were, 10% quoting movies, and 5% failing to help my son with math.]

3. I’m far better at business in comments than in real life.
[often ignore my own advice and self-sabotage]

How’s that for keeping it real on a Monday mornin’?

On that note, I won’t be posting much this week. But you might still get some comments.

>>>pretend there’s a clever call to action here.

My client turned a $5,000 side gig into a $1,200,000,000 brand.

The Recession killed his previous startup.
He barely avoided bankruptcy.

With his wife pregnant with their 6th child,
he decided to go back into law.

Any law job.
But it was 2010.
And no firms were hiring.

So he decided to start up a side gig:

If they could just net $5K a month,
they could get by until he found a 9-to-5.

He made some deals.
Scraped the cash together.
DIY'd as much as possible.

Launched the side gig at the 11th hour.

His "side gig" netted him $15K the first month.
And kept growing.
And growing.

Today, the brand is worth over $1 Billion.

So to all the side giggers out there...

Never underestimate the story you can write for yourself.

[Dear LinkedIn algo, please pretend this is a value-loaded viral post and not a direct sales pitch. thx. love you.]
Real stat: Aspiring authors with coaching 4x success.

Most authors get coaching too late.
Meaning they just wasted 100s of hours.
And maybe 1000s of $$$ paying for services they didn't need yet.

And look, I know not everyone can (or wants to) pay 5-figures for book coaching.

Especially if you're a solo or small operation.
I can more than empathize.

So I created a group book coaching option.
Less upfront cost.
But same lessons.

Caveats:
- I don't accept everyone.
[no Meryl, your erot!c poetry isn't a fit for this.]
[no Carl, your political manifesto won't fly here.]
- I only take 10 people tops. 
[ideally less. i'm not kidding.]

What you'll get:
-Clarity around your audience, message, publishing route
-A 1:1 coaching session to customize your action steps
-A dynamic outline that can almost write the book for you (almost...)

Enjoy the informative carousel.
Apply here: https://lnkd.in/gmXdc7yf

Still got questions? Shoot me a DM.

[this message will self-destruct in 5 hours, so make sure you comment before that happens.]

ForWord Writing Group Book Coaching Program

People don't leave because of bad bosses.
They leave because of bad storytelling.
[a storytelling lesson for HR.]

I'm sick of the recycled wisdom:
"People don't leave bad companies. They leave bad bosses."

Not because it's now a cliché. [it is]
But because it's bad storytelling.

It doesn't lead anyone anywhere.
[and everyone knows you're just playing for the algorithm.]

3 story-driven posts that are better:

1. "Your burnout is contagious. The one weird trick I use to kill it."
[then share the weird trick.]
 
2. "I want people to leave my team. Here's why:"
[then talk about creating growth opportunities.]

3. "My greatest leadership lesson came from my worst boss:"
[then talk about how you do things differently.]
*Bonus points if you are your own worst boss.

Great storytelling provides your team with:
-Purpose
-Vision
-Unity

Storytelling is strategy.

P.S. None of these will work unless you mean them.

You can BS the algorithm but not people.

>>>I'm thinking of creating a resource for storytelling in HR. Is that a "Yes, Chef" or a "Hell nah."

Self-publishing Pros:
- Anyone can do it.
- And you have all the control.

The Cons?
- Anyone can do it.
- And you have all the control.

I'm not here to badmouth self-pub.
[I've done it and helped others do it.]

But just cuz T-Swift chose self-pub doesn't mean you should.

Publishing isn't about Self vs. Traditional vs. Hybrid.

It's about which route aligns with your intended ROI.

You want speed, flexibility, and control?
- Go self-pub.

You want credibility, distribution, and quality pros?
- Go traditional.

You want control, quality pros, and some cred?
- Go hybrid.

[P.S. If you're a ghostwriter or editor who wants to scale your biz:

Maybe stop bad-mouthing traditional.
That's where the best deals/cred are.]

Catch the replay of my free webinar:
https://lnkd.in/gV2WNX6Q

>>>What's your biggest question about Self-Pub?

Self-Pub Pros & Cons

My client’s book became the most awarded book about entrepreneurship. Of all time. 

When I first met Colin, he had a working doc of random thoughts. 

About 25,000 words across 8 years.

Today?
30+ awards.
A platform of a million entrepreneurs.
Thousands (and thousands) of copies sold around the globe.

(And one of those accolades recognizes me as his collaborator.)😁

This is what book coaching can do:

Turn an ambling mess into an award-winning message.

And if you don’t want to talk with me directly…you can find my book in the Featured section.

This is what book coaches live for.

Great books don't happen by chance.

Enjoy your Pre-Friday.

In case you were wondering if the LinkedIn al-gore-ithm likes to be talked to...

...it does not.

Happy Friday,  y'all.

graphical user interface, text, application

The 7 most asked questions I see about publishing:

1. "What's the best way to publish? Traditional or Self?"
2. "What do I do after finishing my manuscript?"
3. "How do you keep someone from stealing your idea?"
4. "How do you find a literary agent for your book?"
5. "Do I really need to get an editor?"
6. "What's the cheapest and fastest way to publish?"
7. "How do I get my book to be a bestseller?"

And guess what?

I'm answering all of those in my free webinar "What's the Best Way to Publish?"

I've done ZERO marketing for this, but...
Tomorrow. Friday 8/15/25.
10 am Central. 11 am Eastern.

LinkedIn Live.

Replay will be available here and on YouTube.

Help a brother out with a share.
Or tag that friend who keeps promising to write a book.

>>>What's a question you'd like to add and maybe I'll squeeze it in?

I don't talk anyone into writing a book.
[which has "cost" me some "opportunities."]

If you don't know what your ROI for a book is,
then don't write one.

Seriously.

But here are some ROIs from previous clients:
-Establish industry authority ✅ 
-Transition their career ✅ 
-Gain speaking opportunities ✅ 
-Attract 5 and 6-figure clientele ✅ 
-Attract 7-figure clients ✅ 
-Fill a gap in their industry ✅ 
-Launch a business ✅ 
-Increase visibility ✅ 
-Attract business partners ✅ 
-Make a difficult topic more approachable ✅ 

And more.

But if you have no inkling what ROI you're after?
Just don't write a book.

[and don't pay anyone who says that you'll just "figure it out along the way."]

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