Michael Graubart Levin

Michael Graubart Levin
Occupation	Author
Nationality	American
Education	Juris Doctorate
Alma mater	Columbia University
businessghost.com

Michael Graubart Levin (born August 8, 1958) is an American, New York Times best-selling author;^[1] he has written, co-written, or ghostwritten over 100 books, nine of which became national best sellers. Levin, founder of BusinessGhost, Inc., America’s leading provider of ghostwritten business books, has helped create more successful books, as a writer, cowriter, ghost, or coach, than anyone in the U.S. publishing industry. His client list includes a member of the Forbes 400, five individuals with net worths of over half a billion dollars, and business leaders on four continents (North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia). He recently edited Zig Ziglar’s final book, Born To Win.

Education and Early Career

He graduated Amherst College with a B.A. in English and Ancient Greek in 1980, and received his J.D. from Columbia Law School in 1985, where he published an article in the Columbia Law School Journal of Law and Social Problems. At Amherst, he put on events including a complete reading of James Joyce’s Ulysses (approximately 28 hours). After graduation from Amherst, he studied for one year at Yeshivat HaMivtar in Jerusalem, Israel.

A New York Times opinion piece Levin published in 1980 led to a job at CBS News’ Research Department in New York City, where Levin worked until he traveled to Israel to pursue religious studies. Levin’s legal career, at the now-defunct Boston firms of Testa, Hurwitz and Thibeau and Goldstein & Manello, was brief, due to his admitted lack of interest in the law and his repeated failure to pass the Massachusetts bar examination. By the time he left the law, two and a half years after graduating from Columbia, he had already sold three books, including a book about his religious experiences and two novels with Simon & Schuster.^[2]

Levin began to offer writing classes in a small yoga studio in Boston’s Back Bay, offering two six-week classes at $150 per student. His classes quickly grew from two sessions to four, six and finally eight. In addition to his private classes, Levin also journeyed to Southern California three times a year to teach writing classes at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he taught for 11 years. He taught writing classes at New York University (NYU) for three years and offered seminars on fiction writing for attorneys around the country through Continuing Legal Education, Inc.

He has presented seminars on creativity for the NBC and WB Television Networks and to the largest law firm in Los Angeles, Loeb & Loeb. He taught writing for two years as a volunteer on the locked unit at the Thalians Mental Health Center in West Hollywood, California. Levin taught or coached thousands of writers; at least six of his students or coaching clients became national best selling authors themselves.

Levin created and led daylong conferences and other events for the Authors Guild in cities across the country including Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, and Austin, Texas. Among the authors who spoke at those events are Scott Turow, Judy Blume, and Erica Jong. Levin became one of the youngest members of the Authors Guild Council in that group’s history and also served as Treasurer of the Authors Guild Foundation.

BusinessGhost

BusinessGhost, the nation’s leading provider of ghostwritten business books, business fables, and memoirs, began as the Michael Levin Writing Company in 1994, became Writer2Author, Inc. in 1998, and reincorporated with its current name 2004 when ghostwriting became the primary function of the company.

BusinessGhost offers a variety of services, from ghostwriting business books, business fables, and memoirs, to coaching and editing other writers.^[3] BusinessGhost primarily creates, designs, and publishes books that its clients use as marketing tools for their businesses or their consulting, healthcare or financial services practices. The company offers a free weekly newsletter reprinted on its website.^[4] The newsletter offers insight on the rapidly changing world of book publishing.

Michael has worked with many celebrities and top athletes including Pat Summerall,^[5] Chad Hennings, Howard Bragman,^[6] Dave Winfield^[7] and Doug Christie.^[8] Many of Levin’s books have been optioned and/or made by some of the top names in Hollywood. Disney optioned and made the ABC Disney Sunday Movie of the Week “Model Behavior” based on Levin’s novel Janine and Alex, Alex and Janine. Additionally, director Frank Perry adopted Levin’s first novel, The Socratic Method, and Steven Soderberg and Paramount adopted the book Levin coauthored with Joaquin Garcia, Making Jack Falcone.

Speaking and Publications

Levin has spoken for T. Harv Eker in Sydney, Australia; and for Jay Abraham in Los Angeles, California, where he shared the platform with Fran Tarkenton, Steven Covey, and Mark Victor Hansen

Levin’s work has appeared in The New York Times,^[9] The Wall Street Journal,^[10] the Los Angeles Times, the Boston Globe,^[11] Forbes.com,^[12] the Jerusalem Post, Legal Affairs^[13] Writers Digest,^[14] CBS News, Time^[15] Newsweek^[16] The Economist^[17][18] and many other top outlets. One of Levin’s New York Times pieces was anthologized in a textbook on writing, Elements of Argument.^[19]

Levin’s books have received outstanding reviews in The New York Times,^[20][21] the Los Angeles Times,^[22] the New Yorker,^[23] People Magazine,^[24][25] the Washington Post,^[26] the The San Francisco Chronicle,^[27] Publishers Weekly, Library Journal,^[28] the Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune,^[29] Esquire, Booklist and other leading publications.

Personal life

Michael lives in Orange County with his wife, Suzanne, and their four children. Michael is a distance athlete and has completed in more than two dozen triathlons, marathons, and half-marathons since his 44th birthday. He has also completed three of the last seven Boston Marathons. In the 2010 New York City Marathon, Michael ran as a guide runner for a disabled runner. He has performed with the Tanglewood Festival Chorus of the Boston Symphony Orchestra^[30] holds a second degree junior black belt in tae kwan do, which he earned in August, 2011. He is also an “11-gallon man,” having donated over 88 units of blood to the American Red Cross Association over the past 20 years.

Books

• Levin, Michael (1985). Journey to Tradition: The Odyssey of a Born-Again Jew. Jersey City: Ktav Pub Inc.. pp. 352 pages. ISBN 0881250937. 
• Levin, Michael (1988). The Socratic Method. New York City: Ivy Books. pp. pages. ISBN 0804103763. 
• Levin, Michael (1990). Settling the Score. New York City: Ivy Books. pp. pages. ISBN 0804106320. 
• Levin, Michael (1994). Alive and Kicking. New York City: (St. Martins Mass Market Paper. pp. pages. ISBN 0312953054. 
• Levin, Michael (1997). What Every Jew Needs to Know About God. Jersey City: Ktav Pub Inc.. pp. 148 pages. ISBN 0881255378. 
• Levin, Michael (1997). Janine and Alex, Alex and Janine. New York City: Putnam/Berkley. pp. 256 pages. ISBN 0425160424. 
• Levin, Michael (1997). Sam and Derek, Derek and Sam. New York City: Putnam/Berkley. pp. 256 pages. ISBN 0425160416. 
• Levin, Michael (2003). Complete Idiot's Guide to Your Civil Liberties. New York City: Alpha. pp. 352 pages. ISBN 0028644735. 
• Levin, Michael (2011). Gutenberg to Google: The Rise and Fall of Books. Dallas: Brown Books. pp. pages. 

References

1. ^ Yahoo News Article referencing Levin's NYT Bestselling author status. Retrieved on 10-16-2011.
2. ^ SimonandSchuster.com Levin bio on Simon and Schuster site. Retrieved on 10-16-2011.
3. ^ BusinessGhost.com Services listing at BusinessGhost.com. Retrieved on 10-16-2011
4. ^ BusinessGhost.com BusinessGhost blog. Retrieved on 10-14-2011.
5. ^ Amazon.com Amazon listing for book coauthored with Summerall. Retrieved on 10-16-2011.
6. ^ Bragman, Howard (2008). Where's My Fifteen Minutes?. New York City: Portfolio Hardcover. pp. 256 pages. ISBN 1591842360. 
7. ^ Amazon.com Amazon listing for book coauthored with Winfield. Retrieved on 10-16-2011.
8. ^ Amazon.com Amazon listing for book coauthored with Christie. Retrieved on 10-16-2011.
9. ^ Levin, Michael. “Sport’s Editor’s Mailbox: The World Series on TV.” The New York Times November 2, 1975: 2.
10. ^ Levin, Michael. “See the World – Join a Club.” The Wall Street Journal August 23, 2000: A20.
11. ^ Levin, Michael. “Proud to be a Brookie.” The Boston Sunday Globe June 9, 1996: 13-15.
12. ^ Forbes.com Levin featured in Forbes.com article. Retrieved on 10-16-2011
13. ^ LegalAffairs.com Article feating Levin. Retrieved on 10-23-2011
14. ^ Levin, Michael. “12 Random (But Useful) Thoughts About Dialogue.” Writers Digest 86 (2006): 34-37. October 18, 2011.
15. ^ Levin, Michael. Letter to the Editor. “Kissinger for State.” Time September 24, 1973: 15.
16. ^ Levin, Michael. Letter to the Editor. “The Great Debate.” Newsweek October 11, 1976.
17. ^ Levin, Michael. Letter to the Editor. “Shemozzle.” The Economist February 19, 1983: 6.
18. ^ "Books With Not Much To Say" Levin, Michael. The Economist, September 24th - 30th, 2011. Volume 400, Number 8752. "Letters", p. 22.
19. ^ Rottenberg, Annette. Elements of Argument: A Text and Reader. New York, NY. St. Martin’s Press. 1988.
20. ^ NYTimes.com Review of The Socratic Method by Scott Turow. Retrieved on 10-23-2011.
21. ^ Patrick, Vincent. Review of Alive and Kicking, by Michael Levin. “The Ill-Gotten Gaineses.” The New York Times Book Review. March 21, 1993: 7.
22. ^ Stabiner, Karen. Review of Alive and Kicking, by Michael Levin. The Los Angeles Times (1993): 6.
23. ^ Books, The New Yorker. March 7, 1988: p. 123.
24. ^ Kaufman, Joanne. Review of The Socratic Method, by Michael Levin. “Pages.” People: Picks & Pans. March 3, 1988.
25. ^ Unknown. Review of The Socratic Method, by Michael Levin. People: Critics’ Choice. May 23, 1988.
26. ^ Mead, Chris. Review of The Socratic Method, by Michael Levin. The Washington Post. December 22, 1987: C4.
27. ^ Holt, Patricia. Review of The Socratic Method, by Michael Levin. “Clever Lampoon of Law School.” The San Francisco Chronicle. December 24, 1987: E6.
28. ^ Smothers, Joyce. Review of Alive and Kicking, by Michael Levin. Library Journal. February 15, 1993: 193.
29. ^ Polsby, Daniel D. Review of The Socratic Method, by Michael Levin. “ ‘The Socratic Method’ raises questions about law school.” The Chicago Tribune. December 13, 1987: 6.
30. ^ Boston Symphony Orchestra 1985-86 program, p.59. April 10, 1986

External links

• Official website

Persondata
Name	Levin, Michael Graubart
Alternative names
Short description	Author
Date of birth	August 8, 1958
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death