I specialize in helping leading companies, nonprofits, and individuals get what they want to say into print. Sometimes it's called ghostwriting; sometimes it also involves developmental editing and/or substantive editing. Everyone uses these terms differently, so it's best to be clear about what kind of help you want. Follow the previous links for more information about each kind of editing; there's also a helpful guide at the Bay Area Editors' Forum that talks more about the different kinds of editing, as well as a comprehensive explanation of what a book editor can and can't do for clients.

My ghostwriting and corporate clients hire me for the following reasons:

As a journalist, I have a unique and powerful background:

• I specialize in business, and I have an MBA from Columbia Business School. I was a recipient of the prestigious Knight-Bagehot Fellowship and the even more competitive Wiegers Fellowship.

• I was a founder and executive editor of the award-winning business-and-technology magazine The Industry Standard. While there, I edited hundreds of articles covering technology, business, books, ideas, careers, and statistics. (If you're unfamiliar with The Standard, it was one of the most successful magazine launches of the 1990s.)

Besides understanding the big picture of business, I am expert at writing about a number of topics, including economics, globalization, management, books, ideas, technology, and careers:

• My own writing and reporting has appeared in such publications as Salon, The Nation, The Industry Standard, Portfolio.com, Wired, The Financial Times, The Economist, Business 2.0, Food & Wine, Parenting, Sunset, and The San Francisco Chronicle. Some sample articles I wrote and edited are in the writing & journalism and editing sections.

• I've ghostwritten the BusinessWeek and Wall Street Journal bestselling book The Five Patterns of Extraordinary Careers. The New York Times called it: "valuable ... counterintuitive ... solid advice and genuine inspiration." Jim Citrin and Rick Smith of Spencer Stuart thanked me for my contribution to their book, saying, "Mickey Butts is an incredible writer. ... His contribution to distilling and organizing our thinking was crucial to getting our arms around the hundreds of potentially disparate ideas and hypotheses we were originally considering."

I also enjoy helping first-time and nonprofessional writers get their ideas into print:

• I've ghostwritten several dozen substantial articles and case studies for clients. These articles have so far appeared in such well-respected magazines as Harvard Business Review and The McKinsey Quarterly. Clients include McKinsey Global Institute, the independent economics think tank of McKinsey; The Bridgespan Group, the nonprofit consulting arm of Bain; leading scenario-planning consultants Global Business Network; and executive recruiters Spencer Stuart and Heidrick & Struggles. Diana Farrell, director of McKinsey Global Institute, says, "Mickey is a fine writer and a first-rate business editor. [He] has broad knowledge of management and business issues, as well as international economics and economic policy."

• I recently developmentally edited Forces for Good: The Six Practices of High-Impact Nonprofits,, which The Economist named one of the Best Business Books of 2007.

• I developmentally edited the book Digital Defense for Harvard Business School Publishing, working with a first-time author to get his manuscript into shape. Information security consultant Thomas Parenty said, "Mickey Butts provided valuable editorial assistance during the formative stages of my book."

To see for yourself what I can do, you can see my work on the ghostwriting & corporate writing page of my portfolio.