Portfolio

Smart content × sharp strategy for heritage, craft, and lifestyle brands

I help brands move beyond product shots and clichés. My specialty is story — turning customer journeys, product care, and brand values into the kind of content that builds trust, drives engagement, and earns attention.

About Me:

I’m Toby Bartlett, a writer and strategist with 20+ years of storytelling experience.
For over a decade I’ve ghostwritten across industries — often under NDAs — while leading creative projects for small businesses and heritage brands.

Recently, I helped rebuild a third-generation Maine business into a local success story that earned NBC news coverage, features in national industry press, and three consecutive Best of 207 awards.

Now, I specialize in helping brands like yours connect with audiences through social media, blogs, and integrated content strategies.

👉 Let’s talk narrative strategies that bring your brand to life.

Long Reads

Some ideas just don’t fit into a tagline. They need room to stretch, breathe, and tell a story worth reading. That’s what long‑form is for. I write articles, thought leadership, and deep dives that go beyond the surface; explaining, challenging, and, when it’s called for, calling out the nonsense. From unraveling corporate greenwashing to making sustainability actually interesting, I make sure the right ideas land with the right people—and stick. Below are a few recent pieces that got people thinking, talking, and maybe even rethinking.

Brands

Two major firms have entrusted me with building their brands from the ground up. I developed websites, shaped content, and led marketing and communications strategies that not only established a consistent voice but also delivered results—strong click-through rates, high engagement, and social content that traveled widely.

Ghostwriting

Ghostwriting is a bit like being a covert operative—minus the disguises, plus impeccable grammar. I step in, capture your voice, make you sound brilliant, and then vanish without a trace. No credit, no byline, just the quiet satisfaction of knowing my words are out in the world making someone else look very, very good.

Thanks to NDAs and the unwritten code of ghostwriters, I can’t exactly point to the award-winning article, the best-selling piece, or the widely circulated thought-leadership blog and say, that was me. What I can say is this: if you want content that sounds like you—only sharper, smarter, and more compelling—I can deliver.

Below, you’ll find examples of past ghostwriting projects: discreet enough to keep legal happy, but substantial enough to prove I know how to craft a narrative that resonates. If you’d like sharp, strategic writing without the heavy lifting, let’s talk. Your ideas, my words, your byline. Everybody wins.

Media & Press

• NBC News feature on eco-friendly dry cleaning.

• National Clothesline industry press coverage.

• Scarborough Living Magazine lifestyle and history features.

• Best of 207 Award (three years running).