Your communications are polished. Your experts are credible. Yet the work still sounds generic and doesn’t move the right people.

That rarely happens because of poor knowledge or weak writing.

It happens because the central argument is generic, or the thinking is sound, but the narrative doesn’t land with the audience it needs to influence.

Better writing doesn’t fix that. Clarifying the argument before it hardens into vague, safe positioning does.

Once the argument is clear, the writing still has to earn its place – finding the story inside the expertise, the specific detail that makes an abstract case concrete, and a voice that sounds like a person rather than polished but forgettable prose.

I’m usually brought in before drafting begins, when a communications team has plenty of expertise but no clear case tying it together – or a narrative that will make it land.

My background spans journalism, editorial leadership, and consulting – environments where complex expertise has to be turned into arguments others can understand and act on.

Since 2016, I’ve worked with communications teams across North America, Europe and Australia in financial services, healthcare, sustainability, energy, and consulting firms serving the public sector.

How I help

I develop arguments, write, and train teams to do both.

1. Argument & Narrative Development

Arriving at a central argument that’s distinctive, credible, and strong enough to influence audiences rarely emerges from a brief or a brainstorm. It comes from pressure-testing your experts’ ideas.

I interview your subject experts, surfacing tensions and hidden assumptions, and synthesizing their thinking into an argument that withstands scrutiny and sticks.

Outcome: A strategic foundation I can hand to your team or take through to finished copy myself.

2. Writing

I take the argument and narrative foundation through to finished work – interviewing contributors, applying editorial judgment to what’s surprising or revealing, and writing with a voice that earns attention and builds credibility.

Outcome: Distinctive, defensible work that the right audiences will remember.

3. Writing Training for Expert-Led Organisations

Most communications teams produce work that is clear and defensible – and AI is making that easier. The harder challenge is making communications compelling: extracting real insight from subject specialists, shaping it into a strong argument, and writing with a voice that earns attention.

I run practical writing training that addresses exactly that – including how to use AI as a tool without replacing the thinking or voice that make communications land.

Outcome: Participants leave with a clearer understanding of why expert communications fails and specific techniques to address it

See how this works in practice on the Portfolio page, or read what clients say below.

What They’re Saying

James is definitely one of my go-to freelance writers - top of the list. I joked about not giving him a recommendation because I didn't want him to get too popular and have no time left for our many projects. His background as a journalist helps us get to the core of our stories and articles. And his passion for climate action brings depth and human understanding to some truly complex topics. He is thorough in his pre-work and research, professional when interviewing our key clients, and delivers projects in a timely manner that frequently require little to no editing. He understands the tone of our brand and consistently makes my job that much easier.

Beth Hollett

Senior Manager, Marketing & Communications, Deloitte Canada

My experience working with James is one I'd happily repeat. He demonstrated great technical subject matter expertise, was highly professional and very easy to work with. His writing style is clear, confident and human which is exactly what we were looking for. I would recommend James for B2B content development in the Energy sector.

Kay Eliseev

UK ER&I Marketing Lead, Deloitte UK

James worked with us on several high profile projects. Managing multiple stakeholders, timezones and controversial and highly politicised topics, he was able to draw out the key messages and convert them into engaging and concise content. James is a pleasure to work with and I wouldn't hesitate recommending him and his excellent writing skills.

Deena Hooper

Senior Manager - Energy, Utilities & Resources Marketing, PwC Australia

I would enthusiastically recommend James. We had an extremely short time to produce a paper that was strategically important for Deloitte. James was highly collaborative and flexible, fitting in with senior stakeholder diaries. The final paper is excellent.

Katie Bennett-Stenton

National Marketing Lead, Deloitte Australia

"James has a talent for identifying and isolating the critical factors that are essential to facilitate success. Capturing these insights and information; translating complexity into simple, clear language; and pulling everything together to form a compelling strategy/plan that helped move our business forward."

Tim Mann

Senior Manager Market Access, BTG

We were concerned that a consultant would charge an arm and a leg for basically repackaging and presenting our own work in a way we really could have done ourselves. Instead James truly added value by bringing genuine industry experience and combining it with professional skill, in so doing he guided us through his tested plan and processes to reach a pleasing end product.

It was a learning experience for all involved within our company to think through, arrange and package our product offering more clearly to our clients. Using James' services helped us focus more on our strengths. It also highlighted areas needing improvement. The end product is drawing attention to our company and brand, promoting us as a “thought leader” in our industry.

James is a professional in digital marketing and brand awareness. He is fully committed and involved in the whole process, from planning and drafting the white paper to planning and executing the marketing strategy to get the word out in the market. Allpress Communications charges a reasonable fee to do great work, and you get to work with the top dog, no matter how small your company!

Henry Venter

Executive Director, ADC Projects

I’ve had the pleasure of working with James on a handful of projects and am always very pleased with his deliverables. He is always very professional when interviewing our stakeholders and clients and has a great ability to turn the output into compelling stories. I look forward to working on our next project together!

Rachel Peters

Global Marketing Manager, Microsoft Technology Practice, Deloitte Global

I've had the opportunity to work with James for the past couple of years and am extremely happy with his work. He’s very knowledgeable and passionate about the content (Sustainability). As a journalist by trade, he is a highly skilled and professional interviewer and an excellent storyteller. He always delivers on time and goes the extra mile to accommodate your needs. Overall, it's been an absolute pleasure working with James, and fingers crossed, I will continue to do so for many more!

Lorie Humeniuk

Senior Marketing Specialist, Deloitte

James was a pleasure to work with. He did a great job writing about a complex topic in a clear way, stuck to deadlines, and we are all very pleased with the end-product!

Stephanie Gladstone Posner

Global Financial Services Marketing, Deloitte Global

James is a professional writer available in a freelance capacity. He had fantastic turn around times and delivered real insight, challenge and value-add ideas to professional documents. The ability to convey emotion and passion in a professional context was excellent. And James is fun to work with! I would happily recommend James

Chris Dodd

Partner at PwC, PwC

We think that explaining complex health economics in such a concise way is a very big achievement. The numerical examples are easy to understand, all four briefings read very clearly, and have been well-received with our target audiences. James did a great job of framing the debate on the problems in the referral pathway for four distinct audiences with different perspectives on implants and different levels of technical knowledge. I highly recommend James for healthcare writing projects.

Hafsa Quadri

Global Manager, Health Economics and Outcomes Research, Cochlear

"I worked with James at Heren Energy, the leading energy price reporting agency, for more than a decade. When he joined the company in 1997, he stood out right away as a talented and intelligent reporter with a nose for news and a penchant for accuracy. He was always a good person to work with: kind, imaginative and humorous. He took on responsibilities willingly and was promoted in due course to edit the company’s flagship journal. While getting the detail right, James always has an eye on the bigger picture - the news behind the news - and this makes him an outstanding journalist."

Patrick Heren

Writer; Energy Commentator

"My regular strategy sessions with James are really useful in terms of looking at our business from another perspective, identifying areas for improvement, setting targets and a plan for reaching our goals. They also provided a much-needed look at our customers – seeing the world from their perspective, understanding their problems and how we can solve them. I'm always inspired by our conversations!"

Julian Ransom

Director, 4th Corner