My early career, surprise, surprise, was in the book publishing industry. I started as a publisher’s rep when I was nineteen in the days when you had to wear a three-piece suit and got a cigarette allowance (it’s the only time I ever got paid to smoke; if I hadn’t quit 30-years ago, I might be suing that company by now!). I started off selling books with inspiring titles like ‘My Bed is not for Sleeping’ and ‘My Carnal Confessions’ along with the latest Catherine Cookson romances – I was never sure which were more salacious. Aggressively ambitious I got a position with a better class of publisher, Hodder and Stoughton, still selling soft cover books, before moving into the hardcover world with Michael Joseph (at the time, Britain’s most respected independent gentleman publisher - long since swallowed up by the Pearson-Longman group) where I had the pleasure of working with James Herriot, the world’s most famous, bestselling country vet. A few more hops, skips and jumps and I became a divisional head at Century Hutchinson, which subsequently became Random House UK. A few years later saw me launching a small specialist publishing house in Northern England. At that point I was publisher, editor in chief, sales manager, and at the end of the day floor sweeper.

 

The happiest days of my life were spent in the heyday of book publishing in the 1980s when my office was in Covent Garden and only the very best champagne was served at publishers’ parties. We represented dozens of bestselling authors from both sides of the Atlantic and often had several titles in the Sunday Times bestseller lists. All good things come to an end though, and by the time I decided to leave Britain for somewhere better suited to my ambitions, the shine had left the industry – the halcyon days were over – it was a good time to pack up and move on.

 

North America has been good to me and for the last 15-years I have earned my living by writing. Initially it was through the preparation of business and strategic plans, brochure copy and just about anything that ends up as the written word in business, but several years ago I decided to start working my way back to the publishing world, this time as an author. And that is where you find me today, a full-time ghostwriter, author and freelancer. Happy and contented, as long as my manic cat doesn’t jump on my keyboard and delete my manuscript and my son’s Shepherd doesn’t pee on my feet when the doorbell rings.