03/11/2025
I joked for years: “You can read all about it in my next book.”
Then 2021 arrived, and one book became five—with a sixth on the way.
Here’s the messy, honest path from idea to publisher.
I set out to capture a long corporate journey: turnarounds, transformation, and operational excellence.
First step: study what makes non-fiction land with readers—structure, style, pace. Four passions were competing for page one: leadership development, organisational transformation, business simplification, and personal growth. I opened with leadership styles; narrative made them useful and human.
In parallel, I wrote on change, excellence, and process optimisation. Concept is relatively easy; architecture is hard. Once the outline clicks, you still need a style that fits the audience. Across five books, I’ve used everything from story-led chapters to practical field guides to more academic takes.
Drafts? Never “done”. None of the manuscripts took fewer than three full rewrites; a few were rebuilt from the ground up. Some chapters hit six passes.
I self-published the first two—The Leadership Compass and Leading with Tomorrow in Mind—then iterated them into third editions. Continuous improvement applies to books, too.
After writing Fluid Leadership and Simplicity Switch, I tested the waters: proposals to 10 UK and 10 US publishers. To my surprise, three bites—two in the US, one in the UK—and two offers. Turner Publishing is now preparing my book for launch and reviewing The Rhizome Organisation I just sent them.
Naively, I thought “the publisher takes it from here.” Not quite. The process is meticulous: concept reviews; reference, AI, plagiarism, and copyright checks; then five edit stages, starting with line edits. At each gate, more suggestions, more approvals, better pages. Marketing? That’s begun, and authors are very much part of it.
I must thank Turner Publishing Company for their ongoing support, guidance and for carrying me through this whole publishing journey. Been excellent working with you guys.
So yes—bucket-list joke to real books. If you’re writing non-fiction: expect craft, patience, and rework. It’s worth it.
🚀 If you’ve considered writing, do it.
