Some Lives Should Be Recorded
Those who lead consequential lives, build organisations, or take on real responsibility rarely leave behind a full account.
I turn your story into the book that should exist, but doesn’t.
“I spoke to a few writers before Mark, but once we started talking I knew I had the right guy. He didn’t just write the story, he worked through it with me and made sense of it.”
David Giles - CEO, Entertainment Brands Group
Why Work With Me
I’m a UK-based writer working with business and cultural leaders to write the books that should exist, but often don’t. Memoirs, start-up stories or accounts of lives that carried real consequence. Most of them are never properly recorded.
I didn't arrive at this work from journalism or publishing. I came through business, leading, funding, and sitting on both sides of risk for long enough that I stopped having to imagine what those decisions felt like. I know what it means when a call affects payroll, reputation or survival.
Earlier in my career, I wrote Crystal Mapping, a book on visual thinking and big picture communication. I've always had a thing for making sure the story you're telling hits the mark. The same discipline applies here. The goal is simple enough: stand far enough back to see the whole thing, breathe in life and energy, then make it make sense.
Whether you have a part written document that needs editing or finishing, or you're starting from scratch, the process is the same. I listen carefully and ask the questions that matter to help you produce something clear and dangerously human. Something others will want to read - not just another machine-driven business book.
If you've built something, led something, or made decisions that shaped outcomes beyond yourself, and you want that documented as a compelling story, give me a shout.
How We Can Work Together
There's no single reason people decide to get their story written down, and no single form it has to take.
I tend to focus on business, but a career in medicine, the arts, public service or sport can carry just as much consequence as anything that happens in a boardroom. What matters is the connection between the story and the people it's written for.
Private Record
Some want a private account, written for family, close friends and colleagues or future generations. Not a public memoir, simply a clear and honest record of a life, career, successes and failures that captures all the core moments in a voice people instantly recognise as yours.
Public Memoir
Others have led careers visible enough that a public memoir makes sense, shaped for a general reader and built for publication.
Founder Record & Family Business Legacy
Some aren't sure they want a book at all, but know there's value in having a clear account of how their career actually unfolded. Something more considered than a Wikipedia page and more useful than a LinkedIn profile.
For founders and family businesses, a written record can serve a more important purpose. Businesses often pass from one generation to the next with financial assets, legal structures and governance arrangements carefully documented, yet the judgement that shaped the business is rarely captured at all. Why certain decisions were made, the context in which they were made and the values that made the business often exist only in the founder's memory.
Written down properly, those experiences become more than a personal history. They become a form of intellectual inheritance, helping future generations understand not just what was built, but how and why.
Thought Leadership Book
Then there's a different kind of book entirely. Here the goal isn't to tell a life story so much as share what has been learned along the way. A book built around ideas, hard-won perspective and a point of view on leadership, culture or a particular industry.
Done well, that kind of book does something a memoir can't. It positions you as a thinker, not just a practitioner, and gives you a platform that outlasts any single role or company.
Each of these options requires different commitments, processes and outcomes. Part of what I do, before a word is written, is help you work out which one fits.
If you're not sure where to start, that's fine, working that out is part of the process
Process & Engagement
Every project begins with a confidential consultation to clarify intent, audience and scope. From there:
• We start with a series of structured, recorded interviews, to find the patterns, turning points and detail to make your story breathe.
• I'll then start to draft the narrative and shape each chapter into a professional manuscript through iterative review and refinement.
• Once you're happy with the shape and structure, I'll deliver a full manuscript for final review and acceptance.
Timelines vary depending on scope, but most projects run between three and nine months.
Throughout the process confidentiality and discretion are guaranteed.
Because of the depth of work involved, I take on only a small number of commissions each year.
Fees & Scope
Every project is different. The subject, depth and the intended audience shape the work and determine the cost.
Costs typically range from around £5k for a a short form project with private and public book projects starting at £12k.
Final cost depends on the depth of research, length of manuscript and what you're trying to achieve.
In all cases we start with a conversation before anything is agreed. If it helps, payments can be spread monthly or by stage.