About Steve

Stephen Hawley Martin is the author of more than three-dozen books, including five novels, half a dozen business management titles, and a number of self-help books and metaphysical investigations. He is a former principal of the world-renowned ad firm, The Martin Agency, creator of the GEICO Gecko and “Virginia is for lovers.” He founded an ad firm, Hawley Martin Partners, which he and his partner sold to the Interpublic Group of Companies, an ad agency holding company listed on the New York Stock Exchange. From 2007 through 2009, he hosted a weekly Internet podcast entitled, “The Truth about Life,” that averaged more than 30,000 downloads per week. Steve is the only three-time winner of the Writer’s Digest Book Award, having won twice for fiction and once for nonfiction. He has also won first place for fiction from Independent Publisher and first place for nonfiction from USA Book News. Steve and his wife of 34 years live in central Virginia and have three children. Their oldest is a copywriter for an advertising agency, their middle child is a market research analyst, and their youngest is a senior in the School of Mass Communications at Virginia Commonwealth University, majoring in advertising strategy.