Stephen Hawley Martin is a former marketing communications professional and advertising agency owner who is also a publisher, editor, and the author of more than three-dozen books, including five published novels and half a dozen business management titles. Known by his friends as "Steve," he is a former principal of the world-renowned advertising agency, The Martin Agency, the firm that created the GEICO Gecko and “Virginia is for lovers.” Today, he is actively seeking ghostwriting and book editing projects. Listed in Who’s Who in America, and best known as an award-winning author, 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 won first place for fiction from Independent Publisher and first place for nonfiction from USA Book News. He and his wife live in central Virginia and have three grown children.