Stephen Blake Mettee

Stephen Blake Mettee is the founder of Quill Driver Books and The Write Thought.

During his fifteen years at the helm of Quill Driver Books, Mettee shepherded two titles into Book-of-the-Month Club selections and one onto the New York Times bestseller list. Foreign rights to QDB titles have been sold in a score of countries. One title was cited in a Supreme Court decision.

Authors published during his tenure include Irving Stone, Dr. Ruth Westheimer, and America’s most popular medical columnist Peter H. Gott, M.D., as well as many first-time authors.

QDB has been recognized by industry periodical Book Marketing Update as one of the “Top 101 Independent Book Publishers” in the United States and by Writer’s Digest as one the 100 most new-writer friendly book publishers in the U.S.

Every chance he gets Mettee immodestly points out that this is quite a list of accomplishments for an independent house.

The Write Thought publishes a digital book series that revives a number of the best out-of-print books on writing and publishing (The Classic Wisdom on Writing series) as well as books in a host of other genres.

In 2012, The Write Thought launched a unique book publishing venture which gives selected literary agents and editors their own imprint. This expands The Write Thought’s reach into fiction as well as nonfiction.

Mettee served five years on the board of directors of The Independent Book Publisher’s Association, two as board chair. IBPA is the nation’s largest book publishing association and the leading advocate for independent presses.

He regularly presents on writing and publishing nationally and internationally.

Mettee has published scads of nonfiction articles on subjects ranging from parenting to business including a chapter in the 2004 Writer’s Market.

He has content edited (or rewritten, as the case may be) more than 150 books, is the author of The Fast-Track Course on How to Write a Nonfiction Book Proposal—now in its second edition—and the editor of The Portable Writers’ Conference: Your Guide to Getting and Staying Published and The American Directory of Writer’s Guidelines.  All are Writers Digest Book Club selections.

The Fast-Track Course on How to Write a Nonfiction Book Proposal has been adopted for use in a number of university publishing courses.

He holds a BA in journalism and is currently working on two diet books: The Sexy Beast Diet for men and The Sexy Bitch Diet for women as well as a novel set in the first century.

Mettee is always in the market for exceptional fiction and nonfiction manuscripts in nearly any genre. You can reach him at Mettee@TheWriteThought.com.