The problem
Former The Age business editor, Stephen Dabkowski required a writing partner to create a biography and manuscript celebrating John Ilhan’s life, the founder and high profile Melburnian of Crazy John’s telecommunications company.
A highly personal and rewarding project, the book is still widely available for sale with all royalties donated to John and Patricia’s food allergy foundation.
The approach
Working in close collaboration with John’s family, friends and business executives, Steve and I worked together along with the publisher for many months to create a book honouring the achievements of the well-loved businessman. We ensured a seamless style and tone as well as a strong working relationship with John Wiley & Sons.
The project also required contribution from several high profile Australian sports and business people, which we facilitated, alongside extensive interviews with people who knew him throughout his life – John tragically passed away in 2007.
It was a great pleasure writing John’s book with Annie.
“Despite the short time frame and a considerable amount of research required, Annie embraced the process, worked in a productive and collaborative way and produced outstanding drafts always on deadline. It’s testament to the quality of what we both produced that it’s my recollection the publisher Wiley changed very little of the manuscript we submitted and it turned out to be a very successful book for them. Annie is not only a very talented writer, but someone who can work well on major publishing projects.”
Stephen Dabkowski, director Bluedot Media, former Business Editor at The Age