Writing the next bestseller is the main thing on my mind

It took Ken Follett just weeks to write his first novel—a thriller about drug dealers published under the pseudonym 'Symon Myles' in 1974. The book was not a success, but the modest advance was enough to repair his car. Then a young journalist, he realised through this experience that his future might lie in books rather than newspapers.

- NAVIN J. ANTONY

By the end of the year, he had joined Everest Books, a small firm run by former journalists that had brought out his debut novel. “We were a young company and nobody knew anything about publishing because we were all straight out of journalism," Follett once recalled. “But we knew how to promote, we knew the media, and that saved us.”

His savvy helped Follett rise to the position of deputy managing editor at Everest, even as he continued writing thrillers under various pseudonyms—Martin Martinsen, Bernard L. Ross and Zachary Stone. Why so many pen-names? Because most publishers preferred to release only one book per author each year, and Follett was writing several.

Follett’s nose for business has held him in good stead through the decades. Today, he is a regular at the Frankfurt Book Fair—the world’s largest publishing event and a venue for networking, deal-making and industry strategy.

Last year, he hosted a “Ken Follett Summit” at the fair, drawing around 100 participants from across the publishing scene, both in person and online. The event followed a headline-making announcement that, after 45 years with Pan Macmillan—the storied publishing house once led by former British prime minister Harold Macmillan—he was moving to Hachette. The French publishing giant also represents J.K. Rowling (writing as Robert Galbraith) and Fourth Wing author Rebecca Yarros.

Circle of Days, Follett’s latest novel, is the first under the new contract. He tries to trace the origins of Stonehenge. The narrative follows Joia, a young priestess of the Great Plain in the Stone Age, who, after witnessing the destruction of a sacred wooden monument used for rituals and timekeeping, tries to build a stronger, enduring stone structure. Her brother-in-law, a flint miner named Seft, must solve the monumental challenge of transporting and erecting massive stones.