Shawn Coyne is a writer, editor, and publishing professional with more than thirty years of experience. He has published hundreds of books with many dozens of bestsellers across all genres that have generated more than $150,000,000.

He started his editing career in 1991 as an editorial assistant. Just five years later, he was promoted to senior editor and tasked with launching a brand new crime fiction imprint. In 1999, he became an independent publisher. Throughout his twenty-year career in traditional publishing, he held positions at Dell Publishing, St. Martin's Press, Doubleday Publishing and founded an independent publishing house, Rugged Land, distributed by Macmillan Publishers and Random House.

In its six years of operation, Rugged Land published thirty-six hardcover titles and fourteen trade paperback titles. One-third of all original titles published at Rugged Land were placed on major bestseller lists, including The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Publishers Weekly, The Wall Street Journal and USA Today, and numerous regional bestseller lists.

After shuttering Rugged Land in 2007, Coyne became a literary agent at the Endeavor Agency, now William Morris Endeavor, representing bestselling authors including Robert McKee, Steven Pressfield, David Feherty, Scott Patterson, Anita Raghaven, and many others.

In 2011, Coyne cofounded Black Irish Books, where he has published twenty-five plus titles, including bestsellers such as The War of Art, Turning Pro, Left of Bang, Solitary, and his own The Story Grid.

In 2015, he wrote and published The Story Grid: What Good Editors Know and, later that year, launched the Story Grid Podcast. Since then, Story Grid Universe has grown into a community of 40,000+ writers dedicated to leveling up their craft.

Shawn continues to study and develop his Story Grid Helix Narrative Theory, improve the Story Grid methodology, and teach aspiring and professional writers.

A small sampling of works he acquired, edited, published, or represented include those of James Bamford, John Brenkus, James Lee Burke, Barbara Bush, Dick Butkus, Harlan Coben, Nellie Connally, Michael Connelly, Robert Crais, Ben Crenshaw, Catherine Crier, Brett Favre, David Feherty, John Feinstein, Tyler Florence, Jim Gant, Col. David H. Hackworth, Jamie Harrison, Mo Hayder, William Hjortsberg, Stephen Graham Jones, Jon Krakauer, David Leadbetter, Alan Lomax, David Mamet, Troon McAllister, Robert McKee, Matthew Modine, Bill Murray, Joe Namath, John J. Nance, Jack Olsen, Scott Patterson, Steven Pressfield, Matthew Quirk, Anita Raghavan, Ian Rankin, Ruth Rendell, Jerry Rice, Giora Romm, Tim Rosaforte, William Safire, Dava Sobel, Michael Thomas, Nick Tosches, Ann Scott Tyson, Minette Walters, Betty White, Randy Wayne White, Steven White, and Don Winslow among many others.