Gannon Media Group Est. 2026
A home for your story.
Tim Gannon co-founded Outback Steakhouse, helped create the Bloomin' Onion, built Bloomin' Brands into a global restaurant company, and led the Outback Steakhouse polo team to a world championship. Now he is building a team for authors.
The heart of everything
is story.
We do not start with a book. We start with a life: the experience inside it, the wisdom earned from it, and the people whose lives could be changed by hearing it. Once we find the story and the voice of the person who lived it, the right path reveals itself.
Three steps to a story that reaches the world.
Most people who have lived something remarkable do not yet see the full power of what they are carrying. That is where we begin.
We start by
listening.
The most impactful stories are often the ones their authors have not yet fully named. We sit with you, ask the right questions, and help you see what you are actually sitting on. Not just the events, but the meaning inside them and the people those events can reach.
Trusting your own voice.
Every author has a voice worth hearing. The person who lived the story is the only one who can truly tell it. We help you find that voice, trust it, and use it, so what reaches the reader or the viewer is unmistakably you, at your most honest and your most powerful. You do not need to be a writer. You only need to have lived something worth telling.
The right platform for this story.
A book is one answer. A documentary is another. A film. A stage. Often a combination of all. We do not decide the format first. We let the story lead, and then we build the path with you and pursue every form that serves the mission. The goal is not a product. The goal is impact.
The story finds its own path. Our job is to help you see it, and to make sure it reaches every person who needs it. The person who lived it is always the author. Anyone who helps shape or write it serves the story from behind the scenes, where they belong.
A story company.
A book by Jack Kerouac made me want to be an adventurer before I built anything. That spirit carried into the creation of the Bloomin' Onion, Outback Steakhouse, and Bloomin' Brands, and into building a world polo championship team with Outback.
Storytelling is my next adventure, and I am entering it the same way I entered every other: with strong relationships, the right partners, and a belief that the right story in the right form can change the direction of someone's life.
During the hardest years of my life, dealing with substantial debt and uncertainty, it was hearing other people's stories through motivational tapes that helped push me through. Those stories gave me life when I needed them most. Gannon Media exists because of that experience, and because I believe there are stories sitting unshared right now that could do the same for someone else.
My team and I find your story, find your voice, and then find every right way to get it to the people who need it. That means books, audiobooks, film, documentary, stage: whatever the story requires. The medium follows the mission.
I have written a book myself, and experienced the author's journey from the inside. My goal is simple: to give every author a partnership that feels personal, efficient, and always on their terms.
– Tim
This is a partnership.
We are selective about who we work with, not because we are exclusionary, but because every author we say yes to receives our full attention, our full network, and our full commitment to getting their story where it needs to go.
Story before platform.
We do not start by deciding whether this is a book or a film. We start by understanding what you lived and what it means. Once we know the story deeply, the right platform becomes clear. We pursue it there, and wherever else it belongs.
The author comes first.
Your story is the most valuable thing in the room. Every decision we make, every partner we choose, every timeline we set, is made in service to that story and to the person who lived it. We are in your corner from the first conversation through the last distribution run and beyond.
Hospitality is the standard.
We bring the same warmth and care to this work that Tim brought to building Outback restaurants. Every touchpoint should feel like being welcomed, not processed. We hold ourselves to that standard at every stage of the journey.
Your story belongs to you. Always.
No one should own someone's story. No one should own an author. If you want to leave, you leave. No explanation required, no conversation designed to make you feel uncomfortable about a decision that is yours to make. We earn this partnership every single day, or we do not deserve it.
The kind of story we are looking for.
Gannon Media is built around a specific kind of story and a specific kind of person. Not every story is right for us. But if you recognize yourself in any of these, it is worth a conversation.
You built something from nothing.
A business, a movement, a family, a life. You took a risk most people would not take, and it led somewhere worth sharing. The lessons inside that story belong to more people than just you.
You overcame something significant.
Failure, loss, reinvention, a moment that changed everything. The stories that move people are the ones that are honest about the hard parts and generous about what came next. Yours could be the story someone else needs right now.
You have wisdom worth passing on.
You have spent years, maybe decades, learning something that others need to hear. The right partner helps make sure it reaches the people it was meant for, in the form they can best receive it.
The people who come to Gannon Media are not handing their story off to a system. They are being introduced to people Tim trusts personally. Some of those relationships span decades. The standard is the same either way.
The people in your corner.
A Gannon Media partnership is led by a small in-house team and supported by a circle of trusted collaborators we bring in when their craft serves your story. You always know who is in the room and why.
The House
The people who lead your partnership from beginning to launch and beyond.
Tim Gannon
Founder
Co-founder of Outback Steakhouse. Built one of the most iconic restaurant brands in the world from a $75,000 investment, and led the Outback polo team to a world championship. Two of the most demanding pursuits a person can choose, both built on the same belief: people deserve to feel special. He brings that same standard to every author at Gannon Media.
Deyson Ortiz
Editorial Director
Thirty years in multimedia and storytelling, across video, design, and digital. Brings a craftsman's eye for how a story is shaped, voiced, and matched to the platform that gives it the widest and most meaningful reach.
Trusted Collaborators
Independent voices we have worked alongside and respect deeply. They are not staff. They are people whose craft has earned a place in this conversation, and who lend their counsel and connections to authors we take on together.
Don Yaeger
NYT Bestselling Author
Thirteen-time New York Times bestselling author and longtime Sports Illustrated associate editor. One of the most respected voices in storytelling and character-driven narrative in the country.
Stephanie Sayfie Aagaard
Media & PR Advisor
Miami Herald columnist, television host, and Executive Director of The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis at the University of Miami. Deep connections to the Miami Book Fair, Bal Harbour Shops, and Miami's media ecosystem.
Brett Hodus
Founder & CEO, Book Buddy Media
More than twenty years helping publishers grow. Brett builds channel partnerships and production systems that reduce costs while expanding reach. The production partner behind every Gannon Media audiobook.
Marko Pfann
Creative Consultant
Built and sold a motion studio that branded major television networks worldwide. Now co-founding the Paradiso Institute, a global support network for the creative industry. Brings studio relationships on every continent and a practiced sense of how stories find the right form.
The infrastructure behind your story.
Beyond the people, a partnership runs on the trade relationships that move a story from idea to audience. Two of ours.
Ingram
The largest independent book distributor in the world, placing your title within reach of more than 40,000 retailers and libraries globally. A relationship rooted in years of trust between Tim Gannon and the Ingram family.
Book Buddy Media
A respected production partner whose craftsmanship spans audiobook, video, and digital storytelling. A growing relationship with a team whose standards match our own.
These are relationships, not vendor accounts. The Gannon Media partnership benefits from both.
The story keeps finding new audiences.
A partnership with Gannon Media opens a door most publishing companies do not offer. As our author community grows, we coordinate speaking opportunities, retreats, and courses, and the financial benefits are shared equally among participating authors. This is not an obligation. It is an invitation.
Intimate Retreats
Small, high-connection gatherings where authors speak, share, and build relationships with audiences who came specifically to hear them. Profits split equally among panelists.
Masterclass Series
Small group meetings where your expertise becomes a recurring income source, and a platform for the causes and foundations you care about most.
Story Amplification
Every podcast, every stage appearance, every national interview. Gannon Media remains in the room, helping you show up well and keeping the story reaching new people.
Always in the Family
You remain part of the Gannon Media community long after your launch window closes. The relationship does not expire. The story keeps growing.
Ready to Begin
Your story is the most important thing in the room.
The conversation always comes first. We sit with you, we listen, and together we decide whether your story is right for this partnership, and what the right path for it looks like.