Books · Ghostwriting · Mentoring

Stepping Aside,
your way.

There's a book in you, waiting for you to find the right way that does it justice.

Find your way ↓ Our story

Working together

Which sounds most like you?

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For founders, directors & professionals · By invitation

Ghosttherapy

A book that grows from conversation, personal and with a theme as its frame. The name refers to the way of asking questions; it isn't therapy. You talk, Youri asks, listens and writes.

One conversation a week of 1 to 1.5 hours, with no preparation and no writing for you
Your stories, given psychological and philosophical depth around a theme you choose
Three tracks: Essence (one focused book), Manifest (a layered book) or Trilogy (three woven books)
Your own interactive author page once the book is published

Request an introduction →

For organisations · On request

The Tell Me Collective

Every organisation has a largely invisible character, carried by the people who work there. This co-creation trajectory anchors it in a printed book and a living online page, built on their own stories.

Colleagues share a short story; Youri does every interview himself
Only what each person approves becomes public
All rights stay with the organisation

Discover the trajectory → Nederlandstalig? Lees het in het Nederlands

Proof

Books that already found their way

Published October 2026

(On)zichtbaar Leiderschap

A collective book by twelve Dutch leadership experts, with Youri as publisher and editorial lead. It lives on as an online page on fromDialogue.

Also by Youri: editorial direction of the jubilee book Landsmeer 700 jaar, and ghostwritten trilogies such as Carlo Mahfouz's The Founders Truth.

See the book's living page

Tools by Stepping Aside

Write in conversation, not alone.

Three tools built on the same idea as the ghostwriting: writing starts with people, not a blank page.

fromDialogue

Start with a conversation, keep its feeling. A private room to think out loud together, then turn it into writing or a replay people can share.

Open your writing room ↗

Writers' Wide Web

Find the right writers: buddies, sounding boards, co-authors. Meet through a low-pressure pre-chat before you ever send a DM.

Find your people ↗

Unwriting Companion

Stuck on your book? Talk it through with a companion trained on Youri's approach, and get insights back to unblock your writing.

Chat with the companion →

Not ready yet?

Start for free.

55 solid reasons not to write a book

Clear your writing block, and see how each reason reveals your book is already there.

Get the free guide

The Ebook's Urgency

17 exercises and prompts to welcome the ebook hidden in your work.

Get the free workbook

One letter a month

Tips to deepen your writing practice. Unsubscribe with one click. Privacy

In conversation

On writing and authorship.

Jane Hardjono and Youri Hermes talk about what writing asks of us, and what happens when the writer steps aside. No lecture, just two people thinking out loud.

Jane HardjonoYouri Hermes49 minutes

By Youri Hermes

The Stepping Aside trilogy

All books and previews →

The Art of Unwriting

Freeing the book from the one who writes it.

Look inside

The Art of Unmarketing

Freeing the business from the writer who runs it.

Coming soon

The Book's Urgency

Why a book alters a life before it's even published.

Coming soon

Our story

Stepping aside
to step in.

Where this way of writing came from, and why it matters more now than ever.

01 · Origin

It started with books that had to be written.

“Something stepped aside in my writing process, which paradoxically allowed me to deliberately step in and create books that were never really mine to begin with.”

Youri's first trilogy, Remember to Forget, emerged from necessity rather than strategy. Writers kept asking about his different approach, so he began mentoring and ghostwriting. From that work, a fourth book surfaced: The Art of Unwriting, the start of the Stepping Aside trilogy.

Read the origin story

02 · Why

The best thinking often never escapes the room.

“A book that carries substance was never a content problem.”

AI can fill pages in seconds, but it can't distill lived experience or the story only this person or group could tell. A book carries that further: portable, lasting, finding people we might never meet, without anyone standing in front of it.

Read our why

“You never know a book's true purpose until after it's written.”

Stepping Aside,
your way.