June 24, 2008
Fresh Books June Harvest!
Mood -- smoky. Today we have over 840 wildfires burning in California.
The good news is that we have new books on the shelves.
Congratulations to Harold Davis on the publication of his amazing 100 Views of the Golden Gate (Wilderness Press).
Congratulations to Steve Horton and Jeong Mo Jang on the publication of Professional Manga: Digital Storytelling with Manga Studio EX (Focal Press).
Congratulations to Greg Velm on the publication of AP U.S. History for Dummies (Wiley).
Congratulations to Taz Tally on the publication of his labor of love 50 Hikes in Alaska's Kenai Peninsula (The Countryman Press).
And congratulations to Rich Wagner on the publication of his Building Facebook Applications for Dummies (Wiley). Rich is also about to embark on a one month cross country bicycle book tour to promote The Expeditionary Man (which repped by his CBA agency Alive Communications). You can follow his adventure at his website, WhyTheBike.
Best wishes to everyone. Thanks for working with me.
Posted by matt at 9:08 AM | Comments (0)
June 16, 2008
Michelle Waitzman blurbed in Cosmo!
This is a first for my career probably :-) I don't usually see my books in Cosmo.
Michelle Waitzman, author of Sex in a Tent: A Wild Couple's Guide to Being Naughty in Nature was quoted in Cosmo last week. Michelle was interviewed for a sidebar (to do with, ah hem, creative ways to use a hammock) and Wilderness Press reports that it seemed to spur some book sales.
Congrats, Michelle!
Posted by matt at 10:42 AM | Comments (0)
May 8, 2008
More Fresh Books and Articles!
Congrats to Janet Rae-Dupree. Janet's May 4 "Unboxed" column Can You become a Creature of New Habits? was yesterday's New York Times' "Most Emailed Article."
Congratulations to Stephanie Diamond on the publication of her book, Web Marketing for Small Business (Sourcebooks).
Congratulations to Todd Perkins on the publication of his latest book, Nintendo Flash Wii Creator's Guide (Osborne/McGraw-Hill), the first and only book that teaches you how to create Flash games for the Wii.
Congratulations to Bill Loguidice and Matt Barton on their latest installment for Gamasutra, A History of Gaming Platforms: Mattell Intellivision.
Congratulations to Rich Wagner on completing his Building Facebook Applications for Dummies.
Thanks for working with me!
Posted by matt at 10:00 AM | Comments (0)
April 30, 2008
Fresh Books April Clients News and Notes
Congratulations to Larry Helyer and Richard Wagner on the publication of The Book of Revelation for Dummies (Wiley). This is a great intro to perhaps the most complex and controversial book of the Bible.
Congratulations to Michele Davis and Jon Phillips on the publication of their latest book, Flex 3: A Beginner's Guide (Osborne/McGraw-Hill).
I haven't seen it in person yet but I'm excited to announce the publication of Webcomics 2.0: An Insider's Guide to Writing, Drawing and Promoting Your Own Webcomics, by Steve Horton and Sam Romero (Course Technology).
Congratulations to Ron Kay on the publication of Ron Kay's Guide to Zion National Park: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Zion National Park but Didn't Know Who to Ask! (Countryman/W.W. Norton).
Congrats to Cliff Truesdell on the publication of his latest book, Introducing Reason 4 (Sybex).
I'm pleased to announce another video from Sue Jenkins. Congrats to Sue on the release of her latest DVD, Photoshop CS3 2008 - Designer's Guide to Photoshop: Adobe Photoshop CS3 Educational Training Tutorial DVD for Print, Web, Video Production, and 3D (Class on Demand).
Thanks for working with me!
Posted by matt at 9:20 AM | Comments (0)
March 19, 2008
March Fresh Books News
A big congratulations to Steve Horton who has just wrapped two projects with two different publishers over the last two months:
Webcomics 2.0: An Insider's Guide to Writing, Drawing and Promoting Your Own Webcomics, illustrated by Sam Romero (Course Technology), and
Professional Manga: Digital Storytelling with Manga Studio EX, illustrated by Jeong Mo Yang, (Focal Press).
Congratulations to our favorite archeologist and adventurer, Cameron M. Smith, on completing his Anthropology for Dummies, (Wiley).
Congratulations to Richard Mansfield on completing his Mastering VBA for Microsoft Office 2007, coming next month from Sybex.
This one isn't quite on the shelves yet but is somewhere en route from the printer in Italy and will be available any day now: congratulations to Harold Davis on his gorgeous Practical Artistry: Light and Exposure for Digital Photographers (O'Reilly). Harold has also syndicated his blog to his Amazon page and it's one of the few photoblogs that I've seen on Amazon, so that's worth checking out too.
Thanks for working with me!
Posted by matt at 1:43 PM | Comments (0)
February 29, 2008
Fresh Books February Client News
A huge congratulations to Cameron M. Smith, who today won a Solas Silver Award for his story Ghost On Ice in the annual Travelers' Tales travel writing competition, and which will be published in The Best Travel Writing 2008: True Stories from Around the World.
Cameron also won a Gold Prize for his Escape From Darien, which was recently featured in the Lyons Press book They Lived to Tell the Tale.
Congratulations to Harold Davis (and his producer, designer and partner Phyllis Davis) on the publication of The Photographer's Guide to Yosemite and the High Sierra (Countryman/W.W. Norton).
Congratulations to Michelle Waitzman on finishing Living Abroad in New Zealand, which is coming soon from Moon Publications/Avalon. Michelle also received a great Seattle Times Valentine's Day review of her Sex in a Tent. See it here!
Congratulations to Cliff Truesdell on finishing his second music-tech title with me, Introducing Reason 4, coming soon from Sybex. You should check out Cliff's band on their MySpace page.
Congratulations to Dave Crenshaw on signing, sealing, and delivering his productivity business fable, The Myth of Multitasking: How "Doing it All" Gets Nothing Done, which is due out in hardcover this August from Jossey-Bass.
Congratulations to Gary David Bouton on the imminent publication of his newest book Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended: Retouching Motion Pictures, to be published by Course Technology.
And finally, another Course tech book: a hearty congratulations to David Boles on completing his third in a row, Picture Yourself Learning Office for the Mac 2008.
Thanks for working with me!
Posted by matt at 1:40 PM | Comments (0)
January 24, 2008
Beautiful photo of a book being proofed!
My first publishing related job was in a printing press for CP/M (Commercial Press/Monterey, we published Digital Research's documentation in the early 80s), and I was always fascinated to see how the pages were laid out and printed on these huge pieces of paper.
Somewhat reminiscent of that, Harold Davis just posted a great photo of the proofs of his newest book, Light and Exposure for Digital Photographers, spread out over his living room floor.
Check out the photo and backstory on Harold's blog.
Update, 1-28: this is cool, Harold's Book Imposition photo was featured on Galleycat this morning A Quick Peak Inside the Sausage Factory
Posted by matt at 8:43 AM | Comments (0)
January 23, 2008
Client news and notes
Congratulations to Janet Rae-Dupree, who penned a fascinating article about innovation in the New York Times, December 30, 2007, Innovative Minds Don't Think Alike, the first in her brand new NYT column.
Congratulations to Rich Wagner on the publication of his newest book, Professional iPhone and iPod touch Programming: Building Applications for Mobile Safari, from Wrox.
Congratulations to David Boles and Janna Sweenie, the authors of Hand Jive on completing another American Sign Language title, Picture Yourself Signing ASL, Level 1, for Course Technology.
As usual, I have plenty of new "for Dummies" titles to announce --
Congratulations to John Mueller on finishing his Windows Server 2008 Desk Reference All In One for Dummies.
Congratulations to Larry Helyer and Rich Wagner on delivering The Book of Revelation for Dummies.
A big congratulations to musician and composer Scott Jarrett and writer Holly Day on the publication of Music Composition for Dummies!
And, finally, for a good time, and just in time for Oscar ;-) be sure to check out Ali Rogers' annual Oscar spoof, The Felixes!
Posted by matt at 11:57 AM | Comments (0)
January 8, 2008
Happy New Year! Client News and Notes, January 2008
Happy 2008, folks! This is officially my 200th blog post, and although this has become mostly a "news" blog, I like sharing my agency news and will continue to do so.
I want to thank everyone who has put his or her faith in me over the last three years. I'm having a great time in doing this on my own and I couldn't do it without great clients.
I'm happy to announce a few new first books!
Congratulations to USA Today finance columnist Matt Krantz on the publication of his first book, Investing Online for Dummies, from Wiley.
Congratulations to Swain Scheps on the publication of his first solo book, Business Intelligence for Dummies, also from Wiley.
Congratulations to expert Lynda.com video trainer Chad Perkins on the release of his first book, Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended for 3d and Video, from Adobe Press/Peachpit.
Congratulations to David Boles on the publication of his newest book, Picture Yourself Learning Mac OSX 10.5 Leopard, just released by Course Technology.
Congratulations to John Paul Mueller on completing his newest book, Administering Windows 2008 Server Core, coming in February from Sybex.
Congrats also to Barrie Sosinsky on completing his newest book, Windows Server 2008 Implementation and Administration, also from Sybex.
Congratulations to Bill Loguidice and Matt Barton on the second article (of six, eventually) in their Gaming Platforms series with Gamasutra, A History of Gaming Platforms: The Vectrex.
A big congratulations to prolific photographer and author Harold Davis and his talented designer, wife, and co-packager, Phyllis Davis, on delivering two new photography titles: the techniques title Practical Artistry: Light and Exposure for Digital Photographers, to be published by O'Reilly Media this Spring; and their new coffee table book, the gorgeous 100 Views of the Golden Gate, also publishing this Spring, from Wilderness Press.
Posted by matt at 8:19 AM | Comments (0)
November 8, 2007
E-Mail Marketing for Dummies, and more, client news and notes
Congratulations to marketing wiz John Arnold on the publication of E-Mail Marketing for Dummies, from Wiley.
Congratulations to Bill Loguidice and Matt Barton, who have a new article at Gamasutra, the first in a six part series, A History of Game Platforms: The Commodore 64.
Congratulations to Michele Davis and Jon Philips on completing their newest book, Flex: A Beginner's Guide, to be published by Osborne/McGraw-Hill.
Congratulations to DVD trainer Todd Perkins on finishing his first book, Nintendo Wii Flash Game Creator's Guide, also with Osborne/McGraw-Hill.
Congratulations to David Boles on delivering his newest book, Picture Yourself Learning What's New in Mac OS Leopard, coming soon from Course Technology (and just in time for my upgrade!).
Congratulations to Michelle Waitzman, who was interviewed about her book, Sex in a Tent for the Outdoor Stations' OutdoorPodcast, which you can find here.
Congratulations to Cameron McPherson Smith on launching his new blog, Amphibian Adventures, which will follow Cameron on his various wonderful and amazing expeditions. Cameron also has a new story coming out in the new collection, They Lived to Tell the Tale: True Stories of Modern Adventure from the Legendary Explorer's Club, from Lyons Press, and which is precisely the sort of book I stayed home sick from school to read when I was a teen.
And finally, many congrats to Roger Parker on the launch of his new website, Published and Profitable, which aims to teach prospective authors how to grow their business and platform through books. Disclaimer, I'm on Roger's editorial board as an advisor.
Thanks for working with me!
Posted by matt at 11:55 AM | Comments (0)
October 19, 2007
Fresh Books News and Notes,
I'm pleased to announce a few new books on the shelves. The topics in books released this month run the gamut from virtual worlds to "sex in a tent" to Google Apps and iPhone development!
Congratulations are overdue to Richard Mansfield on the publication of How to Do Everything With Second Life, published by Osborne/McGraw Hill.
Congratulations to Mike Fine on the publication of his second Utah travel title, Utah: The Complete Ski and Snowboard Guide, from Countryman/W.W. Norton.
Congratulations to Michelle Waitzman on her first book, Sex in a Tent: A Wild Couple's Guide to Getting Naughty in Nature, from Wilderness Press. You should be able to find a copy at REIs everywhere!
Congratulations to David Boles, who has the very first Google Apps book published anywhere, the Google Apps Administrator Guide, from Course Technology.
Congratulations to Chad Perkins on completing his first book, Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended for 3D and Video, to be published by Peachpit.
Congratulations to Holly Day and Scott Jarrett on completing Music Composition for Dummies, coming soon from Wiley.
And, finally, congratulations to Rich Wagner on completing his newest book, Professional iPhone Develpment, to be published by Wrox.
Richard is also the author of one of the new Wrox Blox titles, iPhone and iPod Touch Programming.
Thanks for working with me!
Posted by matt at 9:16 AM | Comments (0)
September 17, 2007
September client news and notes
I've been backlogged on current books and it remains a busy time here. Lots of recent books to note!
Congratulations to Jon Philips and Michele Davis on the publication of the second edition of Learning PHP and MySQL: Step by Step Guide to Creating Database-Driven Web Sites, from O'Reilly Media.
And starting a round of lots of "for Dummies" titles, congratulations to Janet Rae-Dupree and Pat DuPree on the publication of their Anatomy and Physiology Workbook for Dummies.
Congratulations to Ed Baig (and his Waterside repped co-author Bob Levitus) on the publication of iPhone for Dummies.
Congratulations to Swain Scheps on delivering his first solo project, Business Intelligence for Dummies.
Congratulations to John Arnold on delivering, Email Marketing for Dummies.
Congratulations to USA Today personal finance columnist Matt Krantz on completing his first book Investing Online for Dummies.
Congratulations to Dan Gookin on the publication of Find Gold in Windows Vista, from Wiley.
And finally, I'm pleased to announce another forthcoming outdoors title. Congratulations to Harold Davis (author and photographer) and Phyllis Davis (designer) on delivering The Photographer's Guide to Yosemite and the High Sierra: Where to Find the Perfect Shots and How to Take Them, to be published next spring by Countryman Press.
Thanks for working with me!
Posted by matt at 10:27 AM | Comments (0)
July 30, 2007
News and notes: a post from hiatus
I've let the summer have its way with the blog, and there's one month to go yet, but here's some news in the midst of my ongoing hiatus. I'll post more regularly in September!
Diary of a Real Estate Rookie continues to garner great press, reviews and interviews. Ali Rogers was interviewed at Salon.com last week Real Estate Rookie Tells All.
Amazon isn't the only game in town but it sure is fun when a book pops high on the list right before publication. Dan Gookin's Find Gold in Windows Vista doesn't ship for a week or two but something happened this morning to shoot it to #20 on the Computer Bestseller list. Congrats, Dan!
Congrats also to Lee Varis, whose Skin: The Complete Guide to Digitally Lighting, Photographing, and Retouching Faces and Bodies remains a consistent Amazon bestseller. What a great run, Lee!
Congratulations to Fresh Books client and USAT columnist, Ed Baig, who, with Bob LeVitus (a Waterside client), finished iPhone for Dummies in record time.
And the same goes for David Boles, who just wrapped his Google Apps Administrator Guide ahead of schedule (for Course Technology). Congrats David!
Wilderness Press has told me I will see the galleys for Michelle Waitzman's Sex in a Tent any day now. I'll report back as soon as I read them!
I want to send a shout out to local publisher Willow Valley Press, which is about to publish a memoir that has garnered great pre-publication reviews. Dandelion Through The Crack, by Kiyo Sato, is the story of a Japanese family's struggle to make a home for themselves in California through the depression and World War Two. Congratulations. I can't wait to read it. Linked.
Posted by matt at 11:19 AM | Comments (0)
June 28, 2007
Client news and notes
It's actually been a much busier month than this short round-up suggests!
Congratulations to Ronda Racha Penrice, whose African American History for Dummies is currently featured on AOL Black Voices. Ronda signed books with Chris Webber in Detroit last week, to boot, which is great for me by way of reflected glory :-) Sac Town misses you, Chris!
Congrats to Rich Wagner and Richard Mansfield on the publication of Creating Web Pages All In One Desk Reference for Dummies.
Continuing with the Fresh Books West and Southwest theme, congratulations to naturalist Ron Kay on delivering RON KAY'S GUIDE TO ZION NATIONAL PARK: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Zion National Park But Didn't Know Who to Ask, to be published early next year by Countryman Press.
Congrats to Sue Jenkins (star and writer!) on the release of her first training DVD-Rom, Dreamweaver for Designers.
Congratulations to John Mueller on completing his latest Sybex title, IIS Implementation and Administration, which will publish this Fall.
And finally, kudos to Ed Baig. If you want to know what it's like to live with the new iPhone for a few weeks, Ed tells you in his latest USA Today column, Apple's iPhone isn't perfect but it's worthy of the hype.
Posted by matt at 12:23 PM | Comments (0)
June 5, 2007
Client news and notes -- Diary of a Real Estate Rookie, Newsweek pick of the week!
Congrats to Alison Rogers. Her Diary of a Real Estate Agent: My Year of Flipping, Selling, and Rebuilding, and What I Learned (The Hard Way) is a Newsweek magazine pick of the week. I'd love to say that I tracked Ali down and goaded her into writing this book, but that honor belongs to former Kaplan editor Karen Murphy who noted the wit and charm of Ali's weekly Inman.com column. In a wonderful twist (from my perspective), I landed Ali (a Manhattan realtor and former NY Postie) because I was one of the few agents not on vacation at the end of the summer last year.
Congrats to Sue Jenkins, who recently completed taping 10 hours (!!) of Dreaweaver video tutorials for Class On Demand. This is her first dvd.
Congrats to Dan Gookin on completing his newest book, Find Gold in Windows Vista, coming soon from Wiley.
Congratulations to Janet Rae-Dupree and Pat DuPree on completing their book, Anatomy & Physiology Workbook for Dummies.
Congrats to Rich Wagner and Richard Mansfield on completing Creating Web Pages All In One Desk Reference (for Dummies).
Congratulations to Michele Davis and Jon Phillips on completing the second edition of Learning PHP and MySQL (O'Reilly).
Congrats to Richard Mansfield on completing his newest book, How to Do Everything in Second Life,(Osborne/McGraw-Hill). I don't have the time to visit SL these days but I really want to read about it.
And, finally, kudos to Harold Davis on his stint as a guest blogger at the O'Reilly Media site. Check out his most recent entries: Will You Be my Lensbaby?, Physical Prints in a Virtual World, and When is a Photograph not a Photograph?. If you want to see some amazing nighttime pics, you should check out Harold's long exposure set at Flickr, linked.
Thanks for working with me!
Posted by matt at 1:34 PM | Comments (0)
April 20, 2007
Client News, including a PW starred review!
Congratulations to Ronda Racha Penrice on the publication of African American History for Dummies. This book was a labor of love and it shows on every page.
A big congratulations to Alison Rogers, who has a starred review (!!) in the forthcoming April 23 issue of Publisher's Weekly for her first book Diary of a Real Estate Rookie: My Year of Flipping, Selling, and Rebuilding - And What I Learned (The Hard Way), to be published by Kaplan in June. Alison was also interviewed in the most recent issue of Glamour magazine.
Congratulations to John Paul Mueller on the publication of two new Windows Vista titles from Sybex, Mastering Windows Vista Business (with Mark Minasi) and Windows Administration at the Command Line for Windows Vista, Windows 2003, Windows XP and Windows 2000.
John also has an article in the recent CIO Magazine, ABC: An Introduction to Agile Programming.
Congrats to Cliff Truesdell who has launched a new blog and podcast in support of his Mastering Digital Audio Production. Check it out -- MacMusic. You can also visit Cliff's MySpace page if you want to sample music from his band, The Black Furies.
Congratulations to Christopher Spencer, author of The eBay Entrepreneur. Christopher was featured recently in Reader's Digest in New Ways to Make Bundle.
Christopher is also busy launching the very first Online Market World, scheduled this October in San Francisco, and sponsored by such companies as eBay, BMA, and Web Analytics. Per the website, "Online Market World is the first event to address the entire e-commerce lifecycle. It provides an unprecedented opportunity to learn about and discuss the critical issues and trends that are forever changing global online markets." If you plan to go to the expo be sure to use my code, "Matt2007" to save $100 on the ticket price.
Posted by matt at 11:15 AM | Comments (0)
March 28, 2007
Client news and notes, March 2007
Congratulations to Michael Pilhofer and Holly Day on the publication of Music Theory for Dummies. I can't believe I'm mentioned in the same acknowledgements paragraph as Steve Reich and Philip Glass, my dad would have been proud :-)
Congratulations too to Cliff Truesdell on the publication of Mastering Digital Audio Production: The Professional Music Workflow with Mac OS/X, Sybex.
Congratulations to Harold Davis on completing The Photographer's Guide to Yosemite and the High Sierras, to be published by Countryman later this year.
Congratulations to Mike Fine on delivering Utah: The Complete Ski and Snowboard Guide, another Countryman title, also shipping later this year.
And, although it's not a Fresh Books title, I'd like to give out a shout to Fresh Books client Steve Horton on the debut of his new comic book, Strongarm.
Thanks for working with me!
Posted by matt at 12:35 PM | Comments (0)
March 2, 2007
More Fresh Books
From NCurses to Asterisk to Rootkits, it's been a techie couple of months. I like it!
Congratulations to Ric Vieler on the publication of Professional Rootkits (Wrox Press).
Congratulations to Stephen Olejniczak and Brady Kirby on the publication of Asterisk for Dummies, (Wiley).
Congratulations to Ted Coombs and Roderico Deleon on the publication of the Google Power Tools Bible, (Wiley).
Thanks for working with me!
Posted by matt at 1:43 PM | Comments (0)
February 23, 2007
Client news and notes, February 2007
Congratulations to Dan Gookin on the publication of his Programmer's Guide to NCurses, just released by Wiley.
Congratulations to Sue Jenkins on the publication of her second book, Web Design: The L Line, The Express Line to Learning, from Wiley's for Dummies imprint.
Congratulations to Inman columnist Alison Rogers on completing her first book, Diary of a Real Estate Rookie: My Year of Flipping, Selling, and Rebuilding -- and What I Learned (The Hard Way), to be published this summer by Kaplan Publishing.
Congratulations to John Paul Mueller on delivering his two newest books: Mastering Windows Vista: Ultimate, Business and Enterprise (with Mark Minasi), to be published by Sybex in April; and Windows Administration at the Command Line, also due in April from Sybex.
Congratulations to Lee Varis, whose bestselling book Skin: The Complete Guide to Digitally Lighting, Photographing, and Retouching Faces and Bodies was excerpted in Macworld magazine this month, Stop Seeing Red.
Thanks for working with me!
Posted by matt at 10:51 AM | Comments (0)
January 30, 2007
Fresh Books News and Notes
We've inked! Fresh Books is now "Fresh Books, Inc." and in a few weeks your checks will come from our new corporate account.
Congratulations to Dan Gookin. His Windows Vista training DVD, Windows Vista Made Easy is shipping today, perfectly timed to the release of Windows Vista.
Congratulations to Cliff Truesdell, also known as a singer and guitarist for the Black Furies, on delivering his Mac Audio Tools, to be published by Sybex later this Spring.
Continuing a music theme, congratulations to Holly Day and Michael Pilhofer on delivering their manuscript and CD for Music Theory for Dummies, coming soon from Wiley.
And kudos and a big shout out to Cameron McPherson Smith. Cameron is preparing to leave on his solo trip to the North Pole this Friday, February 2. Yeah, you read that right. You can find updates on his page, Footsteps on the Arctic Ocean. Good luck, Cameron, we'll be thinking about you.
Posted by matt at 11:49 AM | Comments (0)
January 3, 2007
Happy 2007, client news and notes
Congratulations to Chef Marie-Annick Courtier on the publication of The Saint-Tropez Diet, from Hatherleigh. Chef Marie contributed more than 100 wonderful recipes to this book, and the diet looks like a winner.
Congratulations to Dan Gookin on completing his Getting Started with Microsoft Windows Vista DVD-ROM for Class on Demand.
Dan also has a new blog. It's worth checking out Dan's Computer Predictions for 2007. Welcome to the Blogosphere, Dan!
Happy 2007!
Posted by matt at 11:43 AM | Comments (0)
December 11, 2006
Client news and notes: December 2006
We have a slew of new titles from various Wiley imprints on the way.
Congratulations to Ronda Racha Penrice on completing her first book, African American History for Dummies to be published in April of 2007 (for Dummies/Wiley).
Congatulations to Holly Day and Michael Pilhofer on delivering Music Theory for Dummies, to be published in April of 2007 (for Dummies/Wiley).
Congratulations to Dan Gookin on delivering probably his umpteenth book, Programmer's Guide to NCurses, to be published by Wiley in February of 2007.
Congratulations to Ted Coombs on delivering his Google Power Tools to be published by Wiley in March of 2007.
Congratulations to Ric Vieler on completing his first book, Professional Rootkits, to be published by Wrox/Wiley in March of 2007.
Congratulations to Taz Tally on delivering his 50 Hikes on the Kenai Peninsula, to be published in 2007 by Countryman Press.
Congratulations to Christopher Spencer, author of The eBay Entrepreneur, who was interviewed on eBay Radio last week: Holiday Buying and Selling on eBay (mp3).
And congrats to Kevin Epstein, author of Marketing for the Small Business Made Easy, who will be speaking at LA Tech Week on January 24: Igniting Your Venture: Marketing Made Easy.
Posted by matt at 3:28 PM | Comments (0)
November 1, 2006
Client news and notes
Congratulations to Stephen Olejniczak and Brady Kirby on completing Asterisk for Dummies to be published by Wiley.
Congratulations to Michelle Waitzman on finishing her first book, How to Make Love in a Tent, to be published in the summer of 2007 by Wilderness Press.
Congratulations to Sue Jenkins on finishing her second book, Web Design: The L Line, The Express Line to Learning, to be published by Wiley in February of 2007.
And a big congratulations to Harold Davis who received an 8 out of 10 review of his Google Advertising Tools at Slashdot.
Thanks for working with me!
Posted by matt at 2:47 PM | Comments (0)
October 20, 2006
Skin is In!
Congrats to Fresh Books client Lee Varis and Sybex acquisitions editor Pete Gaughan: Skin: The Complete Guide to Digitally Lighting, Photographing, and Retouching Faces and Bodies has popped up almost immediately on the computer and internet bestseller list at Amazon. It's at #10 today and in the 200s on the overall Amazon list. Heck, those are almost Scott Kelby numbers.
Amazon numbers are fickle and they don't mean the world, but this book is a great concept beautifully executed and I'm pleased to see it pop like this.
Posted by matt at 9:27 AM | Comments (0)
October 16, 2006
Harold Davis meets Andy Warhol
Harold Davis posts awesome images on his Photoblog 2.0 on a daily basis, but this butterfly is truly special. Here's the original post, Is it Photography?
I asked Harold's permission to post this photo here. The copyright is all his. (edited after first post)
Posted by matt at 12:18 PM | Comments (0)
October 12, 2006
Client News and Notes: HandJive, Skin, and the eBay Entrepreneur Blog
Congratulations to David Boles and Janna Sweenie on the publication of HandJive: American Sign Language for Real Life, from Barnes and Noble's Metro imprint. This is not your momma's ASL book! Look for it at B&Ns everywhere.
Congratulations to Lee Varis on the publication of Skin: The Complete Guide to Digitally Lighting, Photographing, and Retouching Faces and Bodies, from Sybex.
I'm happy to announce that Christipher Matthew Spencer has started a new blog in support of The eBay Entrepreneur. Check it out!
Posted by matt at 10:26 AM | Comments (0)
October 4, 2006
Macs for Dummies, 9th Edition, Intel Inside!
Congratulations to Edward Baig on the publication of Macs for Dummies, Ninth Edition.
"Ninth edition" is a bit of a misnomer as this edition is an entirely new book, re-written from the ground up -- the first edition of Macs for Dummies to cover the new generation Intel Macs.
Congrats, Ed, and thanks for working with me!
Posted by matt at 10:50 AM | Comments (0)
September 15, 2006
Announcing our newest, highest maintenance client
I'll just go ahead and put this in client news. In theory we control all rights, literary, dramatic and otherwise for 18 years, but I have a feeling that assumption will be put to the test.
Camille Frances Wagner was born Wednesday night -- 6 lbs. 14 ounces of brand new baby girl. Mom and baby are happy and healthy and doing fine. I'm just plain pleased as punch, and punchy to boot.
I'll be back in the office early next week.
Posted by matt at 10:46 AM | Comments (6)
September 7, 2006
Client News and Notes
August was the slowest month (as always) and I took a similar hiatus from blogging, but I'm glad to be back to report more client news.
Congratulations to Christopher Matthew Spencer on the publication of The eBay Entrepreneur: The Definitive Guide to Starting Your Own eBay Trading Assistant Business, published by Kaplan Publishing.
Congratulations to Harold Davis on the Polish language publication of his Digital Photography Digital Field Guide, and the Chinese language publication of his Google Advertising Tools.
And congratulations to Chef Marie-Annick Courtier on completing her portion of The St. Tropez Diet to be published this Fall by Hatherleigh Press.
Thanks for working with me. More news soon!
Posted by matt at 11:37 AM | Comments (0)
July 25, 2006
Client news and notes
A big congratulations to David Boles and Janna Sweenie on finishing Hand Jive: American Sign Language for Real Life to be published this Fall by Barnes and Noble Books.
Congratulations to Ed Baig on the completion of his first book, Macs for Dummies, to be published by Wiley.
Congratulations to Kevin Blackwood on the publication of Casino Gambling for Dummies. Kevin's book was co-agented with Venture Literary.
Congratulations to Sue Jenkins, Michele Davis and Jon Phillips on the publication of the Dreamweaver 8 All In One Desk Reference for Dummies.
Thanks for working with me!
Posted by matt at 7:54 AM | Comments (0)
June 20, 2006
Client news: Marketing Made Easy, by Kevin Epstein
I'm pleased to announce the publication of Fresh Books client Kevin Epstein's first book Marketing Made Easy, which has just been released by Entrepreneur Press.
Sometimes a client comes along who's a rock star from the get-go, and Kevin really fits the bill. You should check out his new blog, StupidMarketing, for all sorts of marketing advice.
My favorite take-away from Kevin's book --
Consider the number of great discoveries that were made by mistake -- penicillin, Post-It brand notes, and Coca Cola all originated because of an error. As the entrepreneur, the final outcome of any situation often rests in your hands. So when it all seems to be going wrong, relax; take a deep breath, ask what the situation lets you provide to customers, and dive in.
Posted by matt at 8:32 AM | Comments (0)
June 7, 2006
Call for submissions: romantic camping stories
A client is writing a book that will include short romantic camping stories (think sidebar length). The book will be published next year by Wilderness Press, and although there's no payment for the short stories, she'd be happy to send you a copy of the finished book. If you're interested or know someone who might like to share a funny camping story, please feel free to share her call for submissions, below:
I’m putting together a new book that looks at the joys and challenges of camping as a couple, and I need your help! I would like you to share your experiences and advice in the following areas:
• Sexy, funny and/or romantic stories of things you have done or seen on camping trips together. (Your names will not be used in the book, so don’t worry about your mother finding out what you did in the woods.) Just a few paragraphs long is ideal. Tell me about the time you tried to do it in a canoe, or the way your partner always rubs your shoulders after a long hike, or how he popped the question at the top of a mountain.
• Tips and advice on camping as a couple – making decisions together, splitting up the work, dealing with size and skill differences etc.
• The best places you’ve gone camping together – most romantic, best scenery etc.
• The places you’d love to camp if you had the time and money to get there.
• Your best camping recipes for two.
Please send your contributions to me at loveinatent@hotmail.com. I look forward to hearing from you, and I thank you for sharing.
Posted by matt at 10:17 AM | Comments (0)
Client news and notes
I'm extremely pleased to announce the publication of Mike Fine's Canoeing and Kayaking in Utah: A Complete Guide to Paddling Utah's Lakes, Reservoirs & Rivers, which was just published by Countryman Press. This was one of the first books I sold after I went out on my own last year, and I've come to love the category. Congrats, Mike!
Congrats also to writing duo and Fresh Books clients Michele Davis and Jon Philips on the publication of Learning PHP and MySQL from O'Reilly Media. Thanks for working with me.
Posted by matt at 8:02 AM | Comments (0)
May 3, 2006
Client news and notes
Congrats to Gary Bouton on the long awaited publication of Photoshop Elements All-In-One Desk Reference for Dummies.
Congrats to Barrie Sosinsky, who co-authored Scott Mueller's Upgrading and Reparing Servers which was recently published by Que.
Congrats to Christopher Spencer on delivering his first book, The eBay Entrepreneur: The Definitive Guide to Starting Your Own eBay Trading Assistant Business, to be published by Kaplan Publishing in September.
And congratulations to Sue Jenkins, Michele Davis and Jon Phillips on the completion of Dreamweaver 8 All-In-One Desk Reference for Dummies.
Thanks for working with me. I'm proud to have been a part of your books.
Posted by matt at 11:52 AM | Comments (0)
April 12, 2006
Client news and notes
I've probably repped more "for Dummies" books than anyone, mostly because I was fortunate to be involved with the series from its inception. I'm pleased to continue this tradition with Fresh Books.
Congratulations to Fresh Books client Stephen Olejniczak on the publication of his first book, Telecom for Dummies.
Congratulations to Fresh Books client Gary Bouton on completing his first Wiley title, The Photoshop Elements All-In-One Desk Reference for Dummies, which ships early next month.
And congrats to Kevin Blackwood on finishing Casino Gambling for Dummies, to be published this July (co-agented with the Venture Literary Agency).
In non-Dummies news, Harold Davis has seen a number of great reviews for his Google Advertising Tools. BlogCritics calls it a "sorely needed reference for anyone trying to make money with Google online." You can find more reviews linked at Harold's review page.
Congrats to Shirl Kennedy, who was interviewed on WTSP for the feature How We Roll: Librarian by Day, Biker by Night. (You've gotta love a TV station that includes the "buy this book" button with the author interview!)
And congratulations to Roger C. Parker, who received a nice blurb today on his most recent book Design to Sell: Use Microsoft Publisher to Plan, Write and Design Great Marketing Pieces at Web Marketing Today.
Posted by matt at 12:48 PM | Comments (0)
March 29, 2006
Design To Sell, by Roger Parker
Juliana Aldous Atkinson beat me to the punch this morning, but I'd like to congratulate Roger C. Parker on the publication of Design to Sell: Use Microsoft Publisher to Plan, Write, and Design Great Marketing Pieces.
I just received my copies in the mail. The book looks great and I'm proud to have it on my shelf.
Plus, as everyone knows, there's nothing like that new book smell!
Design to Sell is one of a number of books that Microsoft Press has published recently that integrate teaching a useful business skill-set with software how-to. It's a great model and led to their bestselling Beyond Bullet Points, by Cliff Atkinson.
Posted by matt at 10:52 AM | Comments (0)
February 14, 2006
Happy Valentine's Day & Agency News
Harold Davis's Google Advertising Tools has a great review at Linux Books, and today he's interviewed about keyword advertising by Wired -- How To Almost Live on Blogging.
A big thank you and congrats to marketing and design guru Roger Parker on publication of his Publisher series on Microsoft's Office Online, including articles on Improving Your Newsletters, Creating Promotional Postcards, and Creating Color Catalogs.
Congratulations to first-time author, and long-time telecom pro, Stephen Olejniczak, on completing Telecom for Dummies, which will be published in March. We'd love to give Newton a run for his money with this one!
And, in personal news, I figure Valentine's Day is the best day to announce that Amy (my long-time sweetheart and all around best friend) consented to marry me last month (consented and wed!). One month in and we're both exceedingly pleased with ourselves, me most of all.
Happy Valentine's Day.
Posted by matt at 10:20 AM | Comments (6)
January 23, 2006
Congrats to Gail Perry
Congratulations and thanks to Gail Perry, C.P.A., whose new book, Quicken All-In-One Desk Reference for Dummies has shipped from Wiley. I'm really pleased to have repped this title as it takes advantage of the longer form All-In-One Dummies model and allows Gail to go beyond the "how" of Quicken into the hows and whys of utlizing Quicken for financial planning.
Gail's previous books include Surviving Financial Downsizing: A Practical Guide to Living Well on Less Income (Adams) and The Complete Idiot's Guide to Doing Your Income Taxes (Alpha).
Posted by matt at 9:12 AM | Comments (0)
January 3, 2006
Happy New Year
This is my one-year anniversary under the Fresh Books banner, and I'm pleased to announce a few new titles that are shipping in January. My list this first year has been about two-thirds tech and one-third reference and business. The tech titles come to market most quickly but I'm looking forward to adding many more tech and reference titles to this list in the coming year.
Congratulations to Andy Rathbone on the publication of PCs: The Missing Manual, from O'Reilly.
I'd like to thank Harold Davis for my first animal cover in a few years, Google Advertising Tools: Cashing in with AdSense, AdWords, and the Google API's, also from O'Reilly.
Kudos to Photoshop Guru, Taz Tally, on his forthcoming Photoshop CS2 Before and After Makeovers, from Wiley.
Another big thank you and congratulations to John Paul Mueller on his new book Mastering Visual Web Developer 2005, shipping later this month, from Sybex.
And congrats to Bill Loguidice, hard at work on his first book, who is quoted in this article on retro gaming from the Las Vegas Review Journal.
I've had a wonderful year and it wouldn't have happened without my clients. I extend my deepest thanks to everyone who took a chance and worked with me. Here's wishing you a great New Year, healthy sales, and a long shelf life.
Posted by matt at 1:22 PM | Comments (2)
November 28, 2005
Congrats to Shirl Kennedy
Her new book, The Savvy Guide to Motorcycles, received a glowing review at About.com.
Shirl is one-of-a-kind. By day she's a librarian for the government, but on weekends and commutes she's the Uncaged Librarian. She's a great writer to boot. If you know anyone who's hankering to ride, this is the perfect Christmas present.
Posted by matt at 11:00 AM | Comments (0)
November 16, 2005
Fresh Book # 2
Congratulations to client Peter Hipson on the publication of Firefox and Thunderbird: Beyond Browsing and Email, from Que. Thanks for working with me, Peter!
From the Amazon listing --
"There's a new browser in town: Firefox is quickly becoming a leading alternative to Microsoft Internet Explorer. If you are new to Firefox and want to see what all the buzz is about, Firefox and Thunderbird: Beyond Browsing and Email is the guide that you need. By focusing on how to configure and customize Firefox and Thunderbird, this book will show you how to quickly get a hold of the less intuitive features that most new users struggle to figure out. You will discover which of Firefox's many options should be adjusted, which shouldn't, and how to locate many hidden preferences that will ultimately create a better browsing experience. The author's tips and tricks will teach you how to adjust the browser's appearance and behavior, and how to install the most popular extensions to maximize the browser's performance."
I'll add a news page somewhere on my site so I don't post all new books in the RSS feed, but I will post books here on occasion to let folks know what I've been working on.
Posted by matt at 11:17 AM | Comments (0)
October 11, 2005
Client Promo, My First "Fresh Book"
I don't know whether to brag today that I rep this fantastic photographer or brag that the the first Fresh Books title has been published. Thankfully, the photographer and author are one and the same.
I've repped over a thousand books in the last 15 years, but this was my first solo project and I'm extremely pleased to congratulate Harold Davis on his Digital Photography: Digital Field Guide, published by John Wiley & Sons.
Posted by matt at 10:51 AM | Comments (1)
July 8, 2005
Shameless Client Promo: Photoblog 2.0
Harold Davis hosts what is becoming an increasingly stunning photoblog, Photoblog 2.0, which began, innocently enough, as the future companion web page to his forthcoming Digital Photography Digital Field Guide (Wiley), but has become much more.
Harold obviously has great fun exploring the technical side of photography, whether playing with various lenses or Photoshop, and he's posted some great pics of the Berkeley environs, but his recent sets of wilderness shots hearken back to his first career as a professional wilderness photographer, and it's a pleasure to see him doing something he so obviously loves and is so obviously good at.
It's nice to see what can become of a web site meant as a companion to a book -- it can have a life of its own -- and it's great to watch an author in action who loves his subject. This recent post is part one of what promises to be much more than a digital camera tale.
Posted by matt at 9:41 AM | Comments (0)