Wyatt-MacKenzie's Phenomenal Fall 2011

On September 1st we launched "the little financial book that could" — Danny Kofke and A SIMPLE BOOK OF FINANCIAL WISDOM took the media by storm! TV appearances included Atlanta Live, Fox News, Fox Business, The CBS Early Show and The 700 Club, plus dozens of radio interviews and articles each week. "The Secret of Living Well on $40,000 a Year" was one article in US World & News Report which also landed on Yahoo's homepage (and in many water cooler conversations) and collected 5,858 comments! 

Here's Danny and his wife Tracy being interviewed by Erica Hill on The Early Show. The segment was incredible, CBS flew a crew down to Georgia and then hosted Danny and his wife in New York City.

What did Danny's hard work, tenacious follow-ups, and sweet southern charm result in? Danny's little book shot to #1 in "Personal Finance" on Amazon, ahead of one of his heroes, Clark Howard. Thrilling!

A little publishing funny... this was my favorite comment on Danny's article. I almost fell off my chair laughing (you know, that crazy high-pitched laugh). Oh, if only...

NEW ACQUISITIONS ~ Our Spring 2012 Roster!

I really enjoyed this article “6 Things Jeff Bezo Knew” — his keys to a company's success align with many of mine: • exhaust all resources • think long-term • it's not okay to be timid • obsess over customers. When I decide to sign an author to Wyatt-MacKenzie's traditional roster it's a big commitment, for both of us. I feel blessed and honored to be given the opportunity to work with talented, smart, energetic writers and I thrive on making dreams come to beautiful, beyond-expectations fulfilling fruition. Truly. Over the summer, after much consideration and many proposals (many big-agency represented), we are excited to have signed these awesome women for release in the Spring of 2012.

Ruth Fett is a successful single mother of eight with a very simple, straight-forward approach to parenting in 10 DAILY QUESTIONS TO BE A BETTER PARENT.

M Dickson is a smart, young, endearing comedian with DEAR DAD, IT'S OVER, a hilarious yet heart-tugging book which will resonate with anyone who has experienced divorce, an absent parent, and/or step-family, and undergone the self-exploration and self-preservation which goes along with handling these relationships.

Tara Masih is an award-winning editor with a collection of talented writers with diverse voices — Native American, African American, Asian, European, White — on delicate topics such as racism, war, self-identity, gender, and societal expectations. We both visualize THE CHALK CIRCLE in classrooms around the world.

Tommie Vaughn has a rockin' 3-book series that intrigued us on so many levels. For every girl who dreamed of becoming a rock star, they can follow Frankie Spencer through her wild ride beginning with THIS ROCK IN MY HEART. We look forward to the enhanced ebook edition which will have the author's music and behind-the-stage videos (the fiction series is loosely based on Tommie's own life.) 

I'm beyond excited, getting these four new manuscripts ready for ARCs, the gals have some HUGE endorsers lined up, can't wait to share big news next time!

Hot & Busy Summer

We've been busy!
A list of 10 HOT THINGS WE DID THIS SUMMER...

1. HOT QR CODE: We put a QR Code on an Imprint book and in her Kindle. (See it here with the rest of this Imprint's branding package.) We were ahead of the publishing world curve thanks to a great partnership with an exemplary author Lela Davidson and BLACKLISTED FROM THE PTA (Jupiter Press). Read her great Amazon reviews. She even received a “heated” review from Publishers Weekly (which is big, and even though not so nice, this title has sold A LOT of copies)!

2. HOT NEW KINDLE: We launched the fully-illustrated Kindle edition of REINDEER WITH KING GUSTAF and were able to facebook with attendees of this year's Nobel events during their travels (500 attendees received copies of the hardcover at last year's ceremony).

3. HOTTEST COVER — WM SUMMER RELEASE #1: Our July release THE BEAUTIFUL ONE HAS COME wins for the summer's hottest cover (sorry Lela!). It features Monet's painting of his wife which we licensed from the Museum of Fine Arts Boston. And, Suzanne's Kamata's beautiful collection wins for the most eloquent reviews: Literary Mama, Being-a-Broad, Chin Music Press, JQ Magazine, Her Circle,  Japan Visitor, Asian Review of Books.

4. HOT WM SUMMER RELEASE #2: New author Dr. Marie-Claire Moreau has brought us a simple and straightforward guide SUDDENLY HOMESCHOOLING for anyone who quickly needs to get started.

5. HOT WM SUMMER RELEASE #3: We released a shortened version of Dixie Coskie's emotional story of her son's TBI caretaking, UNTHINKABLE: TIPS. This one only contains the life-changing tips, and it will serve as a tool for Dixie as she expands her speaking career (she was recently hired by a major corporation!).    

6. HOT UPCOMING WM RELEASE: We are gearing up for the September release of Danny Kofke's A SIMPLE BOOK OF FINANCIAL WISDOM. Danny will be fun to watch this fall. The Kindle is already topping the “Budgeting” category.

7. HOT WM 2012 ACQUISITION #1: The Girl Scouts turn 100 in 2012 and we jumped at the chance to publish the memoir LITTLE MISS MERIT BADGE by Dr. Ronda Beaman. Check out the Merit Badges we designed! Ronda is an international speaker with some big GSA gigs lined up.

8. HOT WM 2012 ACQUISITION #2: Matt Bellace is a comedian and motivational speaker encouraging kids to pursue natural highs and healthy life choices — love this guy. Our acquisitions editor discovered Matt and we are thrilled to be releasing a new edition of his book A BETTER HIGH next year.

9. HOT INTERVIEW: Carol Lawrence interviewed me for her blog this summer.

10. LOTS OF HOT IMPRINT ACTION — 10 New Titles and 6 New Imprints! 

Check out our growing family of Imprints:

Our existing Imprints add to their lists: Next month Lisa Orrell releases her third Imprint book with us, BOOMERS INTO BUSINESS (Intelligent Women Press); we have an upcoming third title from Michele DeKinder-Smith, NOT TONIGHT HONEY, I'VE GOT A BUSINESS TO RUN (Jane Out of The Box Media), a co-authored project with Azriela Jaffe and Dr. Patty Ann Tublin; and Sheri McConnell's fourth with us, SMART WOMEN LIVE THEIR WHY (Smart Women Institute); and Erica Nelson releases an audiobook edition of her second title, HAPPINESS QUOTATIONS (Happy Publishing) later next month. Hot new Imprints include: LILY HATES GOODBYES (Quincy Companion Books) is a powerful children's book for military families we helped Jerilyn Marler get into international distribution. Becky Reese's I'M MARRIED TO A MILLIONAIRE: So Why Am I Still in Therapy? (Copper Leaf Publishing) is better than its title, a lusciously designed hardcover with gorgeous online branding and printed marketing materials. Gerald Meunier's ROGUE PATRIOT (Praxis Publishing, LLC) is a controversial novel, with some awesome branding and marketing items. Award-winning mystery writer Eleanor Sullivan begins her next series with COVER HER BODY (Yesteryear Press), also receiving  some great branding and marketing items. And watch for William Cates' fun romp UPON A FINE HORSE (Calavira Publishing) which starts shipping next month.

  

And a BONUS HOTTIE: Update from our previous blog: Over the summer we received a script for a TV pilot based on one of our books. (So hot.) So far we've learned an Entertainment Management company has packaged it with a beautiful UK actress (who we've seen on CSI!) and a killer director. That's all we can reveal right now. Stay tuned...

See, I told you we were busy.

~ ON THE HOMEFRONT ~

Wyatt becomes a freshman in high school next week, and Kenzie enters middle school. Oh my, how the years fly! Wyatt-MacKenzie Publishing begins our 14TH YEAR in October. Wow. 

A Nail-Biting TV Pilot - Ours!!

I have had many I-can't-believe-this-is-my-life moments since I started my publishing company almost 14 years ago. This morning was certainly one of the best. I received the script of a pilot based on our book NATIONAL SECURITY MOM!

I was immediately sucked in. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. I'm anxious to hear what author Gina Bennett and her husband think; what a wild experience to read a script that details your day-to-day life! Also anxious to see what the CIA (and their big black sharpie) does when one of their own is being so honestly portrayed. Oh my gosh, what brilliant parallels the screenwriters have woven in -- I got goosebumps realizing how one scene jumps to the next, from Gina stuffing lunches into her kids' backpacks, to different packs, stuffed with bombs, forced on the backs of children in the name of Allah. And Gina "caring" for the safety of both of them. OMG! From bullies in Afghanistan to bullies on the playground, I can "see" the series so clearly.  

Here are the "character descriptions" in the script (so great!):

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GINA BENNETT watches. She's 41. If you could see past the intensity, she'd be pretty in her off-the-rack pants suit.

MARK BENNETT, 42, stands reluctantly outside - the product of a torrid tryst between GQ and Good Housekeeping.

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As a long-time fan of any movie in which the main character is seen writing the book the movie is based on, I squealed at the last lines of the pilot:

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INT. BENNETT HOME - GINA'S OFFICE 

The blank document on the computer screen awaits Gina's fingers to finally commit to the blinking cursor... they do:

Chapter 1

"Dealing with Bullies"

FADE TO BLACK 

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AAAAAAAAAAAHH!!! Kenzie shot this pic of me reading the script. The real nail-biter is the next step, selling the pilot!