Wednesday, August 31, 2011

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 #2New 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 #3We 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 HOTTIEUpdate 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.