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December 2008 Newsletter In the midst of challenging times in book publishing and the larger economy, it has been a remarkably successfully year for the agency and our clients. Highlights included a New York Times bestseller; another book selected as one of the best business books of the year by Amazon and BusinessWeek; a client's hilarious appearance on "The Colbert Report"; publication of several books that have been shaping national headlines; release of the first-ever writing guide from Dave Eggers and the renowned 826 Valencia writing centers; and lots of new deals for a wide range of important and exciting books. Here is a brief overview of new books and new deals. Leander Kahney is the preeminent author writing about Apple today. The Wired News Managing Editor and author of The Cult of Mac and The Cult of iPod had his first New York Times bestseller this year with Inside Steve's Brain, an unauthorized look at Steve Jobs' principles for building killer products, attracting fanatically loyal customers and managing some of the world's most powerful brands. Publishers Weekly said it offers "a telling portrait of Jobs's management style and its impact on Apple," while USA Today picked it as one of the year's best business books and called it "a rich, essential read... to get inside Jobs' head and discover what makes Apple insanely great." The book was edited by Adrienne Schultz and Adrian Zackheim at Portfolio/Penguin, with translation rights now sold in 12 countries. Another remarkable business book is visual thinking guru Dan Roam's The Back of the Napkin, edited by Branda Maholz and Adrian Zackheim at Portfolio/Penguin, which was an astonishing success this year. Drawing on twenty years of visual problem solving combined with recent discoveries of vision science, Dan shows how to clarify problems and sell ideas with tools that take advantage of everyone's innate ability to look, see, imagine, and show. Publishers Weekly said "Roam has developed a remarkably comprehensive system of ideas... For forward-thinking management types, there is enough content in these pages to drive many a brainstorming session." Accolades and awards have been pouring in: The Back of the Napkin was picked as one of the year's best business books by Fast Company, Business Week, Amazon.com, BNet Business Network (which called it "a clever, creative handbook for a new way of thinking") and others. More than 70,000 copies are already in print, translation rights have been sold in 15 countries and the book quickly jumped onto the bestseller list in Taiwan. Looking ahead, Portfolio bought Dan's companion workbook, providing hands-on lessons, case-studies and detailed examples, for publication next year. Another unique visual thinker is Jessca Hagy, the creator of Indexed, published by Viking Studio/Penguin, which uses hilarious and insightful charts, graphs and Venn diagrams to dissect the ironies of modern life. In addition to her book and blog, Jessica was a regular contributor this year to the McClatchy Newspapers' "alt.politics" feature and has been showcased by GOOD magazine, the BBC Magazine Online, and the New York Times Freakonomics blog. Time Magazine named "Indexed" one of the Top Blogs of 2008. Other accolades included the Guardian UK's "Best of the Internet" and the Morning News Editor's Choice Award, "Favorite reason for the Internet to exist," while the Times (UK) cited it at the top of their feature on "Sites-turned-bestsellers." Stanford mathematician and NPR's "Math Guy" Keith Devlin's latest book is The Unfinished Game: Pascal, Fermat, and the Seventeenth-Century Letter that Made the World Modern, from Basic Books/Perseus. Keith's book shows how a single 1654 letter between Blaise Pascal and Pierre De Fermat solved the seemingly-intractable challenge of calculating mathematical outcomes. It led to the method known today as probability theory and its remarkable impact on the modern world: from insurance rates, to housing and job markets, to the safety of cars and planes, calculating probabilities allowed people for the first time to think rationally about how future events might unfold. Publishers Weekly gave The Unfinished Game a starred review and called it "a lively, quick read for anyone who wonders about the science of predicting what’s next and how deeply it affects our lives." The Washington Times said "the book is a refreshing testimony to the rewards of thinking rationally about how future events might unfold.... [A] rewarding read.... Mr. Devlin does a remarkable job of showing just how much derived from the history-changing Pascal-Fermat correspondence." Letters of course are raw material for memoirists, and the fine folks at the 826 Valencia writing centers chose Henry Holt & Co. to publish The Autobiographer's Handbook, edited by Jennifer Traig with an introduction by Dave Eggers. Here's what Publisher's Weekly said in their starred review: "Put out by 826 Valencia, the San Francisco-based nonprofit Eggers started to provide creative writing instruction for middle and high school students, this book presents straightforward, practical ideas and advice from a double-handful of contemporary writers. Edited by memoirist Traig (Devil in the Details), a longtime 826 Valencia tutor, it's comprised largely of excerpts from wide-ranging, insightful round-table discussions among nonfiction practitioners like Elizabeth Gilbert (Eat, Pray, Love), Nick Hornby (Housekeeping vs. the Dirt), Frank McCourt (Angela's Ashes) and Sarah Vowell (Assassination Vacation)... Besides lessons on celebrating the ordinary and the importance of humor, contributors also offer ways to push through the inevitable writer's block and handle miffed family and friends. Their guidance, complemented by writing exercises and work plans, should prove useful, informative and motivating for writers at just about any level." Ms. Cahill for Congress: One Fearless Teacher, Her Sixth-Grade Class, and the Election That Changed Their Lives Forever is the remarkable memoir by Tierney Cahill, written with best-selling co-author Linden Gross and published by Ballantine/Random House. Tierney, a Reno schoolteacher and single mom, ran for Congress on a dare from her students - but only on the condition that they manage her political campaign. With her eager students leading the way and a war chest of just seven thousand dollars, Tierney not only got her name on the ballot but she won the Democratic primary. And as the campaign progressed, her students blossomed beyond her wildest expectations. Tierney and the book were featured on the CBS "Early Show," she continues her speaking tour to schools and colleges all over the country, and this inspiring story is being made into a movie starring Halle Berry. A more troubling true story is told in former LA Times and St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter Kristina Sauerwein's true crime book Invisible Chains: Shawn Hornbeck and the Kidnapping Case that Shook the Nation, published by Lyons Press/Globe Pequot. Kristina tells the wrenching true story of the kidnapping of 11-year-old Shawn Hornbeck from his rural Missouri hometown by Michael Devlin, an innocuous-seeming pizza-shop manager who repeatedly abused and tortured Shawn for four years, and reveals the unusual psychological aspects of Hornbeck's captivity and the full details of his eventual rescue. Publishers Weekly says "An impeccable, on-target true crime narration, this book of loss, perversity and redemption illuminates not only the desperate pangs of a predator's sexual hunger but the steadfast love of two families for their missing children." Trevor Paglen is a geographer, journalist, artist and adventurer who he has been investigating the world of state secrets, hidden budgets, covert military bases and disappeared people, a landscape Pentagon insiders call the "black world." His controversial book showcasing real shoulder patches from secret military programs, I Could Tell You But Then You Would Have to be Destroyed by Me: Emblems from the Pentagon's Black World, published by Melville House Press, landed him a NY Times feature and a chance to spar with Stephen Colbert on "The Colbert Report." His groundbreaking narrative Blank Spots on the Map: The Dark Geography of the Pentagon's Secret World is coming early next year. Environmental concerns are also at the center of the political arena today and new books by several of our clients addressed the topic head on. Investigative journalist Nena Baker's The Body Toxic: How the Hazardous Chemistry of Everyday Things Threatens Our Health and Well-being, edited by Denise Oswald at Farrar, Straus & Giroux, offers a blistering, brilliant look at how each of us is now "a test animal in a vast uncontrolled experiment." The Seattle Post-Intelligencer said "Whether we want it or not, a new pollution crisis is looming -- pollution from everyday objects entering our bodies, sometimes in potentially dangerous levels, especially for children. This is the core thesis of a powerful new book." Publishers Weekly called it "a chilling look at the questionable safety of nearly everything we store food in, drink from, wear, walk on, rest on and drive." Chef and culinary health educator Laura Stec and meteorologist Eugene Cordero Ph.D. focused on the climate aspect of the environment in Cool Cuisine: Taking The Bite Out of Global Warming, published by Gibbs Smith. They demonstrate how what we eat has an impact on global warming, and they offer recipes, tips, and techniques to help minimize our impact on greenhouse-gas emissions. Their unique mix of scientific fact and culinary art highlights the key areas where our food choices effect climate change and how climate change will affect our food choices. Clients published a number of other practical books this year to great success. Personal finance expert Erica Sandberg's Expecting Money: The Essential Financial Plan for New and Growing Families, edited by Shannon Berning at Kaplan Publishing, received a starred review from Publishers Weekly, which said "Concrete details are what make this book most valuable and helpful for new parents who need real numbers and facts to plan out their family's financial future." Personal branding guru Peter Montoya's The Brand Called You: Make Your Business Stand Out in a Crowded Marketplace is an international sensation, having sold more than 65,000 copies worldwide and hitting #3 on Japan's business bestseller list in its first edition. Now revised and newly published by McGraw-Hill, this invaluable guide teaches the vital principles and skills of personal branding, including how to craft an emotionally resonant branding message, create top-quality branding tools, and attract a constant flow of business. Up-to-date material covers Internet branding, the power and peril of 24/7 news and entertainment media, and a unique, four-step Personal Branding program that makes this an effective and intuitive guide to business success. Developed by a problem-solving software engineer who was tired of diets that are too hard to stick with, The No-S Diet, edited by Marian Lizzi at Perigee/Penguin, has attracted a passionate following online thanks to its elegant simplicity - and its results. Unlike fad diets based on gimmicks that lead to short-term weight-loss followed by backsliding and failure, The No-S Diet is a maintainable life plan that reminds readers of the common-sense, conscious way we all know we should be eating. And last but not least is a book of tongue-in-cheek practicality. Forget apologies and excuses - sometimes, a well-spoken insult is the proper response. And now, with a cigarette in one hand and a martini in the other, fictional socialite Lady Arabella Snark (aka linguist A. C. Kemp) shows how to use malicious language and stinging zingers to your advantage in The Perfect Insult for Every Occasion: Lady Snark's Guide to Common Discourtesy, published by Adams Media, a funny and offbeat tour of the dark side of manners. Public radio's A Way With Words says "It's a humorous question-and-answer back-and-forth of what happens when high and low culture meet, with quizzes, example sentences, and smart-aleck remarks." A.C.'s innovative classes on slang and American culture have been profiled in the Boston Globe and Christian Science Monitor. (Adams Media) While these superb books were being published throughout the year, we also sold a wide range of significant new book projects for clients. Given the fraught economic times, one of the most important is The Post-Catastrophe Economy, by Eric Janszen, a former tech CEO and VC, founder of finance community site itulip.com, and author of the terrifyingly prescient Harper's Magazine February cover article "The Next Bubble: Priming the Markets for Tomorrow's Big Crash." His book will explain the roots and complexities of the current financial and economic crisis and the fundamental restructuring that is the only hope to restore our economic strength. Capping Eric's whirlwind tour to meet with eight interested publishers, Adrian Zackheim at Portfolio/Penguin bought the book in a major preempt on the eve of a crowded auction. On another vital topic that is shaping our lives today, Associate Director of Harvard Medical School's Center for Health and the Global Environment Paul Epstein M.D. and science journalist Dan Ferber are hard at work on Changing Planet, Changing Health, an important book examining the full range of global warming's damaging health effects and proposing a comprehensive array of innovative measures to ease them. Philip Turner at Union Square Press/Sterling helped shape and bought the book in a preempt. Serial "green" entrepreneur Scott Cooney went from book idea to publication in less than a year with Build a Green Small Business: Profitable Ways to Become an Ecopreneur, acquired at auction by McGraw-Hill. Scott's book is a comprehensive how-to guide for seasoned entrepreneurs moving into sustainable commerce as well as environmentally concerned young people starting their first business. With a forward by former Sierra Club President Adam Werbach, the book includes scores of green business ideas and essential tips on getting started. Another groundbreaking and timely book is professional investment advisor and finance commentator Charles Farrell's The Money Ratios: The Eight Essential Tools for Financial Success. Charlie has transformed the business concept of key accounting ratios into eight essential "personal finance ratios" that can fundamentally change the way individuals manage their own financial lives and help them move from laborer to capitalist. Megan Newman at Avery/Penguin bought the book at auction. Getting to yes is easy, as anyone knows who has done business in Asia or who has ever been married. But rather than focusing on doing whatever it takes to close the deal, the key to achieving long-term business results is to negotiate solid, sustainable, long-term relationships. Now in Beyond Dealmaking: From "Getting to Yes" to Getting Results, international negotiation expert Melanie Billings-Yun, Ph.D., reveals her proven GRASP method for negotiating profit-maximizing and sustainable partnerships. Melanie is the senior partner of Global Resolutions, a negotiation strategy consulting firm, and a former Kennedy School lecturer. Jossey-Bass/Wiley acquired her book for publication in 2009. Ricky Lax's first book, Lawyer Boy: A Case Study on Growing Up, was called "immensely entertaining" by A.J. Jacobs, the author of The Know-It-All and The Year of Living Biblically. Magician Penn Jillette, co-host of Showtime's "Bullsh*t!" and the larger, louder half of Penn & Teller said "Rick Lax is really funny and uses his background in magic to see through the bullshit and hypocrisy that make up the law school experience. I'm really glad he's getting the law degree so he has a job other than magic—we don't need this kind of competition." St. Martin's Press acquired Ricky's next gonzo memoir, set in Las Vegas, Fool's Paradise, an investigation into the meaning of honesty and deception, from discussing epistemology with his philosophy professor to ingratiating himself with the impersonators and illusionists who populate America's Sin City, all to find out if his own life is just one big lie. We're still weighing his invitation to join him there for a few days of research. And to end on a healthy note, Renée Sedliar at Da Capo Lifelong Books/Perseus Books won the auction for Ancient Wisdom, Modern Kitchen: Recipes from the East for Health, Healing and Long Life. Written by Pacific College of Oriental Medicine professors Yuan Wang and Warren Sheir and health writer Mika Ono Benedyk, the book will bring ancient Asian practices of cooking with healing herbs and other therapeutic foods to Western palates and kitchens. So there you have it, a quick look back at a busy and incredibly rewarding year. Thanks for reading this update and best wishes for a happy, healthy and successful new year. Click here to read the previous newsletter.

©2010 Ted Weinstein Literary Management New York • San Francisco