Brand & Custom Publishing

Alongside trade publishing, I've spent much of my career developing books in partnership with companies, brands, and retailers.

I'm most interested in these projects when the finished book can become more than a conventional corporate history or marketing piece. A successful branded book should have enough creative integrity, visual appeal, and storytelling value to stand on its own — while also accomplishing something meaningful for the company behind it.

Most recently, I initiated and developed the relationship with Kwik Trip to create a book chronicling the company's history and distinctive culture, to be published in partnership with Ten Speed Press/Penguin Random House.

Earlier, as Publisher of Running Press, I oversaw publication of The The Wawa Way, a corporate history developed in partnership with the convenience-store company.

My involvement with custom publishing reaches back to Chronicle Books, where I established and ran the company's Custom Publishing division. I built a team to develop and manage projects and relationships with a wide range of corporate and retail partners, including Nordstrom, Baby Gap, See's Candy, and Starbucks.

Those experiences taught me something that still guides this work: begin by understanding what a company needs a book to accomplish, but never lose sight of what will make someone actually want to pick it up.