Book Projects
Focusing on one topic can be liberating in a way. Here are a few book projects I have been fortunate enough to edit or write. For any of the magazines featured that were published through Bauer/a360media, you can purchase them here.
Single-Issue Publications for 10TenMedia and Turnpike, September 22-December 29, 2023
Nostalgia and heartfelt tributes wrapped up a fabulous year of magazine-making
By the end of 2023, we added more designers, editors and writers to our Pod, and started to think of magazines in different ways. The designers in particular – Jacqueline Page, Herman Vega, Cleo Munns and Meng Koach – showed range and enthusiasm with their books. Jacqueline suggested illustrator Erik Reichenbach try out a Mad-magazine-esque gatefold for The Goonies issue and it came up a treat. Below are the TOCs for two magazines – The Goonies and Suzanne Somers – and the pieces I contributed to those issues.
Single-Issue Publications for 10TenMedia and Turnpike, May 5-September 15, 2023
Barbie, Taylor Swift Style, Messi and a Tina Turner tribute become big sellers on newsstands
And we thought the end of 2022 was busy. These 10 issues were all produced in the first half of 2023, with 15 more to come before year’s end. Jacket turned into Turnpike, and Bauer was subsumed by a360media. Despite the changing media landscape, pop culture turned to a few touchstones – Barbenheimer, the ERAs Tour and Messi Mania, specifically – and we met those moments. Below are the TOCs and sample pages from Barbie and Taylor Swift.
Single-Issue Publications for Jacket and 10TenMedia, March-December 2022
One-shot titles from ABBA to Zendaya
Our Pod expanded in 2022 to produce 10 magazines (including one on Tina Turner, but you will see that in the 2023 post in its tribute form). Personal highlights include the outline of the Elizabeth II issue – which answered questions I had myself on what the role of the monarch was and offered a great way to present images across her life – and the introduction to the ABBA issue.
Rise: A Pop History of Asian America from the 90s to Now, March 2022
The Asian American Reality Hall of Fame, William Hung, and Dance Crew Revolution
So proud and honoured to be a contributor to this compendium of Asian American pop culture conceived of, curated, written, and edited by my friend Jeff Yang and his pals/peers Phil Yu and Philip Wang. Australians can buy it through Booktopia and Dymocks. On sale now!
Single-Issue Publications for Jacket LLC and 10Ten Media, 2021
Special magazines on topics such as Prince Philip, West Side Story, and more
Beginning in February 2021, I collaborated with my fellow Time Inc veterans Bob Der and Larry Hackett on making single-issue bookazines for distributor Bauer Media North America. The joy in them comes in putting a concept together, bringing the best team to produce it, and seeing readers fall in love with the end result. When time permitted, I got to write a few of the stories, too, along with editing all of the copy and writing a ton of captions. Thank you to The Pod (you know who you are) for bringing joy to 2021 and beyond. Below are covers for all the issues we produced in 2021, a sample feature I wrote within the West Side Story issue and my short pieces on The Muppet’s Christmas Carol and Muppets Most Wanted in The Ultimate Family Movie Guide.
ESL: Moving to the Next Level, February 2022
A magazine commemorating 20 years of esports company ESL
What began as a few commissioned articles turned into some project management and a lot of education on gaming! Thank you to publishing company Finesse Unique for bringing me on board and for Isabel Krause, the communications manager for ESL at the time, for being great partners on this book, available as a digital magazine on Zinio and soon at live ESL events. Among the chapters I wrote and reported are features on the fan experience, merchandising, gaming for good, careers at ESL, and the science of esports. Thank you also to all the interviewees for their time, the photographers, and designer Stacy Kovatch. Below is the cover and the masthead for the issue, plus one of the stories I wrote. I also did the ad copy for MSI!
Star Wars: Creatures, Ships & Droids, October 2016
A Poster-a-Page book for kids 6-11
For this Star Wars fan, working with colleagues Bob Der and Andrea Woo to produce this poster guide to creatures, ships and droids was an absolute blast. I got a rare chance to look through Disney/Lucasfilm art archives to help pick the best items to include and got to decide which ones deserved which kind of treatment (bullet-point facts, trivia question, movie quotes and summary). The good thing is you can still buy this book on Amazon! I've included below a sampling of the sorts of info and writing required to make effective "cards."
CBS Watch! Survivor Special Issue
The Birth of a Series
Thanks to Lori Dellicolli and Chris Ender at CBS, I got a chance to revisit the origin of Survivor for their 30th season commemorative issue, published on the eve of season 30 in February 2015.
