User:Auldhouse

My Wikipedia hobby gives me the enjoyment of spending time poking around in books and magazine archives. I enjoy researching the history of publishing and books. Publishing companies come and go--every book is its own product, and by studying publishing history, you can also learn about ideas and trends that have shaped our world.

As a child I liked to pour over my Dad's old National Geographic magazines. While studying for my college courses--I discovered a stack of bound Life Magazines in the University Library. I could spend hours combing through the old magazines with their pictures and ads. One of my first jobs was managing a bookstore, which allowed me to be surrounded by books and magazines and discover the ebb and flow of publishing trends. I was fascinated to see which books sold and which stayed on the shelves, and then I was also fascinated to watch particular areas of the store expand and contract as buying trends changed.

After managing retail bookstores for a few years--I completed my B.A. in Organizational Communications. I exited college at the start of the dotcom era, and my first post-college job was as an editorial assistant for a small publishing company called Prima Publishing. Because I wouldn't stop giving my opinions on what I thought we should publish, I was promoted to acquisitions editor--the person at a publishing company who determines which books and authors to publish. At Prima, I acquired video game strategy guides, eventually moving to several technology publishers and acquired all kinds of how-to technology books.

I moved to the Pacific Northwest to work for Microsoft in their publishing division and later their training division, Microsoft Learning. From there, I grew interested in the growing online video training market and landed at Lynda.com, where I held several content strategy roles. Lynda was acquired by LinkedIn in 2016, and then LinkedIn was acquired by Microsoft. I currently serve on the boards for Folio: The Seattle Athenaeum and University of Washington Press. Ask me for a daypass to Folio or a tour of University of Washington Press.

I live in the Pacific Northwest overlooking the Salish Fjord (otherwise known as Hood Canal).

Good Articles

 * Ida Tarbell

2018

 * Bury the Chains
 * Dazzled and Deceived
 * Geraldine Page
 * The English Roses
 * The Edge of Destruction
 * The Sensorites
 * Who We Are and How We Got Here

2018

 * Crowell Publishing Company
 * Gary Fisketjon
 * Lisa Drew
 * List of Alfred A. Knopf Authors
 * Phyllis E. Grann
 * Susan Kamil
 * Ted Patrick (editor)

2017

 * 37 INK
 * Alice Mayhew
 * Atria Publishing Group
 * Gallery Publishing Group
 * Kay Bullitt (philanthropist)
 * List of Simon & Schuster authors

2016

 * M. Lincoln Schuster
 * Another LIfe: A Memoir of Other People
 * Bernard J. Geis
 * Crowell Collier Publishing Company
 * The Industries of the Future (book)
 * Instant book
 * Leon Shimkin
 * Quantum Night
 * Outline of Big Five Publishers

2015

 * Golden Days (novel)
 * Nina Bourne

2024

 * A History of American Magazines

2019

 * Tom Nichols (academic)

2018

 * Alfred A. Knopf
 * Alice Mayhew
 * Blanche Knopf
 * Crowell Collier Publishing Company
 * Edith Wharton working on taking up to GA status
 * Fear: Trump in the White House
 * Gail Sheehy
 * Gardner School for Girls
 * Holiday (magazine)
 * Ida Tarbell
 * List of Honeywell products and services
 * List of Simon & Schuster Authors
 * Outline of books
 * Random House

2017

 * 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die
 * Gail Sheehy
 * HarperCollins
 * Simon & Schuster

2016

 * Barney Rosset
 * The Californian
 * Charles Farrar Browne
 * Farrar, Straus and Giroux
 * Folio: The Seattle Athenaeum
 * The Golden Era
 * Grove Press
 * Ina Coolbrith
 * Little, Brown and Company
 * New American Library
 * Outline of books
 * Penguin Random House
 * Simon & Schuster
 * Random House
 * Woman's Home Companion (waiting for peer review)

Draft Articles

 * Tim Alberta
 * List of Works by Edith Wharton
 * Outline of Big Five Publishers
 * Bernard J. Geis Associates
 * History of Publishing in Seattle
 * History of Publishing in San Francisco
 * Publisher's Row

Recommended Books on the History of Media and Publishing

 * Korda, Michael. Another Life: A Memoir of Other People. New York: Random House, 1999. Print.
 * Mott, Franklin Luther. Golden Multitudes: The Story of Best Sellers in the United States. New York: R. R. Bowker Company, 1947. Print
 * Silverman, Al. The Time of Their Lives: The Golden Age of Great American Book Publishers, Their Editors, and Authors. New York: Truman Talley, 2008. Print.
 * Tarnoff, Benjamin. The Bohemians: Mark Twain and the San Francisco Writers Who Reinvented American Literature. Penguin Books.
 * Weinberg, Steve. Taking on the Trust: The Epic Battle of Ida Tarbell and John D. Rockefeller. New York: W. W. Norton, 2008.