editors and others

Many people have helped bring the book to life, but chief among them is my editor at New Riders, Jennifer Eberhardt, who pushed the book in all the right directions inventing the idea of the "Take Action" worksheets and encouraging me to bring more to the book: More bullet points, more fill-in sections, more examples, more fun. More. She also had a terrible habit of innocently pointing out every place I'd gotten a bit lazy. I still haven't forgiven her for it. But her humor and insight and whip-smarts and her understanding of the role venti coffees play in a person's life were essential to making this book what it is.

Stephanie Wall, the associate publisher, forged the path for this book from my head to your hands. She has that rare ability to cut straight to the heart of the matter and focus on exactly those things that matter most. She made sure the message the book sent to the world was consistent with what lay in its pages. And she was also great fun to work with.

Technical Reviewer Steve Sanchez is the only person besides me who read every draft of this book, and his insightful suggestions helped push this book to become more visual, more engaging, and more complete. His influence is evident on every page, and I'm hoping to some day meet him in person.

I'm grateful to everyone at New Riders for their energy and enthusiasm. This book was truly a collaboration, and I couldn't ask for better, nicer people to work with. Lori Lyons edited and managed this book from layout to delivery, and did so with patience, humor, and an expertise I so appreciate. Aren Howell expertly designed exactly the right cover (and helped also to finalize the interior design). Gloria Schurick composed the pages (no small feat!), while fine-tuning and improving the design. Jake McFarland copy-edited the text, and made it sing. David Dwyer lent his support and made me laugh, Chris Nelson gave great editorial advice and told great stories. And Karen Whitehouse gave this book its start.

Several trusted friends with sharp pencils and sharper minds read the book as it made its journey from draft to draft. Jeffrey Veen reviewed an earlier draft with an eye toward the latest trends. Kristin Windbigler cheerfully pointed out (among other things), the topics I'd been avoiding that I really should have covered. Martha Brockenbrough alternately cheered and challenged the content of the book and filled the margins with comments, jokes, and several tracings of her daughter's feet. Guy Cohen read and edited large chunks of the manuscript, making the writing tighter and helping me to weed jargon out of the book. For example, when I casually used the word "iterative," he wrote, "I don't know what that means, and I went to college." In the final stages, other friends reviewed individual sections. These generous souls included Jay Greenspan, Matt Margolin, Noah Mercer, Nadav Savio, and Tim Ziegler.

But for all the effort that went into the writing, it may be the cartoons that emerge most memorable. Alex Gregory's pictures are each worth at least 1,000 of my words. Going through his file cabinet of cartoons was like finding buried treasure.

Outside of the book's content, many people helped me through the process of writing a book. My lawyer, Mary Luria of Davis & Gilbert, LLP (www.dglaw.com), who knows her way around a contract, let me tell you. Liz Ferris (www.lizferris.com) expertly transcribed all the interviews for this book and managed to accurately record many nonsensical industry buzzwords like "monetizing eyeballs."

Additional support came from all the neighborhood joints I rely on in New York: Visual Art Photo, Your Neighborhood Office, Basiques, Three Lives & Co., Grey Dog Coffee, and the Chocolate Bar.

And goodness, I feel like Julia Roberts at the Oscars, twirling my vintage Valentino and beaming at the camera so they won't yank me offstage.... Because I'm not done thanking yet.