I'm a writer and third-generation publisher, primarily in the areas of supervisory training, vocational education, and work study. I've been at this for a long time, starting at the age of ten by counting out and filling orders for outline maps at McKnight Publishing Company. I've lived in Normal, IL, Pittsburgh (Carnegie Tech), New York City, Palo Alto (Stanford), and now Los Angeles. I create the books, write and edit them, and see that the first printing is on the shelf. And, I do those other things that usually fall to the one whose name is on the door. Cheryl Kelley is a CPA and a graduate of Eastern Illinois University. She keeps the books and turns out a stack of financial reports every month so we know how we're doing. She also handles reprints, fills the orders, sends out and collects the bills, and generally keeps everything organized and together. Cheryl lives in Normal, IL. My first connection to construction came in the 1970s, when McKnight Publishing Company won the right to publish an innovative junior high school course called The World of Construction. During the 70s and 80s, more than a million junior high students took this one-year course; many of today's field superintendents, project managers, and owners were introduced to the industry through The World of Construction. In 1975, McKnight Publishing Company launched the STP Supervisory Training Program developed by The Associated General Contractors of America. Over the next four years, AGC developed eleven 25-hour courses and we published them. Later, as Wil McKnight Associates, Cheryl and I (with Mary Kamplain) published the STP Program from 1989 until mid-2002. During that thirteen year period, STP sales tripled, we handled many revisions of various STP courses, and, with Tom McCrackin, wrote and published Heavy/Highway Construction Supervisor. In 1996, I wrote and published Stepping Up To Supervisor, a self-study book for new and future foremen. A version for the United Brotherhood of Carpenters & Joiners followed in 1998, and just recently, we published a Spanish edition of Stepping Up and a Leader's Guide that enables people to use these books in a series of 2-hour workshops. In 2001, I wrote A Positive Attitude: Your #1 Asset, a self-study book for people in all segments of construction. Books on other jobsite topics, with the same format and price, are in work. We're small, but we have a clear focus and we've been at this for quite a while. We hope that the quality of our books reflects sharp insight into topics that can help people in construction be more successful and feel good about the work they do. Always, we try to provide the best customer service possible, but in end, the books are what we send to you, and they have to stand on their own. We hope you feel that our books "ring true" and can contribute to your success. Thank you for your interest.  |
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