“At Dust Devil, we will strive to build you a classy, professional book that will make you, your family, your company and your heirs proud, for years to come.”
Mark McDonald
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It wasn’t very good, our first book, that is. I mean the content, provided largely by co-author Bob Lusk, was A-OK. Time Magazine might have called it “good of a kind,” which is like the word like. It can mean anything.
We did Basic Pond Management — an illustrated, how-to manual on tinkering with private waters – because Bob and I had no choice. Something inside us (his knowledge, mostly) that he needed to share. It was in there, and had to come out.
For production values, though, it might as well have been done with Crayolas. Talking cave-dweller technology. That was 1992, dozens of projects ago.
Our Experience
Somebody once asked me how to create a book. I mentioned that a book has a lot of moving parts and is a little like making sausage. Don’t ask about the labor pains, you just want to see the baby. The better question is why write your thoughts and capture them between two covers? Indeed. Why create a book?
There are lots of reasons to write a book. Money, of course, is one of them – but only one. Other motivations include:
• Public recognition, or acclaim
• Professional credibility
• Legacy for children and grandkids
• To shape public opinion
• Convince others to share author’s point of view
• Influence an industry
• Entertain and/or enlighten
Does the book in your head meet one or more of these line items? If so, we should talk.
Our Guidance
Today, desktop publishing software has advanced to the point only a 9-year-old truly understands it, but you’re in luck. Our design team could use the latest graphics software to launch a rocket ship. The pros of prose.
Forgive me while I brag on our people, but at Devil Publishing, our designers can create a twice-dipped, throw-down book that looks sharp as a Marine’s pants crease. We can do it faster, and get this – for less money.
It has come to this: I broke into publishing at the El Paso Times, just after the Great Flood, and Pancho Villa left town. After escaping starvation while working the newsrooms at dailies in Abilene, Dallas and San Antonio, then surviving a four-color, bi-monthly outdoors publication, I got here.
Since the early 1970s, I have written everything from radio scripts to instruction manuals, a memoir to the phone book. I figure in the past five decades I have written 4 million words for public consumption. Having made every mistake imaginable, I have knocked the rough edges off this publishing thing and stand ready to dive on your project like a Senator on a tax dollar.
Our Insight
Your first consultation, one-on-one, with a live, breathing human, not a computer template, will take you miles down the road to making your decision. Sometimes, when a prospective client is not ready to commit the energy to doing a book, we suggest delaying until the time is right.
When the time is right, and you are ready, you will want Dust Devil to help you create a book that has the look, feel and function to meet your expectations.
Qustion: What kind of book makes a splash?
Answer: A book from the heart. A book driven by passion and commitment.
Even without a masterful marketing/sales campaign, a book can take on a life of its own, spreading through word of mouth and business relationships – so long as the product is of sufficient quality and meets a specific need or niche.
To that end, you and I, along with my team, will not set out to create a book that only makes money (which might happen, yes). Instead, we at Dust Devil will strive to build you a classy, professional book that will make you, your family, your company and your heirs proud, for years to come.