Octane Press

We are going live today March 6th at 11 am CST! See a discussion of International Harvester in the 1970s and 1980s live at https://lnkd.in/gQNpWgjg I will be joined by four former International Harvester leaders: Vaughn Allen (sales executive), Kelly Kravig (marketing executive), Gerry Salzman (marketing executive), and Don Watt (combine engineering executive). We will take the attendees back in time to travel from the heady days of the Axial-Flow introduction and the boom of ’79, into the dawn of the farm crisis. You do not want to miss this!

The organic independence of Octane Press has been on my mind as of late. With Small Business Saturday looming, I thought it was a good time to talk about the fact that our entire production chain—the process of transforming ideas into a book you hold in your hands--is work done by small business owners or independent contractors. Get the scoop on that in this short video . . . and I hope you have a great holiday weekend!

I'll be talking about my new book, Snoopy and the Spy, tonight on a livestream with Ed Masker on his show, My Cluttered Garage. I was on with Ed last fall, and the audience is engaged and entertaining! We will be talking about the ag industry in the late 1970s and 1980s. I have come to believe this is the most interesting time for the farm and farm machinery makers in modern times. Jump on and share your opinions--this is a livestream so your contributions are part of the experience! https://lnkd.in/gaRrwXTz

A. J. Foyt by Art Garner is in the house and shipping! The arrival has our Octane Press team talking about the fact that book publishing is a very tricky game. What's the right number of books to produce? How do you make sure word gets out? The discussion this morning reminded me how much I enjoy the challenges inherent to the business of books. If it was simple, well, I'd probably be doing something else. All that said, get your hardcover copy today. Thanks to our hardworking printers, we will not run out of books . . . but the first run of hardcovers has all the bells and the whistles, and those are selling out very quickly! https://bit.ly/Foyt

The advance copy of Snoopy and the Spy arrived this week! It is always a thrill seeing work transform from digital proofs on a screen to a physical format. Books change when they emerge into print form, and some very dramatically. Snoopy and the Spy is one of those special works that came to life in print form--the design and the high-quality paper and materials create an almost magical effect that makes the book just feel right. I'd like to add a huge shout-out to the Octane Press team that built this terrific book—especially editor Faith Garcia and designer Linsey Dodaro—and the folks who supplied materials and stories, including Roger Lewno, Kelly Kravig, Gerry Salzman, Adam Summerlott, Gregg Montgomery, Chuck Pelly, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, Ron Schmitt, Rob Amberg, Don Watt, Max Armstrong, Dave Mowitz, Wisconsin Historical Society, Library of Congress, and Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

Come and visit at the Farm Progress Show! Octane Press and I will be at booth #102 in the Case IH building. Stop for great book deals and take a sneak peek at my new book, Snoopy and The Spy! The images below are from a collection of images owned by long-time Case IH and International Harvester product specialist Roger Lewno. The images are from the launch of the new 50 Series tractors and revised 88 Series 2+2 tractors at Kansas City in fall 1981. Images from this collection appear in the new book, Snoopy and the Spy. https://buff.ly/3X8xWys