Announcing 8080 Books: a new imprint from Microsoft

Anybody who knows me know that I like books. Quite a lot. I have a house full of them and an office/storage space with even more. I like audio books too and listen to them a lot, but nothing can replace the analog, tactile nature of a book in your hands. That smell when you first open a fresh book and the difficulty in putting down a good book once you have begun.

Which explains how I found myself involved in 8080 Books, a new imprint from Microsoft that we're launching today. Our first book is No Prize for Pessimism: Letters from a Messy Tech Optimist by Sam Schillace, Microsoft's Deputy CTO.

It's been quite a journey to get to this point with my co-conspirators, Greg Shaw and Katie Oakes Stevens with great support from Frank X. Shaw , another book nerd like the rest of us.

I've learned a lot about the book publishing industry including real life experience to support some of the reasons we're launching this new imprint (hint: speed to market). You can learn more about this in our charter on the 8080 Books website.

As we note in that charter, anyone and everyone are future readers and writers. That said, we anticipate that many of our readers and writers will come from these places: current, former, and future Microsofties, customers and partners, researchers, and policymakers.

Our second title, Platform Mindset, by Marcus Fontoura, is well underway and will be available later this year. And there will be more to come in 2025. I'm incredibly excited about this new adventure and will answer the question I get most often when asked about the new imprint - why?

I'll answer is with a line from our charter:

Books matter. In a deluge of data. In a bloat of blogs, a sea of social, and a maelstrom of email. Books will always matter.

I'm incredibly proud to be launching today and I hope you enjoy Sam's book and follow our journey. I look forward to hearing your ideas, questions and more in the comments here or via email to [email protected]

Oh, and for anyone in the Puget Sound area, we invite you to Sam's first reading and signing at Brick and Mortar Books, on Wednesday, Dec. 11 in Redmond, Washington. Check here for details. Space is limited.

-Steve