Bob Andelman’s Mr. Media Books will go on

Bob Andelman was known for a lot of things – his lengthy career in bay area arts journalism, his 1,000 recorded-and-archived Mr. Media podcast interviews, and his books – 16 of them.

Andelman, who died in February at age 59, had re-invented himself as a ghostwriter, a “support scribe” who helped successful business executives create their memoirs.

Left in limbo upon Andelman’s death was Mr. Media Books, a boutique publisher he created to offer other authors a shot a getting published:

We produce books one at a time, the old-fashioned way. Ours is a hybrid approach — we offer an a la carte menu of author services, from co-authoring, copyediting and book design to formatting for print and e-books.

St. Petersburg Press, in partnership with Andelman’s widow, Mimi, will keep the Mr. Media Books imprint going. All titles currently in print will remain so, re-published through St. Petersburg Press and retaining the Mr. Media name.

“During his illness, Bob had reached out to us about continuing the Mr. Media line,” said Joe Hamilton, the founder of St. Petersburg Press. “He was not only a great talent, but a great guy, and so we’re proud to work with Mimi and do our part to keep his vision and his memory alive.”

Two of Andelman’s own books, Stadium For Rent: Tampa Bay’s Quest For Major League Baseball and Why Men Watch Football: A Report From the Couch are included in the Mr. Media Books arrangement, as is Mean Business: How I Save Bad Companies and Make Good Companies Great, the memoir he co-authored with business “savior” Albert J. “Chainsaw” Dunlap.

The other titles are Kicking Through the Ashes: My Life as a Stand-up in the 1980s Comedy Boom (Ritch Shydner), Tales From The Trumpster Fire: A Cartoon Anthology (Clay Jones), You’ll Need a Guide: Fishing Stories That Aren’t Much About the Fish (Marshall Craig), A Life in Dialogue: Building Bridges Between Catholics: A Memoir (Eugene Fisher), Determined: A Lifetime of Love and Hate, War and Peace … And What the Water Moccasin Taught Me (Felker Ward Jr.), In Our Time (Nostra Aetate): How Catholics and Jews Built a New Relationship (James Barrens), The Fate of Tomorrow: Tales of the Annigan Cycle and Shadows of Twilight Lands: Tales of the Annigan Cycle: Book 2 (R.W. Marcus), The Wages of Sin: Vol. IV (cartoonist Keith Brown), Dirt and Floater (Tony Doris), A Daily Dose of Innocence (John Hutton), Tears of Gaduhav (John Pate) and The Millionaire’s Convenient Arrangement: A Miami Lawyers Novel (Jane Peden).

Said Amy Cianci, engagement director for St. Petersburg Press: “They run the gamut from fiction to non-fiction books, business books, there’s a fishing guide and we even have political cartoonists in the mix. St. Petersburg Press welcomes all local writers to our family – and we’re really excited about extending this relationship with the Mr. Media authors, and bringing them into the fold.”

The remainder of the Andelman catalog, available from other publishers, includes books with Home Depot co-founders Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank, Metro Bank UK and Commerce Bank US founder Vernon W. Hill II, Wawa CEO Howard Stoeckel and the top-selling The Profit Zone: How Strategic Business Design Will Lead You to Tomorrow’s Profits, co-authored with Adrian J. Slywoptsky and David J. Morrison.

Naturally curious, and intuitive, and with the finely-honed instincts of a veteran journalist, Andelman discovered an ability to translate his curiosity – and his acumen – into translating the lofty narratives of executives for the common folk.

“If you’re a writer, I believe you should be able to write about anything,” Andelman said in a 2018 Catalyst interview. “You should be like a sponge.

“I had no business training. I just asked a lot of questions. The key, to me, became ‘just how do I make this interesting to everybody?’ I just look for the color, and the stuff that would make me stop and go ‘Oh – that’s interesting. I’ll write about that part of it.’”

St. Petersburg Press Founder Joe Hamilton is the publisher of the St. Pete Catalyst.