I accidentally got involved with book publication in the mid-1970s while working on a film about craftsmen and craftsmanship. That book was about stained glass and is still in print almost fifty years after publication. Although the book sold extremely well, my co-author and I lost all our royalties when the original publisher went bankrupt. About five years later I was producing another film, this one for Exxon, and that accidentally got me a contract for a book about the Coast Guard. Designing a film and designing an illustrated book are very similar in many ways and I found the process very easy and fun…and more profitable than the film projects. Presidio Press liked my Coast Guard book and started throwing contracts at me. They needed books on Green Berets and SEALs and that got me in the front door of those communities.