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Thanks, AJ.

Craig, thank you for the encouraging words.

I'm absolutely thrilled to announce that my book, Detroit Steel Artists: How Edsel Ford, Ray Dietrich, Tom Hibbard, and Ralph Roberts turned Motor City into a Styling Mecca before Harley Earl, has won the 2023 Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot Award from the Society of Automotive Historians! It's awarded to the book that best advances the understanding of the history of the automobile in the English language. Having the book recognized with awards from the general publishing community and now with this prestigious award from the car community itself is more than I could have ever imagined. I thought I would share the great news! Link to SAH announcement: autohistory.org For more info about my book and how to order, please go to my website: detroitsteelartists.com

I'm absolutely thrilled to announce that my book, Detroit Steel Artists, has won the 2023 Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot Award from the Society of Automotive Historians! It's awarded to the book that best advances the understanding of the history of the automobile in the English language. Having the book recognized with awards from the general publishing community and now with this prestigious award from the car community itself is more than I could have ever imagined. I thought I would share the great news! SAH announcement: autohistory.org For more info about my book and how to order, please go to my website: detroitsteelartists.com

I'm absolutely thrilled to announce that my book, Detroit Steel Artists, has won the 2023 Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot Award from the Society of Automotive Historians! It's awarded to the book that best advances the understanding of the history of the automobile in the English language. Having the book recognized with awards from the general publishing community and now with this prestigious award from the car community itself is more than I could have ever imagined. I thought I would share the great news! Link to SAH announcement: autohistory.org For more info about my book and how to order, please go to my website: detroitsteelartists.com

A few Friday evenings ago in San Diego, I had the honor of receiving the 2023 Gold Award for the best coffee table book from the Independent Book Publishers Association! The goal of my book was to write something that the car community would really appreciate. This was on my bucket list. I had absolutely no expectations that my book would be viewed so favorably outside the car world. It now has been recognized for just plain being a great book. A great history book in the form of a coffee table book. Fantastic images are woven within a great story. To have my book recognized by the general book publishing community is truly humbling. Winners: Coffee Table Book | IBPA Book Award

A few Friday evenings ago in San Diego, I had the honor of receiving the 2023 Gold Award for the best coffee table book from the Independent Book Publishers Association! The goal of my book was to write something that the car community would really appreciate. This was on my bucket list. I had absolutely no expectations that my book would be viewed so favorably outside the car world. It now has been recognized for just plain being a great book. A great history book in the form of a coffee table book. Fantastic images are woven within a great story. To have my book recognized by the general book publishing community is truly humbling. Winners: Coffee Table Book | IBPA Book Award

Hi, I wanted to share the great news that my book, Detroit Steel Artists, has won two awards from the Independent Book Publishers Association (IPBA), and is a finalist for the 2023 gold award in the "Coffee Table Book" and "Cover Design" categories! "Winning an IBPA Benjamin Franklin Award says to bookstores, reviewers, and readers, 'This is one of the best books published in this category and it deserves to be noticed'," said Patagonia Books publisher and previous IBPA Board Chair Karla Olson. This year there were over 1,800 entries. Matt

Hi, I wanted to share the great news that my book, Detroit Steel Artists, has won two awards from the Independent Book Publishers Association (IPBA), and is a finalist for the 2023 gold award in the "Coffee Table Book" and "Cover Design" categories! "Winning an IBPA Benjamin Franklin Award says to bookstores, reviewers, and readers, 'This is one of the best books published in this category and it deserves to be noticed'," said Patagonia Books publisher and previous IBPA Board Chair Karla Olson. This year there were over 1,800 entries.

Hi, It's disappointing when you are anticipating a shipment and it arrives damaged. If you aren't located close to a retailer for my book, and you want the least amount of middlemen handling it so it arrives in the best possible condition, please order my book directly from the distributor, Itasca Books. I have just arranged with the distributor for a 15% discount off the list price when you order directly from itascabooks.com. You will see this discount when you place your order. In addition, as you could probably guess, I get the most remuneration from the book when you order direct from the distributor. This will also help in my decision about publishing my next book. For those outside the United States, the book is now available in many countries around the world including Amazon and/or other resellers in Canada, UK, Japan, France, etc. Matt

Hi Everyone, I have not checked back in a while and noticed the comments. Thanks to everyone that has purchased the book and for the nice comments. I couldn't be happier with the feedback on the book as well as the press reviews which are located on my website: detroitsteelartists.com. I have left the bookselling up to others because I didn't feel I had the bandwidth to handle this type of stuff. I may rethink this. If the printer or warehouse was closer to where I live I may have just gone there and signed every book but this wasn't possible. I would love to sign everyone's book. I'm sorry to hear about the damaged book from that particular reseller. This is something I don't have control over. Autobooks-Aerobooks probably has a few more autographed copies from me from my book signing event I had there. Great bookstore. Amelia Island wasn't in the cards this year to sell and sign books. Perhaps next year. I will be giving a talk on my book at the 2023 Packard Club National Meet in Northern California in early July this year. The plan is to sell and sign books. To Answer Al's question on why I didn't just name the book after Dietrich. If I had to summarize my book in a couple of sentences: Styling is a given today for selling cars. How did that come to be? Edsel Ford, Hibbard, Dietrich, and Roberts were major players in turning Detroit into a styling mecca. While I think my book is very comprehensive about Dietrich as well as the business side of Dietrich and the Le Baron companies, and I have a ton of first-person quotes from Dietrich himself, the bigger picture of the book is about how styling really began in the auto industry and the challenges to get it to take hold as a selling point. I think there is a lot of new insight into Tom Hibbard also. Dietrich was clearly a major part of this movement. This is really why I came up with the name I did, the bigger picture and larger story of the avant-garde artists who changed the industry. I talk about Amos Northup also. While many reviews have applauded me for the comprehensive history of Dietrich and Le Baron companies and for clarifying long-told myths, I'm just as proud of what I researched and wrote in chapter 2 as these other chapters. Matt

Hi, I'm excited to announce that I will be having a book signing event in Burbank CA at the famous Autobooks-Aerobooks bookstore on October 22. You can order your pre-signed copies in advance. See you there! Matt

Hi, I'm excited to announce that there will be a book signing event on October 22 in Burbank CA at the famous Autobooks-Aerobooks bookstore. You can order presigned copies of my book on their website ahead of time. See you there! Matt

Hi, On October 22 I will have a book signing event at the famous Autobooks-Aerobooks in Burbank CA. You can preorder your signed copy on their website. See you there! Matt

Hello, I will have a book signing event on October 22 in Burbank CA at the famous Autobooks-Aerobooks bookstore. You can order a signed copy in advance on their website. See you there! Matt