I posted yesterday about an exciting announcement that I would be making on the WP Weekly radio show today.  If you’d like, you can listen to the audio of the WP Weekly show and my appearance on it here: WP Weekly Radio Show – June 19, 2010

Now that the radio show is over and the announcement has gone public there, I feel good about announcing it here, as well.

As many of you may have guessed – it is another book project..with a little different twist to it this time, though!

A few months back, I was having a talk with my editor at Wiley Publishing, Amy Fandrei – mostly talking about what it would take for me to finish up writing the 3rd Edition of WordPress For Dummies and what was happening with the 3.0 development of WordPress, etc.  That lead us into a talk about some more advanced topics surrounding WordPress – - more advanced than what my Dummies book covers.  Let’s face it – a For Dummies book is meant to be for beginners and intermediate users, right?  But what about a book that covers the WHOLE gammut?  A reference book that is useful for a wide variety of users – -so that beginners can start with it, and as they continue to grow – can continue to use the resource to step into areas of WordPress that they may never have tried before.

This discussion lead to me signing the contract for a brand new WordPress related book under the Wiley Publishing roof.  This new book is in the process of being written right now and it is slated to be a 940 page book (approximately) and it is called … The WordPress All In One Desk Reference.  (I can’t even link it yet, because it’s so new that Amazon.com doesn’t even have a whiff of it yet!)

What’s SO exciting about the WordPress All In One Desk Reference is that is not just ME writing the book!  This time around – it is a fully collaborative effort that involves a group of authors that I hand picked to help me write the text — as a reader of the book, you will benefit from the voice and experience of different WordPress experts from their specific area of expertise – and so far, we are all having a BLAST! Here are my partners in crime for the WordPress All In One Desk Reference book – and a little bit about what their role in the book is:

  • Lisa Sabin-Wilson (@LisaSabinWilson) – Author of WordPress For Dummies and BuddyPress For Dummies, owner and creative designer at E.Webscapes and co-owner of BA Hosting.  Lisa is writing the text on the overall WordPress user experience from (soup to nuts) the mechanics of installing, configuring and using the software to publish a blog and/or web site on the internet.
  • Cory Miller (@CoryMiller303) – Owner and founder of iThemes Media, Plugin Buddy and WebDesign.com.  Cory is authoring sections of the book on WordPress Themes from beginner level on through to Advanced theme design, theme admin options, theme functions  and frameworks.
  • Michale Torbert (@MichaelTorbert) – Developer of the insanely popular WordPress All In One SEO plugin and owner of Semperfi Web Design.  Michael is contributing TONS of information on WordPress plugins – - from the basic installation and use of plugins to taking you through steps on how to write your own WordPress plugins, including best practice and standards.
  • Andrea Rennick (@Andrea_R) – The WordPress community loves Andrea from their experience with her in the WP and WPMU support forums and from her site WPMUTutorials.  Andrea is an expert in the area of WordPress MU and when 3.0 merged the MU code base, Andrea and her husband, Ron, were the immediate ‘go to’ people.  Andrea is busily writing all of the chapters that cover the use of the WordPress Multi Site features – - she will take you through how to activate it, set it up and configure it — as well as taking you through the user experience, plugins and themes and troubleshooting references and real world expeirences to help you build and grow your own network.
  • Kevin Palmer (@KevinPalmer) – Owner of SocialMediaAnswers.com and an SEO and Social Media guru in his own right. Kevin is contributing a section of the book on how to use WordPress as a social media hub, gobs of informative and resourceful text and content on SEO practices, Analytics and reputation management.  I’ve already read a few of his chapters – and did you know all of the above can be done directly from your WordPress Dashboard??  Good stuff!

There you have it!  The WordPress All In One Desk Reference book is set to publish in early Spring 2011, brought to you by the aforementioned motley crew band of merry gentlemen, and ladies.  We are all hard at work, collaborating on the book and working together to bring you a desk reference that will be a must have!  We’re all excited about this project and can’t wait for you to read, learn and enjoy!