Heidi Komlofske
President & CEO
When I met Ross back in May 2008, he told me of this crazy idea he had to create the perfect book review publication — something he (as a voracious book reader) couldn’t find on the market. I figured it would be the perfect combination of skill sets: Ross’s connection with the publishing industry and my 20 years of graphic design and marketing experience.
Having come from the world of static design for companies (advertising, marketing collateral, website), I rolled up my sleeves and taught myself how to do what I call “fluid design” in InDesign. What I can tell you is that there were a lot of tears when it came down to the deadline wire for getting those first issues to the press. It’s been a learning process for both of us — mostly Ross learning that, no, you can’t just move a book review from one page to the other an hour before the file is due to the printer, because it will create a hole.
Fast-forward to 3 years later, and we’ve managed to create a company that is not only surviving this horrible economy, but expanding into other cities. We went from having a virtual office in Sacramento (and working from home) to moving into a real, big-boy office in Midtown Sacramento in August 2011. (I still miss working in my pajamas, though!)
What is it that I do at 1776 Productions, you might ask? Well, it’s certainly not much to do with the books, which people find quite odd. I remember very early on after starting the business, I had to fill out a questionnaire for an article that a local newspaper was writing on Sacramento Book Review. Ross was reviewing my answers before I sent the file back, and said “You cannot say that your favorite book is The Da Vinci Code — you can’t tell that to anyone!” So, here I am, confessing my book sin to everyone here. I am not the literary one of this partnership. I handle more of the organization of the publicists and communications to them and our reviewers. Of course, I’m the one who’s fingerprints is all over the company, as far as design, marketing, and of course, the publications. THAT’S what I do best.
You can reach me by email or at 877.913.1776 (extension 3) <<HOW the president & CEO of the company got Extension 3 is beyond me! I think Ross had something to do with this!
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Ross Rojek
Editor-in-Chief
I’ve been a reader since before I can remember. From growing up in a family of teachers to skipping school to spend extra time at the library, books have always been a part of my life. For almost 15 years, I retailed comics and books in Midtown and Downtown Sacramento, and in 2008, we launched the Sacramento Book Review. Together, we created a new model of book review publications while the traditional newspapers downsized or canceled their coverage of books. Since then, we started publishing San Francisco Book Review and licensing to other cities.
I am the main contact for all-things-books here at the company — from requesting which books we’d like from the catalogs, maintaining the book database, to helping to decide contents of each publication issue.
You can reach me by email or at 877.913.1776 (extension 1).
Grayson Hjaltalin
Graphic Designer, Publication Layout
I’m a graduate of the San Francisco Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandise with a degree in Graphic Design and Branding. I assist with publication layout for Tulsa Book Review, San Francisco Book Review, and Sacramento Book Review, in addition to assisting with website design and maintenance for the book reviews. I also work on Smartphone app design for 1776 Production’s subsidiary company, GoLocalApps. You can view my app designs on the GoLocalApps portfolio page.
You can reach me by email or at 877.913.1776.
Joseph Arellano
Contributing Editor
Joseph Arellano began writing reviews, of music rather than books, while in college. He went on to earn a degree in Communication Arts at the University of the Pacific, followed by a law degree from the University of Southern California. He is currently employed by the State of California and has done pre-publication review and editing for a publisher based in England. He is a prolific book reviewer. Joseph has written reviews for Sacramento Book Review, San Francisco Book Review, Portland Book Review, Tulsa Book Review, and the New York Journal of Books. Joseph has maintained his own book review site, Joseph’s Reviews – which is staffed with five reviewers, since June of 2009.
Joseph has written several articles for The Critical Eye column, while overseeing the contribution of author-written articles for The Back Page column. He is also a Columns Coordinator for Portland Book Review (The Reader’s Perspective and Writers On Writing.)
Joseph lives in Elk Grove, California, with his wife Ruta and their young Russian Blue cat Sasha.
James Rasmussen
Editorial Assistant
I’m a recent graduate of CSU Sacramento, with a BA in English and an ever-growing pile of books I need to read. My passion is writing and reading; I love being surrounded by books, which is perfect being that I work mostly in the book room, helping to make sure all the books get to the reviewers and generally learning about the world of books and publishing. Outside of work, I stay busy reading, writing, and gaming.
You can reach me by email or at 877-913-1776.
Christopher Hayden
Editorial Assistant
I attended CSU Sacramento where I got my BA in English (concentrated in Creative Writing), and a passion for writing. I work in the book room, where I connect books to reviewers—constantly learn more about the book industry than I thought existed, and enjoy a daily dose of Christmas; unwrapping piles of books each day. When I’m not in the office, I fill my days with writing, music, and gaming.
You can reach me by email or at 877-913-1776.
Amy Simko
Copy Editor
Reading has always been a bit of an obsession for me. I enjoy everything from absorbing factual knowledge from books to exploring new fantasy worlds of wonder. In a previous life (before my son) I worked as a Software Architect and earned my master’s degree in computer science and engineering. Currently my job is to try to keep up with homeschooling my five year old son who also has a love for reading and enjoys reviewing books for both the Kids’ Book Review and Young Mensan Book Reviews. I’m thrilled to be a copy editor and look forward to reading all of our reviewer’s fantastic thoughts on all of the amazing books!
Holly Scudero
Copy Editor
I have been a voracious reader for pretty much my entire life. When I first discovered 1776 Productions and their need for book reviewers back in 2009, I thought I had found the most ideal gig ever: receive books, read them, and then write my opinion of them out for anyone and everyone to read? What could be better? I still write a number of reviews every month, but now I have the added perk of being a copy editor too, which conveniently combines my love of books with an obsessive-compulsive need to make things grammatically correct. When I’m not thinking about the written word, my hobbies include cooking, baking, exercising, knitting, gaming, and several other nerdy endeavors.x
Cathy Lim
Copy Editor
Cathy Carmode Lim has been reviewing books for more than a dozen years, two of which she was the book page editor for a newspaper in Alabama. Currently, she runs Rated Reads (www.ratedreads.com), which gives ratings to books based on potentially offensive content. She has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Brigham Young University, where she focused on copy editing; she has since worked for five newspapers and edited book manuscripts.
Lori Miller
Copy Editor
Lori Miller grew up a farmer’s daughter in Northern California. She spent summers floating in the backyard pool, reading romance novels and filling diaries with isolated angst. Her reading tastes have matured and the sunbathing has ceased, but the love of books lives on. She graduated from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo with a journalism degree and set her sights on the features editor job at The Californian in Salinas. A year later, she had that position and decided to recalibrate her aspirations. She moved to Nashville, Tenn., to pursue an MBA, but a closer look at management duties led to the decision to stay on the more creative side of newspapering. It was the right move. Lori spent more than 20 years in newsrooms in California, Tennessee and Washington, D.C. Reporter, columnist, section editor, copy editor and designer – Lori held all of these titles before giving it all up to be a stay-at-home mom in 2005. Highlights of her career include an opportunity to serve as founding editor of a customized newspaper featuring in-depth national and international news, and creating the newsroom position of planning editor, a manager who guides projects from concept to publication. As a reporter, Lori covered many topics, including Clint Eastwood’s run for mayor of Carmel; she produced a series on agoraphobia and another on single life on California’s Central Coast. In 2010, Lori and her family moved to Canada, landing first in Vancouver and later in Calgary. In pursuit of a second career, Lori looked toward education at the university level. She is now an administrative coordinator for the Ward of the 21st Century, a medical research and innovation center at the University of Calgary. When not working, editing or parenting her two teenagers, Lori enjoys travel, yoga, playing Scrabble, skiing, kayaking, and reading.
Paul Mullinger
Copy Editor
Paul was born in San Francisco in 1948, and grew up in the East Bay Area. He graduated from the University of California at Berkeley with a degree in Religious Studies. Since then, he has worked with the Church of Scientology as a pastoral counselor. He has two daughters, Jenny and Sarah. He enjoys long distance running and reading.
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