With no intention of topping the success of J.K. Rowling (OK, maybe just a little), the book about frequent flyer programs I have just co-authored is now shipping. Because this book has an interesting history, I thought I’d try and pre-answer some of the questions coming my way:

Is this your first book?
Actually, no. In the late 80s I co-authored the first edition of The Official Frequent Flyer Guidebook with J. William Pfeiffer, a wonderful man and reader of InsideFlyer who shared a love for miles and points, and who was and is still a leading expert in team-building and the author of many books in that specialty. Bill got busy with his real business, and for the subsequent six editions, I took on the role as the editor and publisher of The Official Frequent Flyer Guidebook. We enjoyed good success with the book, having eventually sold several hundred thousand copies. It was more a reference guide – an encyclopedia of frequent flyer programs.

You’re the co-author? How did that happen?
Yes, I’m happy to share the book-writing with Tim Winship. I’ve known Tim for nearly 15 years, way back to when he was running a small North American service center for one of the Asian frequent flyer programs. Then, as now, I tried to get out to meet and talk with those that were actually operating frequent flyer programs around the world. I think he thought it was cool that I was the only person ever to actually come and visit their service center to talk miles. Later when he moved on to work for the Hilton HHonors program, I chatted with him there, and in fact, after he decided to get out of the industry and try a go on his own, I actually flew him to Colorado Springs and interviewed him for a job within my organization. If I had hired him he might not be doing what he is doing today. So, some of his frequent flyer miles were actually paid for by me!

But isn’t he a competitor?
A couple things. I’ve been doing this for nearly 20 years, so everyone is my competitor, including the publisher of the book – OAG. And if some are surprised, they apparently don’t know me well. I’d do just about anything to help frequent flyers manage and understand their miles better. Tim may be a competitor, but he also knows this industry, having worked in it. Besides, I like the guy. The idea of working with a “competitor” has never entered my mind. The idea of helping members get more out of their frequent flyer programs is always on my mind. I’d work with Tim and really anyone else over and over again.

So, how did the book come about?
It’s a long story, so pull up a chair. Actually, the idea of the book is a couple years old. Tim and I were chatting one day and he suggested getting together to do a book – actually two books, one being a consumers guide and the other a historical reference. I’ve been asked to do that before, and it’s always been difficult to carve out more time from my schedule (Insert joke here: I’m too busy moderating the Air Canada forum on the popular FlyerTalk.com Web site…). So anyway, we then decided what kind of book it might be. We both decided that the consumer book should come first, and the tone might be similar to the “Dummies Guide” book series. So we prepared a great pitch and contacted the publishers of that series, Wiley & Sons.
I have saved that rejection letter. We got an editor that didn’t understand frequent flyer programs, essentially saying that he was not aware of them and could see no consumer interest in the topic. With tails tucked between our legs (no consumer interest in frequent flyer programs?) we then looked around for other ideas. We had a number of them from self-publishing (since I had done that with my other book) to American Express , OAG, Fodor’s, and even The Wall Street Journal.
For whatever reason, we started with OAG, and they showed an immediate interest – so we hung on. OAG still seems to be a legacy company, and the hoops which we had to crawl through at times seemed like another slow death by rejection letter. But we really never heard the word “no,” and just waited for the slow ascent up the corporate ladder for approval.
But we were lucky – we had a few inside “angels.” One of them remembered me from many years ago when I used to do several things with OAG, but then was banished to “outsider status” when some new director-of-something-or-other decided that I was too competitive with them and no one was allowed to interview me or continue with any projects together. I was miffed at that since I had never met the guy that made that decision, and frankly as has been told many times over – I only got into the business when OAG told me they weren’t interested and that the topic was far too trivial for them – it had no future. But Tim and I held on with the hope of a special lady there at OAG – Lisa Davis. She kept us in the loop as best she could, and we never lost hope with her enthusiasm. For her, I hope this book is nothing less than a great success. She proved to be a great person to work with later on.

How long did the book take?
This answer is the funniest yet. I think the actual process of getting approval to do the book for OAG took nearly a year – a year! Things move slow at OAG (just kidding, OAG, really!). Once we got approval to do the book, there was a sudden realization that the holidays were approaching and it would be great to get the book out for that period. So to answer the question: one year to get approval and two months to write it. Yes, the fast track. For me, it wasn’t the topic knowledge, as I live it day in and day out. The problem was my schedule, and more importantly – I am not a writer. I’m a great talking head and really, really know the topic, but I can’t write to save my soul, and what is even more difficult is that I have no discipline.

Tell us something about the book process.
Once we got our marching orders, Tim decided on a natural process of each of us writing a chapter a week for eight straight weeks. He took odd chapters and I took even – or something like that.
Well, we got started, and by the end of week one, he’d got his done, forwarded it to me, and gotten started on his next chapter. Almost two weeks went by, and he called and asked how I was doing. I knew where this was going and reply, “Well.” I then got in to a long discussion with him about how it was probably going to be working a firm schedule with me, and tried my best to assure him that we’d make this impossible deadline. As noted before, I have no discipline. I think it was week four before I sent anything to Tim, and that was something like five chapters at once. I’m a binge writer who does extremely well under impossible deadlines but really couldn’t make any exceptions for this book.
It’s always something – travel, media interviews, FlyerTalk.com interference, or, of course, my monthly deadlines for InsideFlyer magazine. My 60-hour week just did not have room for the book, so while Tim was churning out chapters according to the schedule, Randy was being Randy, making mad dashes and all-nighter runs toward keeping up with Tim’s chapter schedule. I think – actually I know – that Lisa became worried at this point as well: the deadline, the deadline. Again I offered them my assurance that this was how I operate best in my chaotic world, and there were “no worries.”
Well, Tim and I made the deadline, and I was good to go at the eleventh hour and fifty-nine minutes. I really did scare them, and it would not surprise me if they had talks about what to do if Randy didn’t deliver. What, me worry? I just love these impossible deadlines and really never worried about it. I would come in at 3 or 4 in the morning or trade some of my all-nighters for the magazine (InsideFlyer) deadline for a chapter for the book, but really never worried that we would not make the deadline.
We made some changes in chapter ideas in real-time, and I think it all turned out well.

Anything else?
Yes. The editing process. Lisa was heading-up the editing process and hired Jane Lasky, a business travel writer whom I also had known for nearly 15 years to help her. I think it was probably because when they saw my stuff, they knew the project was in trouble. I really am not a writer, and they were just wonderful in shaping and content. Tim’s style and mine were quite different, and the goal of meshing the styles and the content was a real challenge.
This was actually the best part of the entire process. I sort of write how I talk – goofy. And because I have been doing this so long, there is a tendency to assume too much on the behalf of the reader. Lisa was absolutely wonderful, asking to clarify, fact-check and rewrite quite a few things. At first, there was a little resistance on my part, since I was certain that the average frequent flyer would know what I was talking about. But then I started to fully appreciate the value of Lisa’s POV on what the words could mean to others. I can never say enough about how crucial this period was for the book. Lisa took a good book from Tim and me and made it a great book.

OK, tell us how you really feel about the book.
All my involvement aside, I have no doubt that this is the finest collection of tips and information that has ever been offered to frequent travelers in the 24 years these programs have been in existence. I have copies of every book ever written on the subject, and know some of those who wrote them. They were all very good efforts, but this book has been carefully planned and offers a complete guide to the basics every members should know.
Is it the end-all of such books? No. That one is impossible to write, since the industry changes almost daily. That is what things like InsideFlyer and FlyerTalk.com are all about. But it does provide a very informative foundation for those needing help getting started and those needing mentoring on what to do with their miles.
Many of my readers and customers have been with me for years and know this stuff, so I won’t pretend to offer them something they don’t already know. If you’re a frequent flyer that is comfortable with where you are with your miles and points, please don’t buy the book – you will probably be disappointed, and I would hate for that to happen. The key is remembering that we started out with a book sort of like a Dummies Guide for frequent flyers. If you’ve ever bought or read one of those for any topic, then this is your book. Keeping that point in mind will help anyone in a purchasing decision.

So, that’s the background of the book. Please let me know if there’s anything else I can answer for you. I just can’t thank Tim and Lisa enough for putting up with my eccentricities. I am still very sorry to scare both of them with my last-minute submissions…I really love working under extreme deadlines and this was one of them. Thanks for the experience.

If you want to order the book:
To Order Mileage Pro

And we even have a Web site for the book where we will be adding updates and other info:

Mileage Pro Book Web Site

Thanks.

One More Question. What’s this about an RV in your book efforts?
Funny you should ask because there’s a great group of guys that I neglected to thank. When i took on the book task, i already knew my time was fully taken up - as in 60 plus hours a week fully devoted to my existing employees and the various projects they are involved in as well. But there are a group of guys on FlyerTalk.com that lovingly create an arrest of my time and if i was to get the book done, i just did not have the time to devote to the role of moderating the OMNI forum on FlyerTalk. so I created a virtual RV and invited a number of my “closest” friends in that forum to take the summer off. They could have been nasty to me but they were good about it. They (I think) understood that I was asking for their help and all the jokes aside, I did not have to spend hardly any time moderating OMNI during this period. Truthfully, if not for the (virtual) RV trip, i would have surely missed my deadlines as that forum on occasion does take up some moderation devotion. So, for the guys in the RV - this one is for you.