About Frank M. Young

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I offer 30 years' experience as a fast, smart and dependable writer, editor and designer.

I have a high level of professionalism. I am deadline-oriented and conscientious. I work well under pressure and have strong communication and organizational skills.

I deliver polished, impressive work. My skill-set will prove valuable in almost any creative project.

I am currently at work on major book projects with Abrams Books and Drawn + Quarterly Publications. I just published an original non-fiction graphic novel, Oregon Trail: The Road To Destiny for Washington state-based publisher Sasquatch Press.

I also continue to work as a PowerPoint designer, graphic novelist and writer.

Notable Achievements:

>< As a journalist, I have written thousands of published articles, illustrations and cartoons

>< Under my editorial tenure, The Comics Journal won a Harvey Award for Excellence in Comics Journalism

>< My PowerPoint presentations have been seen by millions of viewers

My Resume

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Employment History:

8/2011: writer/layout artist of graphic novel Road To Destiny: Oregon Trail, in collaboration with artist-writer David Lasky, published in softcover by Sasquatch Press.

Order the book from amazon.com HERE. Check out the dedicated blog for this book HERE.

6-11/2010: Book editor, Passport to The Future: The Amazing Life and Music of Electronic Pop Music Pioneer Jean-Jacques Perrey

I edited this 312-page musical biography, written by Dana Countryman. For this project, I helped establish a clear, readable tone for the prose, assured grammatical/stylistic consistency throughout the text, and worked with several iterations of the manuscript alongside author Countryman. I also contributed some graphics and photo retouching to the project.

THIS LINK offers more information on the published book.

4/2010: CD project programmer/interviewer/liner notes writer, Ace Records, London England: I proposed a compilation CD project for this label, entitled You Baby: Words and Music by P. F. Sloan and Steve Barri. This CD will be issued in May, 2010. For this project, I conducted extensive interviews with songwriters Phil Sloan and Steve Barri. I wrote a 4000 word essay on their career, based on these interviews, and collaborated with noted music writer Mick Patrick on an additional 6000 words of detailed, track-by-track song information. As well, I helped plan the disc's track listings, and helped contribute discography information.

THIS LINK will take you to the project's listing on the Ace Records website.

12/2009-8/2010: Associate Editor, Tactical MilSim Magazine; freelance copy-editing (and subtle re-writing) for this quarterly slick full-color MilSim gaming magazine. Fine-tuning the work of absolute non-writers, to make them look like pros, is the name of the game for this magazine. (The magazine folded in the summer of 2010.)

8/2008-present: writer/colorist of graphic novel Don't Forget This Song: The Story of the Carter Family, in collaboration with artist-writer David Lasky; to be published in hardcover by Abrams Books in 2011.

For this non-fiction project, I have conducted several interviews with such notable figures as Mike Seeger, Rita Forrester and Bill Clifton. David and I have also done much historical research on this project.

See the dedicated blog for this project HERE, and contribute to our Kickstarter campaign HERE.

In 2008, I served on the advisory board of Art Spiegelman's historic comics anthology, The TOON Treasury of Classic Children's Comics.

I helped select several stories for the book, and took part in a round-robin editorial board that included such notables as Michael Barrier, Jeet Heer and Art Spiegelman.

2006-present: Topps Chewing Gum, New York, NY: gag writer and layout artist. I have sold several gag concepts to Topps' ever-popular Wacky Packages satirical trading card series. My layout sketches have been used, with little alteration, by painters such as John Pound in the creation of the finished artwork. These cards are sold nation-wide at various retail outlets.

View some of my published Topps gags: GAG 1 GAG 2 GAG 3

2004-present: Becker & Mayer!, Bellevue, WA: designer and author.
Becker & Mayer! are a leading book packager/production company. For them, I have written several published books, including these volumes, listed on Amazon.com:

Car Design Studio

Black Light Painting Book
(I both wrote and illustrated the above book)

Snap-Together Coin Sorter

Motorcycle Design Studio

1994-present: various freelance design, PowerPoint presentation and writing jobs. Clients include BechTel Communications, Emory University, Pacific Galleries Northwest, Public Synergy Group, Mission Support USA, Davis College Planning, RFP PR Agency Search Experts and InHouse Communications.

1998-present: Presentation Tree, Seattle, WA: designer, PowerPoint presentations.
This firm's specialty is visually dynamic, effective PowerPoint presentations. Clients include Starbucks, Microsoft, Holland America Lines, Expedia.com and Alaska Airlines. I have worked as assistant to Presentation Tree founder Paul C. Tumey on many PPT decks.

Here is a link to a Holland America Lines/Microsoft PPT deck on which I worked. I did both PPT animation and treatment of graphic elements:

HAL DECK

As well, I have also provided writing, editorial services and line art for the company.

2000-2001: writer/collaborator (with artist Justin Green) on regular feature, Musical Legends, for Tower Records’ Pulse! Magazine

These features have been collected into book form by Last Gasp Press. Click HERE for more information on this book.

1997-2001: Cool & Strange Music! magazine, Seattle, WA: associate editor, reviews editor and writer.

I wrote several cover-featured pieces for this eclectic music magazine, including interviews with music legends Les Paul, Alvino Rey and Russ Garcia.

1991-1992: Fantagraphics Books, Seattle, WA: managing editor of monthly magazine The Comics Journal.

1980-1991: journalist, editor, graphic artist for several Southeastern newspapers and magazines, including The Savannah News-Press, the Florida Flambeau, Capital City and the Apalachee Quarterly. I wrote thousands of articles, ranging from arts & entertainment features to front-page news pieces.

My Skillset

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Computer Skills Include:
Microsoft Office
PowerPoint
Photoshop
InDesign
Excel
Pagemaker
Macintosh and PC computers

General Skills:
writer/editor
creative director
proof-reader
research specialist
interviewer
transcriber of interviews/oral materials
graphic designer
illustrator/cartoonist
photographer
designer of media packaging (compact discs a specialty)

Contact information

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Frank M. Young
1117 NW 62nd St, #1
Seattle, WA 98107-3923

(206) 384-9352 (cell)

Contact me via e-mail: CLICK HERE

If you would like my references, contact me via e-mail. I'll be glad to send the reference information to you. (To protect the privacy of these folks, I've decided it's best not to post their contact information online.)

Frank M. Young--Creative Universalist For Hire

About Frank M. Young

My Resume

My Skillset

Contact information