Welcome Home★Books

Guidebooks for new arrivals

Somebody just moved to your town. Hand them the book.

We write, illustrate and print Welcome Home guides: one friendly, full-color book that tells a newcomer how the place works, what to eat, how to say the street names, and what to do in the first month. Then we make an edition for the organization that welcomes them.

Ask about your city Look inside
Cover of Welcome Home to Texas: A Guide for New Arrivals, by Felix Chandler. A hand-lettered title above an illustrated Hill Country ranch gate, live oak and bluebonnets.

Our first title: 100 pages, full color, made to be carried around.

What We Do

Moving somewhere new comes with a hundred small questions nobody thinks to answer. Which grocery store do people argue about? Why is everyone busy on Friday night? What has to be done at the county office, and by when?

A Welcome Home book answers them. Each one is a guide to a single place, written for the person who has just arrived and plans to stay. It is warm, a little funny, and useful on the first day.

A book about one place. Every title is researched and written for a single city, region or state. Nothing is boilerplate with the name swapped in.

Made to be kept. Original illustrations, maps drawn for the book, and a design people leave out on the coffee table instead of filing with the lease.

An edition with your name on it. Organizations that welcome newcomers order copies in bulk and give them away, as their own welcome.

Inside the Book

Every title follows the same plan, filled in with what is true of that place. These are the parts of Welcome Home to Texas.

  • Getting OrientedThe map, the regions, driving, weather, a brief history and the local wildlife.
  • FoodWhat people eat and how to order it, the grocery stores, restaurants worth the drive, and recipes to try at home.
  • PlaySports, dancing, the outdoors and the events the calendar is built around.
  • How the Place WorksTaxes and your house, water and electricity, liquor laws, schools, and politics, briefly.
  • Talking Like You Live HereA glossary, how to pronounce the names that trip up newcomers, and how people address each other.
  • Only HereThe stories, oddities and local legends a new neighbor ought to know.
  • The Back of the BookA year-round calendar and a first-month checklist.
Sample page: Texas Fun Facts, a grid of short boxed facts with illustrations of the Capitol and Palo Duro Canyon.
Sample page: East Texas, the Piney Woods, with an illustration of a pine forest and a regional map.
Sample page: Barbecue, with an illustration of a pitmaster slicing brisket.
Sample page: Your First Month, a checklist of things to do after moving.
Two-page spread: The Map of Texas, showing six numbered regions with handwritten notes around the map.
The map spread from Welcome Home to Texas. Every book gets maps drawn for it.

How We Do It

  1. We start with the newcomer

    The test for every page is whether it helps someone who arrived last week. That decides what goes in, and it keeps out the brochure copy.

  2. We research the place

    Geography, history, food, customs, speech and the practical business of setting up a household, gathered for that one place.

  3. We write it in one voice

    Plain, warm and good-humored, the way a well-informed neighbor would explain things over the fence.

  4. We check the facts

    Dates, figures, deadlines and place names are verified before the book goes to print.

  5. We illustrate and map it

    The illustrations, maps and lettering are made for each book, in the style of a vintage travel poster.

  6. We print and deliver your edition

    Full-color paperbacks, shipped to you in the quantity you need and ready to hand out.

Who It’s For

If part of your job is persuading people to move here, or making sure they are glad they did, this is something to put in their hands.

Economic development and talent attraction. A gift for the candidates and families you are recruiting, and for the ones who said yes.

Hospitals and health systems. Something for physician and provider recruiters to send ahead of a site visit, with a spouse and children in mind.

Universities. For new faculty and staff arriving from elsewhere, along with the offer letter or at orientation.

Employers. A relocation gift from HR that says more about the place than a welcome email can.

Real estate, lending and title. A closing gift with your name inside that stays in the house long after the paperwork is filed.

Chambers of commerce. A welcome for new residents and new members, with room for a presenting sponsor.

Who We Are

We bring over 60 years of editorial excellence to every project.

Byron Reese

Byron Reese is an author and entrepreneur who has been creating educational, informative work since the 1990s. Bloomberg Businessweek credits Byron with having “quietly pioneered a new breed of media company.” The Financial Times of London reported that he “is typical of the new wave of internet entrepreneurs out to turn the economics of the media industry on its head.” Byron and his work have been featured in hundreds of news outlets, including The New York Times, Washington Post, Entrepreneur Magazine, USA Today, Reader’s Digest, NPR, and the LA Times Magazine. Byron holds numerous patents and has started and sold multiple companies, including two NASDAQ IPOs. Byron’s books have sold over 400,000 copies.

Ethan Trex

Ethan Trex has been a writer, editor, and media executive for over 20 years. He has served as Editorial Director and President of Mental Floss and CEO of LoveToKnow Media. His articles have been published by Sports Illustrated, ESPN, The Wall Street Journal, CNN, and many other outlets. Ethan is the author or co-author of six books of history, trivia, and humor, and he is currently editing a series of historical cookbooks called Century Old Kitchen that modernize beloved 19th century recipes for today’s kitchens.

Your Edition

A sponsoring organization underwrites the book for its place and receives its own edition to give away. A typical first order is 1,000 copies.

  • Your name on the edition, as the organization presenting it.
  • A welcome page in your words, at the front of the book.
  • Copies delivered to you, ready for welcome packets, site visits and closing tables.
  • If we have not written your city yet, your order is what gets it written.

Ask about your city

The book, by the numbers
Size6 × 9 inches, paperback
Length100 pages
PrintingFull color throughout
CoverMatte finish, illustrated front and back
ArtIllustrations and maps made for each book
First titleWelcome Home to Texas: A Guide for New Arrivals, by Felix Chandler

Tell Us Where Home Is

Tell us your city and who you welcome to it. We will send a sample copy and talk through an edition.

Email us