This week I made two big changes in my career that I’m happy to share.

First, I’ve taken the title of Executive Editor at Take Control Books, a publisher I’ve worked with from their launch in 2003 by Adam and Tonya Engst and since 2017 for Joe Kissell and Morgen Jahnke. Over that time, I’ve written so many titles I can’t remember them all, partly because of updates, mergers, and splits of books into new works.

As executive editor, I will take on more editorial responsibility, particularly with editing books, but also in updating titles where the author has opted to move on to other projects, such as iOS 18 and iPadOS 18, a series updated each new operating system revision for many years by Josh Centers. To help Take Control Books expand, I’ll be consulting with Joe on how to find new readers and new lines of revenue, including my specialty of crowdfunding. I’ll also continue to update my nine current active titles.

Second, Macworld has decided to discontinue Mac 911 after 20 years, and which I’ve written for just over 10 years. The column started with that name to tell readers, “We’ll solve your Mac emergencies,” but it grew quickly to cover any Apple product, including iCloud and iPhone. Foundry/IDG handled the end extremely well, and I thank them for my time there! I can’t speak for them about ending the column, but I can say from my own experience that it is a hard business trying to stand out in search results. Mac 911 always had a twofold intent: provide a service for Macworld readers and to find new readers who discovered the columns through internet searches or other referrals.

These days, search on an Apple-related software or hardware question, and search engines mostly provide AI slop and other links to low-quality, high SEO (search engine optimized) crud. This makes it nearly impossible for a column written for a broad audience to be found, even if it’s the best answer on the topic. (I pat myself on the back, because I only wrote answers to reader questions for which, after searching extensively, I couldn’t find that a good explanation already existed.)

I’ve moved my kit bag of tricks over to Six Colors, a site founded by friend, long-time colleague (and former Macworld editorial director) Jason Snell and run by him and similar f & l-t c Dan Moren. Six Colors was founded in 2014. You can read my introduction column, posted this morning. We’ve cheekily titled the column, “Help Me, Glenn!”

The personal tone is intentional: Six Colors is supported through subscribers and sponsors. The way for it to thrive is to continue to provide a high value to readers who want what Jason, Dan, John Moltz, Joe Rosensteel, Shelly Brisbin, and others, and sponsors who want to reach that audience. (I’ve sponsored Six Colors multiple times to advertise my print and ebooks—it is a motivated set of readers!) Instead of casting a net in the sea and pulling it up to see if we can eat tonight, at Six Colors I’ll be part of the counter staff where people pull up a chair and want to chat a bit about what’s not working for them.

As part of this new column, I’ll be providing excerpts and references to Take Control Books where appropriate, building a figurative link between two of the great independent editorial operations supporting people who use Apple products.