INDEPENDENT PUBLISHING & EDUCATION
Practical Data Media is an independent publisher founded by Joe Reis. We publish books by people who’ve done the work and have something worth teaching. Our focus is data, the decisions behind it, and the people responsible for making it work. Courses and workshops are in development.
FROM THE PRACTICAL DATA SHELF01 / WHY PRACTICAL DATA MEDIA
A tool can help you build something. It can’t tell you whether you’re building the right thing. That takes judgment: understanding the problem, asking better questions, and knowing which tradeoffs you can live with.
We publish authors who explore those decisions in depth, drawing on what they’ve learned in practice. Our books cover data engineering, modeling, architecture, governance, and AI.
I started Practical Data Media because there are experienced people with important books still in their heads. I want to help bring those books into the world and give readers something they’ll return to long after the current technology cycle has passed.
Joe Reis · Founder
02 / BOOKS & LEARNING
Mixed Model Arts is available now.
AVAILABLE NOWBOOK / DATA MODELING
The Building Blocks of Cross-Disciplinary Data Modeling
Joe Reis brings different approaches to data modeling into one book, showing how they relate and when to use them.
Spotted a typo or an error? Help us improve our books. Report an error ↗
WHAT’S NEXT
More titles are in development, including work from Winfried Adalbert Etzel. We’ll share details as they’re ready.
Meet our authors ↓We’re developing courses and workshops. They’re not open for enrollment yet.
Get updates ↓ALSO BY OUR FOUNDER / PUBLISHED BY O’REILLY MEDIA
03 / AUTHORS
FOUNDER / AUTHOR
Author of Mixed Model Arts, co-author of Fundamentals of Data Engineering, educator, and longtime data practitioner.
Read Joe’s writing ↗
AUTHOR
Writes about data governance, accountability, and how organizations work with data. A new book is in development.
Read Winfried’s writing ↗05 / WRITE WITH US
What do you keep explaining that deserves a book? What does your field keep getting wrong?
If you have the experience and an argument worth developing, we’d like to hear it. We’re interested in original books on data, architecture, modeling, governance, and AI.
Describe who the book is for, what they’ll learn, and what existing books leave unanswered. Include a chapter outline, your relevant experience, and a writing sample if you have one. Bring us your idea early: we work with authors as they develop their books and don’t accept complete or nearly finished manuscripts.
Have a book in mind? Send us a proposal.
Submit a book proposalOpens Google Forms in a new tab.
06 / GET IN TOUCH
Talk to us about books for your team or a translation for a new audience. Have something else in mind? Tell us what you’re thinking.
Tell us what you have in mind.
Submit a business inquiryOpens Google Forms in a new tab.
FOLLOW THE WRITING
Joe shares essays on data modeling, book news, and updates on courses and workshops through Practical Data Modeling on Substack.
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