Mercer Lane Press

OUR CATALOG

Books

Focused nonfiction for readers who want a reliable way to diagnose a problem and decide what to do next.

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AI & Digital Work

AI-assisted professional workflows, office automation, private local AI, and practical digital systems.

Cover of The AI Workflow Playbook for Executive Assistants by Mercer Lane

PRACTICAL GUIDE

The AI Workflow Playbook for Executive Assistants

Safe, Practical Systems for Meetings, Communication, Executive Support, Projects, and Office Productivity

By Mercer Lane

A practical, tool-neutral operating guide for executive assistants who want to use generative AI inside controlled workflows for meetings, communication, briefings, calendars, research, travel, projects, SOPs, documents, automation, and quality control while keeping source discipline, verification, judgment, and release authority with people.

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Cover of AI Productivity for HR Professionals by Mercer Lane

PRACTICAL GUIDE

AI Productivity for HR Professionals

A Practical Guide to Using AI for Hiring, Employee Handbooks, Interview Questions, Performance Reviews, HR Templates, Employee Relations, and Everyday Human Resources Work

By Mercer Lane

A practical working reference for HR professionals using AI for recurring drafting, communication, documentation, reporting, onboarding, performance management, employee relations, learning and development, and other everyday HR work, with 141 ready-to-use prompts, five connected workflows, five action plans, and a Role + Task + Context + Output framework.

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Cover of The AI Productivity Guide for Bookkeepers by Mercer Lane

PRACTICAL GUIDE

The AI Productivity Guide for Bookkeepers

100+ Professional AI Prompts, Workflow Systems, and Strategies Built Specifically for Bookkeepers

By Mercer Lane

A practical workbook for bookkeepers using AI for recurring communication, documentation, reporting, and workflow tasks, with more than 100 customizable prompts, five connected workflow systems, privacy guidance, short action plans, advanced prompting methods, and a 30-day implementation checklist.

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Cover of The Property Manager AI Guide by Mercer Lane

PRACTICAL GUIDE

The Property Manager AI Guide

Practical AI Prompts, Workflows and Systems for Better Communication, Maintenance, Leasing, Compliance and Property Operations

By Mercer Lane

A practical guide to using AI for recurring property-management communication and operations, with structured prompt methods, workflow systems, action plans, privacy precautions, and implementation routines across tenant communication, maintenance, leasing, rent collection, documentation, owner reporting, planning, and conflict resolution.

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Cover of Automate the Office by Mercer Lane

PRACTICAL GUIDE

Automate the Office

30 Practical Workflows Using Microsoft Power Automate for Outlook, Excel, Forms, SharePoint and Teams

By Mercer Lane

A practical Microsoft 365 workflow guide built around 30 Power Automate examples for email attachments and files, Forms and SharePoint requests, approvals, overdue work, Excel processing, Teams notifications, reporting, troubleshooting, and maintenance.

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Cover of Private AI on Your PC by Mercer Lane

PRACTICAL GUIDE

Private AI on Your PC

A Plain-English Guide to Running Useful Local AI at Home or Work Without Sending Every Prompt and Document to the Cloud

By Mercer Lane

A plain-English guide to running useful local AI on a Windows PC, choosing models that fit the hardware, understanding what stays local, working with private documents, troubleshooting slow or unstable setups, and deciding when the cloud is still the better tool.

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Leadership, Business & Operations

Frontline supervision, maintenance planning, reporting workflows, fleet maintenance, and small-business operating systems.

Cover of The Small Fleet Maintenance Operating Manual by Warren Holtby

PRACTICAL GUIDE

The Small Fleet Maintenance Operating Manual

A Practical System for Preventive Maintenance, Service Scheduling, Repair Costs, Vehicle Records and Keeping 3-50 Vehicles Organized

By Warren Holtby

A practical administrative system for small fleets that connects vehicle records, source-backed maintenance rules, due and overdue scheduling, defect and repair actions, service history, repair costs, downtime, review routines, and a 30-day implementation plan.

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Cover of Your First 30 Days as a Hotel Housekeeping Supervisor by Julian Rooke

PRACTICAL GUIDE

Your First 30 Days as a Hotel Housekeeping Supervisor

A Practical Guide to Room Boards, Inspections, Call-Outs, Staff Feedback, Linen and Getting Rooms Ready on Time

By Julian Rooke

A practical first-month field guide for newly promoted hotel housekeeping supervisors, covering the morning operating picture, fair room boards, call-outs, room-status control, inspections, front-desk coordination, linen and supply problems, staff feedback, training, handovers, and a structured 30-day development plan.

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Cover of The New Manufacturing Supervisor's Playbook by Daniel Mercer

PRACTICAL GUIDE

The New Manufacturing Supervisor's Playbook

A Practical Guide to Leading Shifts, Managing Former Peers, Giving Feedback and Handling Difficult Conversations

By Daniel Mercer

A practical first-90-days operating guide for newly promoted manufacturing supervisors, covering role clarity, shift leadership, former-peer boundaries, delegation, feedback, difficult conversations, performance problems, experienced employees, managing up, recurring issues, and knowing when to escalate.

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Cover of The Vending Machine Route Operating Manual by Warren Holtby

PRACTICAL GUIDE

The Vending Machine Route Operating Manual

A Location-First System for Machine Economics, Stock Control, Service Planning and Building Your First 10-Machine Route

By Warren Holtby

A practical U.S.-focused operating manual for people building or running a small vending-machine route, using a location-first system to qualify sites, model machine economics, choose equipment, control stock and service, measure each machine, and scale from the first machine toward a controlled ten-machine route.

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Cover of Write Better Home Inspection Reports Faster by Warren Holtby

PRACTICAL GUIDE

Write Better Home Inspection Reports Faster

A Practical Workflow for Observations, Photos, Narratives, Defect Comments, Summaries and Faster Report Delivery

By Warren Holtby

A practical, software-neutral system for residential home inspectors who want to reduce avoidable reporting friction while keeping observations, professional judgment, photographs, recommendations, summaries, limitations, and final quality control tied to the inspected property.

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Cover of Maintenance Planning for Small Teams by Daniel Mercer

PRACTICAL GUIDE

Maintenance Planning for Small Teams

A Weekly Operating System for Backlog Control, Better Work Orders, Parts Readiness, PM Scheduling, and Less Firefighting

By Daniel Mercer

A practical small-team maintenance planning system that separates work capture, triage, planning, readiness, weekly commitment, execution, closeout, and review so supervisors can control backlog, prepare executable work, coordinate parts and production access, schedule against realistic labor capacity, and learn from schedule changes without building a large-company bureaucracy.

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Home & Everyday Life

Household organization, troubleshooting, ownership, safety, heating, connectivity, pools, and smart-home systems.

Cover of Stop Drowning in Family Admin by Mercer Lane

PRACTICAL GUIDE

Stop Drowning in Family Admin

A Practical Household System for Calendars, School Forms, Appointments, Documents, Renewals and Everything You Have to Remember

By Mercer Lane

A practical household operating system for moving family admin out of memory and into a small set of trusted controls: capture points, clear next actions, calendars, Waiting For, findable records, weekly resets, explicit handoffs, and focused tools for recurring household obligations.

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Cover of Living With Underfloor Heating by Gareth Fenwick

PRACTICAL GUIDE

Living With Underfloor Heating

The UK Homeowner’s Guide to Thermostats, Heating Zones, Cold Rooms, Running Costs and Understanding Your System

By Gareth Fenwick

A practical UK homeowner guide to understanding an existing wet or electric underfloor heating system. Learn what thermostat displays really mean, identify zones and common components, compare warm-up and scheduling behaviour, investigate persistent cold rooms and running-cost questions safely, and prepare useful observations for a qualified professional. Includes a system passport, room-performance log, schedule experiment, billing comparison and handover worksheets.

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Cover of Solar Panels Installed — Now What? by Gareth Fenwick

PRACTICAL GUIDE

Solar Panels Installed — Now What?

The UK Homeowner’s Guide to Understanding Your Solar System, Export Payments, Electricity Bills and Everyday Performance

By Gareth Fenwick

A practical UK homeowner’s operating guide for understanding an installed domestic solar PV system. Organize handover documents, distinguish generation from import and export readings, follow up export-payment registration, check electricity bills, compare performance fairly, and report possible faults with useful evidence. Includes a 30-day owner system, worked examples, checklists, and record-keeping pages.

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Cover of The First-Time Pool Owner's Troubleshooting Guide by Evan Hargreaves

PRACTICAL GUIDE

The First-Time Pool Owner's Troubleshooting Guide

A Symptom-First System for Green or Cloudy Water, Vanishing Chlorine, Filter-Pressure Changes, Air Bubbles, Stains, Scale and Circulation Problems

By Evan Hargreaves

A practical U.S.-focused troubleshooting guide for first-time residential pool owners, built around a symptom-first OBSERVE → TEST → ISOLATE → ACT → VERIFY method for water, circulation, filtration, equipment, recurring problems, seasonal transitions, and knowing when professional help is the correct next step.

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Cover of The New Heat Pump Owner's Operating Manual by Gareth Fenwick

PRACTICAL GUIDE

The New Heat Pump Owner's Operating Manual

How to Run Your Air-to-Water Heat Pump Comfortably and Efficiently, Understand the Controls and Know When Something Isn't Right

By Gareth Fenwick

A practical UK owner's guide to domestic air-to-water heat pumps, covering the controls that matter, normal operating behaviour, comfort problems, electricity use, fault information, and the point where owner troubleshooting should stop.

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Cover of The Home Assistant & Matter Owner's Manual by Lewis Hartfield

PRACTICAL GUIDE

The Home Assistant & Matter Owner's Manual

A Homeowner’s Guide to Reliable Devices, Thread Networks, Private Automations, and Smart-Home Troubleshooting - Without Becoming a Programmer

By Lewis Hartfield

A practical homeowner-focused operating manual for building and maintaining a reliable Home Assistant smart home, with Matter and Thread treated as separate layers, local-first control paths, conservative automation design, and structured troubleshooting.

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Cover of Your First Year as a Homeowner by James Carter

PRACTICAL GUIDE

Your First Year as a Homeowner

A Month-by-Month Guide to Home Maintenance, Preventing Problems, and Knowing When to Call a Pro

By James Carter

A practical first-year home-maintenance guide that helps new homeowners learn their property, build a useful home record, follow a month-by-month inspection and maintenance rhythm, notice meaningful changes, and recognize when a job belongs with a qualified professional.

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Dogs & Pets

Dog behaviour, enrichment, cooperative care, rescue-dog settling, and beginner aquarium troubleshooting.

Cover of What's Wrong With My Aquarium? by Miles Northcott

PRACTICAL GUIDE

What's Wrong With My Aquarium?

A Beginner's Troubleshooting Guide to Cloudy Water, Algae, Fish Stress, Cycling Problems, Filters and Water Quality

By Miles Northcott

A beginner-focused freshwater aquarium troubleshooting guide built around an observe, test, triage, correct, and verify method. It helps owners investigate cloudy or green water, fish stress, cycling and water-quality problems, filter and temperature failures, water-change problems, recurring algae, feeding and stocking pressure, and decide when specialist or aquatic-veterinary help is appropriate.

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Cover of Busy Dog, Better Day by Sophie Ardenwood

PRACTICAL GUIDE

Busy Dog, Better Day

60 Easy Dog Enrichment Games Using Everyday Things - 5- to 15-Minute Activities for Sniffing, Thinking, Playing & Bonding

By Sophie Ardenwood

A repeat-use library of 60 short dog enrichment games built around sniffing, foraging, thinking, low-impact movement, play, and everyday household items, with 5-, 10-, and 15-minute options and safety-focused ways to adjust difficulty.

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Cover of Cooperative Care for Dog Owners by Sophie Ardenwood

PRACTICAL GUIDE

Cooperative Care for Dog Owners

A Step-by-Step System for Calmer Nail Trims, Grooming, Medication, Handling, and Vet Visits

By Sophie Ardenwood

A practical, reward-based guide to preparing dogs for routine handling and care by reading stress early, using predictable start and release behaviors, splitting tasks into small trainable steps, and knowing when pain, urgency, or bite risk requires professional help instead of more home training.

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Cover of The Rescue Dog First 90 Days by Sophie Ardenwood

PRACTICAL GUIDE

The Rescue Dog First 90 Days

A Week-by-Week Operating System for Settling In, Building Trust, Solving Early Problems, and Knowing What to Do Next

By Sophie Ardenwood

A practical week-by-week operating system for helping a newly adopted rescue dog settle in safely, with low-pressure first days, predictable routines, reward-based foundation skills, careful introductions, gradual expansion, and clear decision points for veterinary or qualified behavior help.

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Trades & Certification

Estimating, pricing, and trade-exam preparation for practical working contexts.

Cover of Construction Estimating for Your First Jobs by Warren Holtby

PRACTICAL GUIDE

Construction Estimating for Your First Jobs

A Beginner's Worked-Example Guide to Quantity Takeoffs, Labor, Waste, Overhead, Markup, Bid Review, and Avoiding Costly Estimating Mistakes

By Warren Holtby

A beginner-focused worked-example guide to construction estimating that follows one fictional workshop from scope and quantity takeoff through material purchasing, labor hours, subcontract quotes, overhead and margin, bid review, proposal, and post-job learning.

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Hobbies & Recreation

Astronomy, astrophotography, genealogy, pickleball, youth soccer, and amateur radio.

Cover of Your First 20 Nights With a Telescope by Evan Hargreaves

PRACTICAL GUIDE

Your First 20 Nights With a Telescope

A 20-Session Beginner Plan for Setting Up, Finding Targets, Reading the Sky and Learning to Observe

By Evan Hargreaves

A practical twenty-session beginner program for learning visual telescope observing: set up and control the instrument, find and confirm targets, build observing technique, read conditions, troubleshoot problems, and plan independent sessions.

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Cover of Deep-Sky Astrophotography Troubleshooting by Evan Hargreaves

PRACTICAL GUIDE

Deep-Sky Astrophotography Troubleshooting

A Symptom-to-Cause Diagnostic Guide for Guiding, Tracking, Focus, Plate Solving, Calibration and Automation Failures

By Evan Hargreaves

A symptom-to-cause diagnostic manual for deep-sky imagers who need to separate guiding, tracking, focus, plate-solving, calibration, communication, optical, and automation failures using controlled tests instead of speculative setting changes.

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Cover of Break Through Your Genealogy Brick Wall by Daniel Mercer

PRACTICAL GUIDE

Break Through Your Genealogy Brick Wall

A Step-by-Step Case-Solving System for Missing Ancestors, Conflicting Records, and Family Tree Dead Ends

By Daniel Mercer

A practical case-solving system for difficult family-history research that turns repeated searching into a structured investigation: define one question, verify the evidence, trace provenance, build a timeline, preserve contradictions, expand names and jurisdictions, research associates, test competing hypotheses, correlate the evidence, and record a defensible conclusion.

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Cover of Pickleball Doubles Decisions by Julian Rooke

PRACTICAL GUIDE

Pickleball Doubles Decisions

Read the Rally, Choose the Shot, Move as a Pair and Repair the Point - A Courtside Strategy Guide for Intermediate Players

By Julian Rooke

A practical doubles strategy guide for intermediate pickleball players who already know the basic shots and want a clearer system for reading rally state, choosing the next job, moving with a partner, and repairing points when the normal pattern breaks.

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Cover of So You've Volunteered to Coach Soccer by Grant Ellwood

PRACTICAL GUIDE

So You've Volunteered to Coach Soccer

A First-Season Playbook for Parent Coaches of Kids 6–12 — Practices, Parents, Match Days and Team Admin

By Grant Ellwood

A practical first-season playbook for volunteer parent coaches running recreational youth soccer teams for ages 6–12, covering team setup, practice planning, parent communication, match-day preparation, playing-time rotations, common disruptions, and the boundary between coaching decisions and league or safety escalation.

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Other Practical Guides

Additional Mercer Lane Press titles.

Cover of The Over-Aroused Dog by Sophie Ardenwood

PRACTICAL GUIDE

The Over-Aroused Dog

A Practical Plan to Reduce Overexcitement, Build Focus, and Teach Your High-Energy Dog to Settle in Real Life

By Sophie Ardenwood

A practical, reward-based guide for owners of high-energy and easily over-aroused dogs, combining lower-load daily routines, early-warning and recovery tracking, usable calm skills, and gradual practice around visitors, walks, play, public places, handling, and other real-life situations.

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Cover of Reliable Recall: From Long Line to Real-World Freedom by Sophie Ardenwood

PRACTICAL GUIDE

Reliable Recall: From Long Line to Real-World Freedom

A Step-by-Step Proofing Plan for Dogs Who Come at Home but Tune You Out Around Wildlife, Dogs, Smells, and Distance

By Sophie Ardenwood

A step-by-step, reward-based recall proofing guide for owners whose dogs respond at home but tune out around wildlife, other dogs, smells, distance, or unfamiliar environments. The system combines cue protection, long-line management, a Distance–Distraction–Environment proofing map, reward-and-release, environment-specific readiness rules, a 30-day plan, and troubleshooting tools.

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