About

A publisher's life, in the margins and on the page.

I'm an experienced content strategist and publishing leader with over fifteen years of creating high-impact digital and print content for global technology brands.

Portrait of Troy Mott

I specialize in driving audience growth, improving search visibility, and optimizing user engagement through data-driven marketing and SEO. My background includes managing content programs for large-scale websites, building expert contributor networks, and leading the production of 200+ technical books and digital assets.

I've worked with subject matter experts and cross-functional teams to develop educational and marketing content that consistently exceeds performance goals — expanding online reach, streamlining editorial workflows, and reducing costs through smart vendor management.

My leadership style blends creativity, precision, and strategy — driving measurable business results while maintaining brand integrity and voice.

Experience

A timeline, front to back matter

  1. 2026 — Present

    Founder · My Five Ravens

    Self-employed · United States (Remote)

    A new small press publishing mostly first-time authors of fiction — content written by humans to be read by humans.

  2. 2004 — 2025

    Publisher, Owner & CEO · Backstop Media, LLC

    Santa Rosa, California · 21 years

    • — Published content with more than 200 global experts.
    • — Sold 50,000+ copies of the React titles through Bleeding Edge Press.
    • — Published books on Vue.js, Nest.js, and Deep Learning in the Browser.
    • — Grew O'Reilly Media unique visitors to 100K / month via WordPress, expert acquisition, and SEO.
    • — Delivered 25+ exam reference books for Microsoft Press / Pearson.
    • — Supplied Packt Publishing with 650 blog posts across four years.
  3. 2020 — 2025

    Senior Marketing Specialist · First American Home Warranty

    Santa Rosa, California

    SEO strategy across high-traffic service pages, HTML page builds, cross-functional troubleshooting, A/B testing on CTAs, and mobile optimization for conversion lift.

  4. 2018 — 2020

    Senior SEO Analyst III · PBHS Inc.

    Santa Rosa, California

    Analytics in Google Sheets, WordPress updates in HTML/CSS, and toolkit work across SEMRush, Moz, and Google Search Console to move client KPIs.

Craft

Hard skills, sharpened over time

  • Content Strategy
  • SEO Optimization
  • Digital Marketing
  • Editorial Management
  • Editing
  • Technical Writing
  • Project Management
  • Print & Digital Publishing
  • HTML & CSS
  • Google Analytics
  • Paid Media
  • Vendor Management
  • Social Media
  • WordPress
  • Acquisitions
  • Small Press Publishing

Recommendations

What colleagues say

Troy is a remarkable professional: he helped me immensely through the co-authoring and editing process with patience and kindness and invaluable input.
Johannes Fahrenkrug Co-author, Objective-C Fundamentals
I have worked with Troy on probably two dozen projects over the past 20 years. He is my first and last stop with anything related to publishing — books, articles, tutorials, even innovative mobile applications for big tech companies breaking into new markets.
Frank Ableson navitend

Let's build something worth reading.

Get in touch