Media Watch

Who are Walter & Pat Brooks?

Biographies:

Walter and Pat Brooks are the principals of Cape Cod TODAY. They also founded Best Read Guide, and eCape.com. They have spent thirty years in media, mostly at newspapers and for their own companies.

In 1988 they founded Best Read Guides, and today these pocket-sized, four-color, coated-stock vacation guides are the largest network of vacation magazines in America with over twenty million annual circulation in dozens of different editions from coast to coast and in Europe.

Lifelong Newspaper people

Before starting their own companies here on Cape Cod, Walter and  Pat had spent decades in the newspaper industry and are frequent contributors to the travel sections of eastern daily newspapers. Walter has held nearlyevery position in newspapering including classified manager, retail advertising manager, managing editor, promotion/marketing director, art director, photographer, and publisher. Among their newspaper ports of call have been The Village Voice, New York Post, Greenwich CT Time, Naugatuck CT Daily News., Amherst MA Journal-Record, Enfield CT Press, The Cape Codder and MPG Communications. He was educated at the Taft School, Culver Military Academy and University of Connecticut and has been a frequent lecturer on newspaper design and promotion and niche publications.
 
The World Wide Web

Since 1995 they have launched dozens of Internet travel sites including a unique "Gateway Travel" site located at www.BestReadGuide.com which links to all the on-line editions of Best Read Guide. In 1996 they launched www.CapeCodTravel.com which receives over three million hits a month and recently added a local Newspaper-online at www.CapeCodTODAY.com, and a print and a new eCommerce clearinghouse site at www.eCape.com.

Travel Writers as well

It is a natural extension of launching a half dozen new travel guide editions each year to write about other destinations, ones which may soon host an edition of Best Read Guide. Their columns and travel articles have appeared in The Boston Globe, Baltimore Sun, MPG Newspaper Group, Editor & Publisher magazine and many others. Today each article is also forwarded to the dozens of newspapers in North America which publish editions of their magazines.

Walter and Pat, his photographer wife live on Pleasant Bay in Harwich.