Mark Plotnick co-authored the consumer guide, The $mart Money $hopper (Perriday, 2nd ed., 1984). Due to his expertise, Mark was the subject of many newspaper and magazine interviews, and appeared on Chicago-area radio and television shows, including The Oprah Winfrey Show. This experience launched Mark into new, eclectic career directions, including product marketing, copywriting, publicity, trade magazine journalism, and the analysis/writing of widely-consulted marketing-research studies for a variety of U.S. and international companies. Now retired, he focuses on his lifelong passion: writing about and playing music. Mark earned a B.S. in Biology at Loyola (Chicago) University and attended one year of professional school at the Illinois College of Optometry.