About
After years of frustration and turmoil as a writer at the mercy of an outdated industry, publishing expert Brent Sampson envisioned a better way to get published. In 2002 he founded Outskirts Press, a custom book publishing solution that provides a cost-effective, fast, and powerful way to help authors publish and distribute their books worldwide while leaving all the control and flexibility in the hands of the author. Outskirts Press was incorporated in Colorado in October, 2003.
In his capacity as the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Marketing Officer, Brent has established himself as an expert in the field of book publishing and self-promotion through the publication of several books, including the bestseller Sell Your Book on Amazon, which debuted at #29 on Amazon’s bestseller list. A prolific writer and engaging speaker, Brent is also an active participant and member of several leading publishing and writing associations nationwide, including:
- The Independent Book Publishers Association
- The Small Publishers Association of North America
- The Colorado Independent Publishers Association
- The Florida Writers Association
- The Southwest Writers Association
Brent Sampson holds multiple degrees in English and Film from the University of Colorado in Boulder and is the author of several published books including:
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Self-Publishing Simplified
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Publishing Gems
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Sell Your Book on Amazon
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Adventures in Publishing
In addition to serving on the board for the Education and Literacy Foundation, Brent Sampson is the Chairman on the Outskirts Press Board of Directors and oversees the COO, the CFO/CTO, and a veritable army of publishing professionals as Outskirts Press continues its double-digit growth year after year.
How did Outskirts Press become the fastest-growing full-service publishing provider?
- It begins with our Mission Statement: To exceed the expectations of every author we help publish.
- It continues with our commitment to conservationism and recycling. Our most popular book sizes offer a recycled paper-stock option, featuring 30% post-consumer.
- And we grow toward the future with our commitment to produce high-quality books and offer high levels of support to our authors in all three phases of their journey (writing, publishing, marketing).
As our family of satisfied authors will attest, being a published author is a thoroughly satisfying and exciting adventure. We invite you to join us. Here is the story of how Outskirts Press started, how we got to where we are today, and where we are headed…
After several frustrating attempts at traditional publication, Outskirts Press President & CEO Brent Sampson combined his business acumen, love for writing, and educational background in English and Creative Writing to form Outskirts Press in 2002. The company was incorporated in October 2003 and published seven books their first year.
In 2004, Outskirts Press published 51 additional books and the executive team began the process of creating an infrastructure of talented publishing artisans that would help Outskirts Press deliver maximum author flexibility, full-service support, and the highest quality books.
By 2005, the quality of Outskirts Press books, the professional manner in which we worked with our growing family of authors, and the large number of marketing services we offered, propelled Outskirts Press toward triple-digit growth. Through strategic partnerships with companies like Writer’s Digest, and affiliations with the Publishers Marketing Association and the Small Publishers of North America (among others), Outskirts Press built a strong foundation and positive reputation in the publishing industry. The company published 220 new books in 2005, including its own publishing guide titled Self-Publishing Simplified, available as a free e-book as well as a $5.95 paperback edition at Amazon.com.
Our publishing guide Self-Publishing Simplified continues to serve as a product brochure, an example of the company’s exemplary quality, and evidence that publishing a print-on-demand book does not require an outlandish retail price. Try to find a new book by any other print-on-demand publisher on Amazon for $5.95! The power of our pricing speaks for itself.
Authors around the world rejoiced! Outskirts Press, based on the outskirts of Denver, Colorado, publishes authors from down the street and across the globe. With our intimate, secure, and efficient online process, all our authors experience the personal attention of our author representatives, no matter where in the world they are located.
In 2006 Outskirts Press published another 695 books, approximately matching the yearly output of some traditional New York publishers. In total, the company already had 973 books in print, all of them available worldwide through their strategic distributorships with Ingram, Baker & Taylor, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble online, among others.
The years between 2004 and 2006 marked a growth rate in excess of 1500%, an amazing accomplishment that was publicized in July 2007 by The Denver Business Journal when Outskirts Press was recognized as the 3rd fastest-growing privately held company in Colorado.
In the first quarter of 2007 Outskirts Press CEO Brent Sampson wrote and published the bestseller, Sell Your Book on Amazon, which hit #29 on Amazon’s bestseller list in its debut month (March 2007). By the end of 2007, Outskirts Press had doubled its 2006 revenue and published an additional 1,200 books, ending the year with over 2,100 total books in print, making it the fastest-growing full-service publisher in America and one of the most prolific publishers in the world.
2008 was equally exciting. For the second year in a row, The Denver Business Journal recognized Outskirts Press as the fastest-growing publisher, and in fact, the fastest-growing privately held small-to-medium sized company in Colorado (in any industry), boasting growth of over 500% for the years between 2005-2007.
Just in time for the holiday season, Outskirts Press CEO Brent Sampson wrote and published Adventures in Publishing, a unique children’s book about how to publish a children’s book. Featuring amazing full-color custom illustrations and rhyming verse, Adventures in Publishing acts as a full-color publishing guide for the Pearl publishing package and is an example of the artistry that is available to all our full-color authors.
By year’s end, Outskirts Press had improved upon its 2007 numbers by 22% in terms of published titles, and an astounding 65% in terms of author royalty payouts, all within a challenging economic climate. The new self publishing blog at http://selfpublishingnews.com began to publicize some amazing Outskirts Press successes, like the $75,000, $50,000, $60,000, and $60,000 quarterly 2008 royalties paid to the top five authors, respectively.
In 2009, our authors had the most successful year since our founding, beginning with Gang Chen, who earned over $100,000 in six short months with Outskirts Press. Our youngest author, Dalton James at the age of 8, wrote, illustrated and published his third full-color children’s book with us. And more authors than we can count turned their publishing dreams into traditional publication realities when conventional publishers picked-up their Outskirts Press titles, including Susan R. Dolan and Audrey R. Vizzard. See their case study here.
In fact, Outskirts Press had the most successful year since its founding, too, publishing its 5,000th book and becoming the only self-publishing company to appear on the Inc. 500 list of fastest-growing privately held companies.
What does success mean to you? By any measure, you will find it here with Outskirts Press. We are constantly adding new author support options for the pre-production process (while you are writing your book), the production process (streamlining your timeframe and making it easier than ever before) and the post-publication process (an incredible array of marketing and book promotional services).
Your success depends upon you. Are you ready to start your publishing journey? Click here…
