Brent Sampson: CEO of Book Publishing & Marketing Firm OutskirtsPress.com

Yesterday I posted the 2011 version of the About Us page that appeared on our self-publishing website. It contained the “About Us” story through 2010. As 2011 came to an end, we needed a new version for 2012, which continued the story of our company and our successfully published authors through 2011.  Consolidating 10 years of achievements and milestones into one page was becoming laborious (to read), so with this version, we shorted it considerably. Here’s the new version:

Ten years ago, Outskirts Press was founded by author Brent Sampson in 2002 as a result of his personal frustrations with getting published. Outskirts Press incorporated in Colorado in 2003, and through strategic partnerships with companies like Writer’s Digest, Outskirts Press quickly became the fastest-growing full-service book publishing and book marketing firm.

The years between 2004 and 2006 marked a growth rate in excess of 1,500%, 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.  By the end of 2006, Outskirts Press already had nearly 1,000 books in print,  all of them available worldwide through Ingram, Baker & Taylor, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble online, among others. And by the end of 2007, Outskirts Press had more than doubled its title totals again.

In 2008 The Denver Business Journal recognized Outskirts Press for the second year in a row 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.

2009 and 2010 marked more new milestones, as well. In 2009 Outskirts Press published its 5,000th title and became the only self-publishing company to appear on the Inc. 500 list of fastest-growing privately held companies.

And in 2010, and again in 2011, Outskirts Press repeated its appearance on the Inc. 5000 twice more, and became the only self-publishing company to appear on the list of top 5,000 fastest growing businesses in America for three years in a row.

So how does Outskirts Press remain 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.
• It grows with our authors.  Just ask Gang Chen, who earned over $100,000 in 180 days; or Sally Shields, the stay-at-home mom-turned-2-time Amazon.com bestseller; or Ronnie Lee, who has become one of the most prolific published authors of our generation with the assistance of Outskirts Press.

As we look toward the future, 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), only grows stronger.

For instance, we have embraced digital e-books with three a la carte digital publishing options:

• The Amazon Kindle
• The Barnes & Noble NOOK
• The Apple iPad

 We have embraced social media to help our authors further promote their books:

• Our author community on Facebook grew ten-fold in the past year
• Our author videos on YouTube number in the hundreds
• Our company blog continually keeps our authors informed

And, we practice what we preach, publishing our own series of books to help authors navigate the sometimes tricky waters of book publishing and offering free publication in various anthologies through the year to showcase how easy, fast, and fun it can be to publish with Outskirts Press.

• Self-Publishing Simplified
• The Highly Effective Habits of Five Successful Authors
• Fandemonium, the Facebook Anthology

Through it all, Outskirts Press authors have remained our main focal point. With over 8,200 published titles, Outskirts Press continues to pour development dollars and resources into further improvements to the Outskirts Press website and its growing list of writing, publishing, and marketing services/products to further support our authors’ goals and dreams.

What does success mean to you? By any measure, you will find it here with Outskirts Press and we look forward to helping you on that journey.

Many of us, and some of our family members, took a moment during our July 4th picnic, to pose…

Every year we update the “About Us” page on our self-publishing website at Outskirts Press to tell a little bit about how we got started, what we’re all about,  what we offer, and build upon the story featuring another year of successfully published authors. There’s a “version” of that information on this blog’s “About” page, too, although the order of the information is a little different. We try to make the updates to that “About Us” page during the first month of each year. So, below is the “old” version of the About Us page from our website and tomorrow, on February 1, I’ll post the new version. In addition to keeping an archive of it as it changes, posting it here also provides all the “old” information (which is still valid and helpful for authors) even as it updates to newer versions. The graph is already updated because we keep updating the same filename each year so that it updates everywhere through its hotlinks.

So, without further ado, here’s the version that existed through 2011.

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).

Outskirts Press was incorporated in October 2003 and published seven books its first year.

In 2004, Outskirts Press published an additional 51 books and began creating an infrastructure of talented publishing artisans that would help Outskirts Press deliver maximum author flexibility, full-service support, and the highest quality books.

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.

Now in its third edition as Outskirts Press services have improved and streamlined, 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.

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 nearly 1,000 books in print, all of them available worldwide through Ingram, Baker & Taylor, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble online, among others.

The years between 2004 and 2006 marked a growth rate in excess of 1,500%, 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 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 more 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.

In 2009, our authors had the most successful year since our founding, beginning with Gang Chen, who earned over $100,000 in 180 days. Our youngest author, Dalton James wrote, illustrated and published his third full-color children’s book with us at just 8 years of age. 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.

2009 and 2010 marked a few milestones. In 2009 Outskirts Press published its 5,000th title and become the only self-publishing company to appear on the Inc. 500 list of fastest-growing privately held companies.

And in 2010, Outskirts Press repeated its appearance on the Inc. 5000 and became the only self-publishing company to appear on the list of top 5,000 fastest growing businesses in America for two years in a row. In January 2010, CEO Brent Sampson started his blog at brentsampson.com and in the spring was a semi-finalist in the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Awards.

Speaking of awards, Outskirts Press sponsored the Student Literary Awards and Colorado Book Awards in association with our charitable donations to the Colorado Humanities. Meanwhile, Outskirts Press began establishing its social networking presence by developing its YouTube channel and surpassing 500 Facebook Fans and 500 Twitter followers. In December, Outskirts Press celebrated the holidays with its Facebook fans by giving away two free Amazon Kindles.

Through it all, Outskirts Press authors have remained our main focal point. With over 6,500 titles published, Outskirts Press continues to pour development dollars and resources into further improvements to the Outskirts Press website and its growing list of writing, publishing, and marketing services/products to further support our authors’ goals and dreams.

What does success mean to you? By any measure, you will find it here with Outskirts Press and we look forward to helping you on that journey.

Your success depends upon you. Are you ready to start your publishing journey? Click here…

Every holiday season, Outskirts Press hosts a luncheon for our family of  Author Reps, Title Production Supervisors, Project Managers, Editors, Illustrators, and Publishing Consultants, although since many of them are scattered across the country (to best facilitate same time zone communications with our authors), only a small percentage of us can ever get together all at once. In fact, typically between 1/3 and 1/2 of our LOCAL people are often together at the same time, seeing how we’re all working as hard as ever to deliver published books to our authors before the end of the year.

Nevertheless, we always find time to fit in a little fun. And speaking of fun, here are the last 6 years of holidays parties at Outskirts Press, proving once again that the more things change, the more they stay the same. And that constant quality, service, and value is what continues to make Outskirts Press the fastest-growing full-service self-publishing firm.  And for that, we thank our authors. So from our family to yours, happy holidays, and thank you.

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

No matter what year it is, Happy Holidays from Outskirts Press.

Yesterday I finished the blog series about creating a Google+ page for business by suggesting that with this post, today, I would share a method to automate posts to Google+. And before I do that, let me dispel the notion that “automating” posts is any sort of “click it and forget it” type of thing.  The task (yes, it’s a task) of “automating” your social media presence still requires a fair amount of work. For instance, for the purposes of maintaining our growing social network communities for Outskirts Press, we use the following “automation” and tracking tools: TweetDeck, HooteSuite, Klout, Ping, Rooster, and FTTT.  And to give you a visual representation of what all that involves, here’s a screen shot of JUST our HootSuite dashboard:

Scary, yes? Helpful? You bet!  In this particular screen shot, if you squint closely, you may notice that we are able to monitor 5 social media “streams” simultaneously, plus we’re able to post directly to our Facebook page, keep track of retweets from Twitter, and even schedule posts in advance on a few of our networks all at once. Unfortunately, no single application that I’ve been able to find has access to ALL the social media networks that we use, which is why we have several (and of course, that sometimes causes scheduling conflicts where several of us at Outskirts Press may inadvertently schedule various posts too close to one another).   And up until very recently, NONE of them automated posts to Google+ Pages (simply because Google+ Pages are so new).  But within the last couple of weeks, the API was opened up to six applications, including Hootsuite.

Sounds too good to be true?  The ability to automate posts and content to our new Google+ Page using an application we were already familiar with and using heavily? Well, right now, it IS too good to be true.   Development of new functionality like this takes time and even though Hootsuite has the Google API available, they don’ t yet have anything operational on their dashboard. Instead, they direct you toward a “landing page” requiring you to “apply” for the benefit of having Google+ added to your dashboard.  Here’s a link to the application.

So until it is officially added to Hootsuite — or to the others, which are: Buddy Media, Context Optional, Hearsay Social, Involver, and Vitrue– this is the procedure for putting the steps into place to be able to automate your Google+ pages as easily as your other social channels.  Of course, you might get hit up by some marketing emails from Hootsuite or even sales calls, so… just sayin’.

I’ve applied and will keep you posted…

Speaking of landing pages, today also marks the beginning of our  new Facebook landing page to encourage more “Likes” to build our Facebook community, which surpassed 3,000 this week.  And I’ll discuss all the fun details involved in creating and implementing Facebook landing pages next…

I promised my family I wouldn’t work today. And I’m not going to — I scheduled this posting on Monday. Happy Thanksgiving.

Google launched Google+ in June 2011, which Mark Zuckerberg described as Google “… trying to build their own little version of Facebook.”  He’s right. If you look at Google+ you immediately see the similarities, so much so I’d be surprised if Facebook lawyers weren’t contemplating a suit. But that’s a posting for a different blog.  This one involves using Google Plus for business.

Of course, up until November,  you couldn’t use Google+ for business, not really. But in early November, Google+ launched business pages for their new social networking site, so now’s the time to write about how to set-up and use Google+ (Google Plus) for business.

First, you need to create a Google+ account at http://plus.google.com

Doing this requires you have your own Google account, which perhaps you have already set-up for Google Alerts, or many of the other services Google offers.   Enter your first name, last name, gender, and year of birth. All self-explanatory. Then upload a photograph, and if you’re an author, I would recommend uploading the same professional image you use on the back of your book and for all your book marketing efforts. 

So far, this is basically the same as Facebook in that I created a “personal profile” on Facebook prior to creating a Facebook Page for Outskirts Press.  Their close association has always prevented me from truly using Facebook (even my personal profile) for much other than business. This is the reason my photograph on my personal Facebook page is the round OP Logo.  Kind of defeating, I know, but it is what it is….    So now that I’m starting with Google+, I’m going to see if it is feasible to separate business from pleasure, so to speak — after all, that is one of the “benefits” Google+ claims over Facebook; we’ll see if it’s true.  To that end, I’ve  uploaded my professional head-shot into my personal Google + account.  As you do this, you may or may not have the same considerations.

The next check-box question requests your permission to “personalize” the web for you.  This is Google’s way of asking if they can use your personal information to tailor advertisements to you.  Their description of this functionality is purposefully vague on its real purpose, but that’s no surprise.  Who’s going to answer “Yes” to “Send me lots of ads” but saying “Yes” to “You’ll get to see everything your friends recommend that you might also enjoy” is a lot easier to swallow.   Here’s the disclaimer language on Google’s help page regarding this check-box:  When you click the +1 button, you’re explicitly signaling interest in displaying, sharing, or recommending specific online content, including ads.

Of course, one might argue that disabling that check-box removes half the point of social networking, and that’s true, so what you do with this check box is up to you.

Then you click join… and come back tomorrow for what happens next…

… continuing on with the step-by-step process of incorporating a small business on Legal Zoom…

11. After you enter your state of incorporation and your proposed business name and hit the CONTINUE button, it asks: Would you like us to help you obtain S corporation status?  It offers 3 options:

• Yes, obtain my S-Corp status with the IRS
• Yes, prepare my S-Corp form only
• No (which means you want a C-Corp)

Here’s the help that Legal Zoom supplies in regard to this question: “An S corporation is treated as a pass-through entity for tax purposes. This avoids double taxation and may simplify your taxes. LegalZoom can obtain S corporation status for you, or we can prepare IRS Form 2553 so that you can more easily obtain it on your own. Please note that we can only help if the corporation has a fiscal year ending December 31.  Please note that one of the restrictions that apply to an S corporation is that it cannot have any preferred stock. You may only have common stock.  Preparation of IRS Form 2553 is included with the Gold Incorporation Package — otherwise, a $45 charge will apply. To have LegalZoom obtain S corporation status for you, an $80 charge will apply ($35 with the Gold Incorporation Package). If you would rather be a C corporation, select no. Which is better? There is no right answer to this question. The majority of our users form S corporations. You may wish to consult with an accountant to see which type of corporation is best for you.”

I’m going to obtain S-Corp status for my business, and I’m going to have LegalZoom obtain it for me for $80. I have better things to do.

12. Same thing with the next question: Would you like us to help the corporation apply for a federal tax identification number?

• Yes, please obtain my tax ID for me.
• No, prepare the form only
• No

I’m going to have them obtain my tax ID for me.  That’s why I’m using  a service. It’s going to cost me $79.  When I look at my normal hourly rate, I have to ask myself how long it would take me to figure out how to do it on my own, then to actually do it, and then to deal with the anguish afterwards if I did it wrong.  Probably more than $79.

As I continue to draw parallels between this process and our online process of helping authors publish and market books at Outskirts Press, this is another similarity. We offer similar services/upgrades through the process. For instance, our authors are presented with the option early in the pre-production process to have us officially register their copyright for them with the U.S. Copyright Office. They can do this on their own, just like I could obtain my S-Corp status on my own, but it’s just easier to let someone else do it all for you. At least, that’s how I feel…

13. Then it asks: Are you a doctor, dentist, lawyer or other licensed professional seeking to form a Professional Corporation? If so, please check this box.

Personally, I’m saying No to that one, which means I leave the box blank.

14. Click SAVE AND CONTINUE

… to be continued…

Over the past several posts I’ve been blogging about incorporating a small business and have detailed the benefits of doing so followed by the general steps.  Not surprisingly, as the CEO of Outskirts Press, I believe using a professional online service to help you do something conveniently and easily is better than absorbing the learning curve of trying to figure out how to do it yourself.  It’s easier to go to a site and click  “ADD TO CART”  than it is trying to figure out how to register an ISBN, register a Copyright,  apply for a Library of Congress Number,  calculate the spine width of a book cover,  resample images to 300 dpi,  incorporate bleeds into a cover design,  format an interior in InDesign, and…..   Well, you get the idea. Sure, a writer could do all that herself, I suppose.    Why on earth would she want to?  Does she want to be a publisher, or does she want to be a published author?

I don’t want to incorporate businesses for a living. I just want one. So I’m going to find a service to help me, and to that end, I’ve found two comparison sites:

Compare Legal Forms

… and Top Consumer Reviews

Let’s look at only the services evaluated by both:

• Legal Zoom
• My New Company

Compare Legal Forms also lists Incorporate, BizFilings, CorpNet, and Rocket Lawyer, while Top Consumer Reviews also lists The Company Corporation, My Corporation, My Law Daddy, and Corporate Creations.  If I were giving legal advice (which of course, I’m not, since I’m not a lawyer), I might recommend looking into all those alternatives, but for the sake of brevity, we’ll just compare the two options that are represented on both sites.

Compare Legal Forms doesn’t review the services, but rather lists their features. Top Consumer Reviews offers a review and a rating for each service it lists, and in their case, they consider Legal Zoom to be superior to My New Company.   I also happened to ask a CPA his opinion and he also recommended Legal Zoom, at least for me — your specific needs may vary. But that just goes to show, when possible, it’s always nice to hear or read what other people have to say, too.  For instance, we make our authors’ comments and testimonials readily available on the Internet (and we add 3 new ones each week) so anyone can review them by clicking here.

So… Legal Zoom it is… Stay tuned next week as I incorporate a business on Legal Zoom, step by step…

Over the past couple posts I’ve discussed the advantages of incorporating and a brief outline of the steps involved in incorporating a small business. Now let’s do some research to determine the online service to use.  I’m going to incorporate a new company, so I’m going to research online services to help me.  But how to choose the “best” one?

It’s not unlike the process I recommend to authors or professionals when they are researching a self publishing company:  Locate a number of comparison or review sites and allocate a point system to come up with a combined value for all the firms you are researching.   This prevents any one opinion from carrying undue weight.  Do enough research on any large company on the internet and you will find unhappy campers and ecstatic customers. Who do you believe?  You believe yourself, but conducting research and common sense. So when you look at a number of sources and take a combined average score from all of them, you usually come away with a good, fair idea of the service or company. 

I performed this process for self-publishing firms to demonstrate what I mean. You can see the results of that effort by clicking here.

So now we get to compare online incorporation services. I’m going to use two comparison sites: CompareLegalForms.com and TopConsumerReviews.com.    Stay tuned tomorrow to see what happens next…

Yesterday we discussed the reasons someone might want to incorporate a small business. Today, we’ll outline the process.

How to incorporate a small business in 5 easy steps:

1. Determine the state of incorporation. Usually this is the state in which you reside and in which you plan to conduct your business. Sure, there are some long-term tax advantages to incorporating in states that have more advantageous tax laws, but unless you live in those states (Delaware is a favorite) then you have to qualify to conduct business in your state of residence anyway, which is kind of like incorporating twice.  Should it ever become valuable to consider the tax benefits, you can always incorporate in another state later, so right out of the gate, it’s easiest to incorporate in the state you live in.

2. Determine who will own stock. It’s easiest if that answer is “Me and my immediate family.” 

3. Check with your Secretary of State or Corporations Commissioner and the federal and state trademark registers to settle upon an available business name. You can find these sources via a Google search.

3. Prepare your Articles of Incorporation – These forms are state specific, but fortunately, the Internet has made it easier than ever to find the correct form. Here’s a handy-dandy map that allows you to click on your state and be taken to the appropriate form.

4. Complete your Corporate Bylaws – This online form service can help.

5. Files these documents with your state and pay the registration fee.

Not easy enough yet? No problem. There are incorporating services available on-line that promise to make the process of incorporating a business a snap (and affordable, to boot!)  Do they work? Stay tuned tomorrow as I compare some of the major players in Online Incorporations side-by-side and pick the one I’ll use to incorporate an actual business.

Certainly there is a correlation between this series of posts and our services at Outskirts Press.  Yes, I could incorporate my business by going to each government website individually and finding the proper forms and filling them out and doing everything manually.  But, instead, I’m going to opt to use an online service to make all that work faster and easier for me.  Am I going to have to pay for that convenience? Of course, but given the amount of time it would take me to learn how to do it all on my own, the convenience and knowledge that it is being done correctly is worth the cost to me.  The same can be said for self-publishing a book…