Specialty Books Founder Resigns

The founder of Specialty Books, now a division of Nebraska Book Comany, has resigned as General Manager of the Company. The company, which began on the founder's back porch has become the leader in an industry they created, with textbook sales anticipated of over $20 mill this year. With over half their sales now from Internet activity, the company's founder left in a dispute over how best to increase the bottom line of the division.

The founder of Specialty Books, Dr. Michael Mark, announced his resignation as General Manager of the company, which is now a division of Nebraska Book Company. His resignation, effective May 12th, was ultimately the result of differing views on how best to generate a better bottom line" for the company.

Mark, founded the company nearly 15 years ago when he was an administrator for the Lifelong Learning Programs of Ohio University. Citing the need for alternative services for students engaged in non-traditional and distance learning programs, Mark started the company on the back porch of his farm in Stewart, Ohio. Specialty Books has grown significantly over the years, and what began on that back porch is expected to exceed $20 Mill in textbook sales this fiscal year.

Dedicated to serving distance learning students, Specialty Books set the benchmarks in an industry they created. After several years of operation, they were followed in to the distance learning market by MBS Direct and Follett Express. After attempting to compete with the larger wholesalers, Mark and his partners were faced with mounting cash needs and were unable to continue as an independent operation. Nebraska Book Company purchased Specialty Books in April 1997, and their infusion of cash enabled the leadership of Mark and his management team to go after the market they had targeted for years. Under that leadership, the company grew from under $3 million in sales to the anticipated sales of $20 Million for fiscal year 2002. As of January 2001, Specialty Books also passed another milestone as more than half of their business was now being conducted online.

The needs of these students and these programs is enormous, and will continue to go unmet as long as companies view this as a textbook market", according to Mark.    During the acquisition, I had been asked by Nebraska Book Company how big is this market, and I told them this could easily be a $100 million division. I believed that then, and believe it even more today. We were making progress on the way to that goal when I resigned", said Mark.

It has been extremely difficult to walk way from the entity I created, yet it was important I do so at this time". Mark, who holds a doctorate in Adult Education was one of the early practitioners in the field of what is now known as distance learning. While I appreciate what Nebraska Book Company has done to support this operation, it became clear it would never develop in to the company I had envisioned." Mark cited the source of the conflict as the commissions" that are paid to institutions in exchange for the exclusive right to market to a particular group of students, in this case distance learning students. As long as schools bid out their textbook operations and ask for commissions, and as long as companies agree to pay those commissions and manipulate those commissions, the students will never be the primary beneficiary of these services."

According to Mark, if schools are interested in financing operations through textbook sales, there is a better way to do it. There is a way to hold down textbook prices, serve students, serve institutions and still have a profitable company. The more I have struggled with textbook margins and bottom line issues, the more I believe in that. The right service provider will recognize how that can be done, will capture that market and be financially successful. The company that looks beyond the textbook sale and has a true appreciation for all the constituencies, faculty, students and staff will emerge as the dominant player in this market. Its not how big you are or how deep your pockets are", according to Mark, its how well you understand this market and what their real needs are."

Mark has assumed a position as Director of Education with the National Business Incubation Association (nbia.org). That position allows him to stay close to the field of distance learning and keeps him in contact with fellow entrepreneurs.

For addtional information: Dr. Michael Mark
                         (740) 593-8239
                            aa671@yahoo.com