Eric Kampmann began his career in book publishing as a sales rep at the Viking Press in 1970. He became Assistant Sales Manager there and then in 1974 moved on to St. Martin’s Press as Director of Sales. In 1977 he moved to Simon & Schuster as National Sales Manager where he rebuilt the trade sales force from top to bottom. He was promoted to VP and Director of Sales before leaving to start his own company in September 1981.
Before launching Midpoint in 1996, Eric built Kampmann & Company into one of the top distribution companies for independent publishers.
Eric believes that the timing of the launch of Midpoint in 1996 was very fortunate because the bookselling world was undergoing revolutionary changes. Midpoint was specifically designed to take advantage, on behalf of its client publishers, of these changes. Since shipping its first titles in February 1996, Midpoint has built on its strong and innovative foundation which has placed it in a unique position within the book industry. One reason Midpoint continues to grow in a changing world is because it embraced change from the very beginning. In 2011 alone, Midpoint established a new distribution center relationship with Leisure Arts; it launched our new web site; it built a new eBook program; and it opened a new sales division for the Christian book store market.
From the beginning, Midpoint has focused its experience and energy on helping independent publishers build successful publishing programs in the trade marketplace.
Eric is the author of The Book Publishers Handbook: The 7 Keys to Publishing Success published by Beaufort Books, Inc. He is also the author of three other titles and has taught publishing courses at Harvard, Columbia, Hofstra and New York University. He has also been a speaker in many venues over the years.
