We recently connected with Dave Stern and have shared our conversation below.

Dave, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

Short and sweet. I was in the printing business (manufacturing side) when my best friend relayed how he was having trouble getting his book published. It occurred to me that I know virtually every printer in Chicagoland and could easily manufacture paperback copies of his work. Between the two of us, we had the marketing, public relations, and media expertise to get exposure. Ergo, Eckhartz Press was born.

Dave, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Eckhartz Press was founded in Chicago in 2011 by Rick Kaempfer and his long time collaborator and friend David Stern. The name “Eckhartz” is a tribute to the men that gave them their creative genes; Kaempfer’s father Eckhard, and Stern’s father Fritz. Eckhartz Press is a boutique Chicago publishing company dedicated to serving the brave new 21st century publishing world; the laughing “E” logo a constant reminder that life is too short – don’t ever lose your sense of humor.

Rick Kaempfer is the co-founder and publisher of Eckhartz Press in addition to being the author or co-author of Eckhartz Press releases, “Everycubever”, “Father Knows Nothing”, “Records Truly Is My Middle Name” (with John Records Landecker) and “The Living Wills” (with Brendan Sullivan). Rick has been published several times before (including a novel “$everance” and a how-to-book about radio called “The Radio Producer’s Handbook”), but he was also a member of the media for more than twenty years as the producer of two Hall of Fame radio shows (Steve Dahl & Garry Meier and John Records Landecker), and still covers the industry as the media critic for the Illinois Entertainer. He has watched the media landscape change over the past thirty years from a front row seat, and is excited to use that experience as the publisher of Eckhartz Press.

stern-120David Stern is the co-founder and publisher of Eckhartz Press, and the author of “The Balding Handbook”. After a 20+ year sales and marketing career, and a ten year stint as a principal in a Chicago advertising agency, Stern comes to Eckhartz Press uniquely qualified to tackle the realities of an ever-changing publishing landscape. He and Kaempfer have been collaborating in one form or another since they met at the University of Illinois in the early 1980s (when both must have been mere children). Stern is also one of the officers of Eckhartz Press’ parent company Just One Bad Century, Inc, and proud to call himself a life long (“City Boy”) Chicagoan.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

At first, we were under the impression that our major revenue source would be from end-users (readers). We quickly learned that profit margins were very thin, so, we pivoted to other revenue streams offering our pre-publishing services on an ala carte basis.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Perhaps this is somewhat tangental, but our podcast is ranked in the top 1% podcasts in the world. This was done purely on creating engaging content….consistently. It too a while to find our audience, but eventually we did.

Contact Info:

• Website: eckhartzpress.com
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dastern1/