B Alan Bourgeois was a book publisher from 2006-2011 and helped get 60 books published for authors around the world. During this time, he began to see the various changes in the publishing world, with the increase in Amazon’s presence, self-publishing POD, and most importantly with the marketing of books. It was the lack of book marketing knowledge that existed along with the high cost of marketing in general that Bourgeois saw a growing need for all types of authors to learn more about how to market and sell their books.
In August 2011 after shutting down his publishing company, he began to create the Texas Association of Authors (TxAuthors). This organization was dedicated to helping Texas Authors learn how to better market and sell their books through events, and programs with an educational focus on authors. During this period Bourgeois created additional organizations designed to help Texas authors with the Drop Everything And Read Texas literacy program, and the Texas Authors Institute of History, a museum dedicated to Texas Authors past, present, and future.
In 2012, Bourgeois created a Book Contest for Texas Authors to help them get additional recognition for their outstanding work. This contest continued for both Texas Authors and International Authors through a combined contest.
In 2016, Bourgeois added the Authors Marketing Event, a weekend full of classes designed to give authors more understanding about marketing, while also giving them a fellowship with fellow authors.
The AME was a huge success for the authors, with one exception, they were overwhelmed with the knowledge that was shared and was feeling a mental fog from everything they learned. Because of this large amount of knowledge being shared, Bourgeois added video recordings in 2017 to the AME and then created the Authors Marketing Certification (AMC) program designed to help authors stand out above the thousands of other authors. With the AMC designation, they were able to show publishers and others that they were serious authors/authorpenuers by learning how to market their books. This is a very valuable asset for any publisher, as most could not afford the high cost of marketing a book like the big NYC publishers could. Having the videos available to AME attendees throughout the following year, gave authors more confidence to succeed. The online video campus now has approximately 40 plus videos in three major levels of marketing and publishing understanding: Beginners, Intermediate and Advanced.
In 2019, Bourgeois began the process of creating a bookstore designed to give authors more income and access to the readers who purchased their books. Originally established as the Indie Lector bookstore, in 2020 it became the B4R.store (Books for Readers). This bookstore pays up to 80% of the retail sales of a book while working with the author on various levels to increase their sales and marketing opportunities.
During the same year, Bourgeois moved the organization to include authors from around the world and changed the name to the Authors Marketing Guild, LLC, but we changed the name at the request of the Authors Guild in NYC. The board did change the name to avoid wasting resources on a legal battle. The new name in 2021 became Authors Marketing International, LLC.
However, during the years, Bourgeois and other members kept running into misunderstandings from outside authors not familiar with what they did that had to be addressed. Most authors, even some members kept thinking that TxAuthors/AMI was a marketing firm, more than an educational resource. This was proven true when Bourgeois ran a simple survey of the membership and saw that reality.
Like most companies that were faced with a new business foe known as the COVID-19 epidemic in 2020, this organization was hit hard. The first year, they lost over 80% of their income and were able to get some financial help from the SBA, but it was limited in scope and barely kept them active. In 2021 and 2022 TxAuthors/AMI continued to lose income opportunities, along with losing over 60% of their membership due to deaths, lost personal income, and much more.
As copycat companies began to enter the marketing field, including Publishers Weekly and the Authors Guild, plus others, and with the severe cut in income, Bourgeois was facing a tough decision. Remain open or shut down.
During the Summer of 2022, Bourgeois continued to lose income and other services that gave him no option but to temporarily slow down in business and re-evaluate what the organization's goals were.
By the end of August 2022, Bourgeois had determined that even with the competition that existed, there was NO other organization that did what TxAuthors/AMI did for authors. Thus, with lots of conversations from people in the organization and outside the organization, Bourgeois determined to keep moving forward and re-vamp the organization to be clear in name, and purpose.
On September 1, 2022, the Authors School of Business, LLC was established focusing on the educational aspect of what authors needed, which was a one-stop location for writers and authors where they could learn how to do Pre-publishing, Publishing in its many styles, along with marketing of books and the authors to find creative ways to increase their overall income in sales, through the Non-Fungible Token (NFT) concept and much more.
Over the next several months, Bourgeois created a better website with the educational goals in mind and began testing it before January 1, 2023, which was the target date the organization would take its first official public view through its website and began reaching out to the hundreds of thousands of authors who are being fed misinformation, false hopes, or just don’t know what to do to get their book noticed by readers.
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