User:Wikiloonwater/Somersault Group

Somersault Group (doing business as Somersault) is a publishing services firm that assists content creators -- publishers, agents, organizations, authors -- in navigating the widespread changes occuring in book publishing in the 21st century. Formed by five publishing veterans in 2010, it is a division of the Grand Rapids-based marketing firm, Grey Matter Group.

Services
Somersault provides content creators with brand counseling, editorial direction, research capabilities, marketing strategy, Internet and social media presence, and a comprehensive portfolio of publishing assistance.

Mission
To change lives by connecting inspirational content creators with readers using exceptional creativity, right-now technology, and old-fashioned personal care.

Context
Somersault was formed in a time when traditional book publishing is undergoing major upheavals due to rapidly churning communication technology and seismic shifts in the book market distribution landscape – from the Internet to eReaders and the iPad to individual book print-on-demand capability.

Managers
• John Topliff, General Manager. In his most recent position at Zondervan, Topliff worked with bestselling authors, including Philip Yancey, John Ortberg, Anne Graham Lotz, and Rob Bell, to maximize their content across all publishing divisions. His career experience includes positions at Baker Publishing Group, Revell, HarperCollinsPublishers, and Spring Arbor Distributors. Topliff has a Doctor of Ministry degree from Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, CA, and a Masters of Divinity Degree from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, IL.

• Jeannette Taylor, Research & Development Architect, responsible for product development and marketing strategies, and supervision of all research functions for Somersault. Taylor is the owner of the research firm JET Marketing and an adjunct Marketing Professor at Cornerstone University, Grand Rapids, MI. She is the former General Manager of Bibles and Vice President of Marketing at Zondervan. • David Lambert, Editorial Director, responsible for managing the editorial development process for each manuscript for Somersault. Lambert is the owner of Lambert Editorial. He is the author of ten books (including last year’s The Missionary); speaker; former Senior Fiction Editor at Howard Publishing, a division of Simon & Schuster; and former Executive Editor for fiction at Zondervan.

• Jonathan Petersen, Social Media Marketing/WOM/Publicity Evangelist, responsible for creating the Internet marketing and publicity strategy for all Somersault content creators. Petersen is the former Senior Director of Corporate & Internet Communications at Zondervan and Religion News Editor at UPI Radio Network. His microblog (twitter.com/jonpetersen) is a featured recommendation in the twitterati, marketing, and social media categories on Alltop.com.

• John Sawyer, Brand & Marketing Strategist, responsible for developing brand identity and positioning strategies for authors to help them build loyal readership and long-term value. Previously Vice President of Bible Marketing at Zondervan and Director of Marketing at Baker Publishing Group, Sawyer is currently Chief Strategy Officer at Grey Matter Group.