After positions at five different companies, Mark Ziebarth is once again "planning for a new start". (Publisher Profile).

Armed with a newly minted college degree, the proudly conservative and young Mark Ziebarth went to Washington, D.C. in 1982 for what became a five-year stint in fundraising with the conservative Heritage Foundation.

"It's the most creative form of selling," Zeibarth said, "because, using direct mail and other techniques familiar to newsletter publishers, you are convincing people to send you money in exchange for nothing

(except promises to continue the 'good work')."

Bell Atlantic

After five years, ready to spread his wings and having added an MBA to his resume, Ziebarth joined Bell Atlantic (now Verizon) in 1987 for one year during which he was "utterly miserable."

Phillips Publishing

A colleague from the Heritage Foundation mentioned to him that "every time I get a sales letter from Phillips Publishing, the list of newsletters down the left side of the page is longer. I could call Tom Phillips and try to set up an interview." He did. Mark went. He and Phillips hit it off, and it led to 11 successful and happy years with Phillips.

"In 1998, when I came on board, Phillips' revenues were 'only' around $33 million annually, with maybe 200 employees."

For the first five years, Ziebarth was with the business-to-business side of the Phillips operation. "I promoted news letters, sold special reports, developed and Marketed conferences for what was then called Phillips Business Information. The standard business newsletter operation."

Eagle Publishing

Then, in 1993 Phillips acquired Eagle Publishing and Ziebarth joined the political publishing operation as the first representative from Phillips, "to show them the Phillips ways." The business included a frontline publisher, Regnery Publishing; book clubs like The Conservative Book Club; Human Events, the nation's anti-communist newspaper; and newsletters.

"We had five or six great years," Ziebarth said. "The business grew to $30 million, and some years we actually made money. Everyone who has experience in it knows that political publishing is a very difficult way to earn a profit. It's much less profitable than other forms of specialty publishing. But Tom Phillips was in a position to 'afford' it, and we also had the intangible benefit of being able to tweak Bill Clinton's ear on a regular basis." *

"One drawback was that, over time, Eagle had been officially separated from Phillips Publishing. Most of the people there were strictly political types and didn't care--but seeking to develop a career in publishing, I was frustrated to be separated from the Mother Ship."

Gilder Publishing

So, Ziebarth was ready to stretch his wings again in the spring of 1999 when an unsolicited offer came from George Gilder. Gilder, the best-selling author of Wealth & Poverty, had become an expert on technology issues. He had launched The Gilder Technology Report a year before (12x, $295/year).

"It was a perfect confluence of being at the right place and time with the right product," Ziebarth said, "and suddenly he had 20,000 subscribers. I and one other person from Eagle moved to Massachusetts to establish a publishing operation. We would have consulting and conference divisions. Phillips all over again.

"In the next two and a half years, with The Gilder Technology Report as the umbrella, we launched subsidiary titles, each aimed at investors in specific sectors: energy, bio-tech, the 'New Economy,' digital semiconductors," Ziebarth said.

"Then the NASDAC collapsed and our market fell out from under us. We weren't as dumb as that sounds. We could see trouble coming, but hoped to build the business to the point where it could sustain market peaks and valleys. We almost made it. But by this April, Gilder had run out of money.

"A business which once reached 50 employees and annual revenues of $27 million is now George and one other person with essentially no income at all."

Another new start

So, Ziebarth is planning for a new start.

1. "I've looked into 'big jobs' in specialized publishing, but there aren't many of those and, in current economic times, there are a number of qualified people available.

2. "I'm also researching the classic 'put up or shut up' case. 'You've done this for others for 15 years,' I told myself. 'Let's do it yourself.' I am planning a launch. I have some backers and an editorial plan in the financial area, but I'd prefer not to announce it until it's real--rather than some 'great thing' I'm going to do soon."

3. Ziebarth is also exploring acquisitions. The first three negotiations have fallen through. "No hard feelings, but the price my backers and I were willing to offer was not what the publishers wanted.

"But I'm working on a fourth deal now and it looks promising. I like the fact that it's in business-to-business where your market can't disappear overnight. If I can pull off #2 and #3 in combination, I'd be following the Phillips model being in both the business and consumer camps. After all, it's a business plan that worked very well for Tom Phillips for 30 years."

90 Dunmore Court, Lenox, MA 02140, 413-281-0404.

* Some observers would question Ziebarth's offhand statement about tweaking Bill Clinton's ear since Regnery publications were among the most relentless attackers of the President's character and formed a veritable bibliography for the impeachment hearings.