Our History

Founded in 1988 as a sole proprietorship, Multi-Media Publications Inc. was incorporated in Ontario, Canada in 1991.  It’s original goal was to publish books in print and various online formats (and this was in the early days before the birth of the Web).  The company name was based upon both the nature of publishing the content in multiple media (print and electronic formats) but also the address of the company’s first corporate offices on Media Court in Mississauga, Ontario.

 
As an early ebook pioneer, MMP experimented with digital delivery of content via online systems (dialup bulletin boards) and packaged on floppy disks.

 
In the early days, MMP earned extra income performing publishing services under contract for other publishers.  This included acquisitions, editing, layout, and production management.  The staff used these skills to experiment with publishing various books and periodicals under the MMP imprint.  These early experiences helped MMP staff “learn the ropes” of the business side of publishing, including marketing, distribution, and strategic planning.

 
Things progressed slowly for several years, with the company earning much of its income from contract publishing services. 

 
After the dawn of the new millennium, with the rapid adoption of the Internet by the public, the maturation of ecommerce technologies, and the evolution of digital rights management technologies that can protect digital content from piracy, the world was finally ready for what MMP had to offer.  MMP began aggressively executing a strategic plan of identifying and targeting niche audiences that were being underserved with specialized print and electronic content.  This strategy quickly paid off as MMP latched on to the growing interest in project management by launching a very successful series of books on project management entitled The Project Management Essentials Library and then later in 2005 the Project Management Audio Library, which publishes audiobooks and recordings of live seminars on project management topics.  Within 12 months of its launch, the Project Management Audio Library grew to represent 20% of MMP’s quarterly sales.

 
Another important series of books for the company is the Lessons from History series of books that launched in 2005.  This series analyzes historical situations using modern business analysis techniques and extracts lessons that can be applied to today’s business problems.  This series has grown each year with new books, audiobooks, and DVDs and now represents a key brand for MMP moving forwards into the future.

 
In late 2007, MMP acquired a struggling U.S.-based fiction and general trade publisher, Crystal Dreams Publishing.  After eliminating the unprofitable book lines (such as children’s books and cookbooks) and cancelling the relationship with a few authors, what remained in CDP were a stable of well-written backlist titles and a number of exciting unpublished manuscripts.  MMP continued to operate CDP as an imprint under MMP, and refreshed many of the backlist titles with re-edits, new layouts, and new covers, where necessary.  Many formerly out of print titles were brought back into production, and new books were released.

 
What does the future hold for MMP?  With 20 years of publishing experience, this pioneer in the digital content revolution surely has a bright future as the public moves more and more towards ebooks and downloadable audio content delivery.  Yesterday’s pioneer may just be tomorrow’s leader.