Social Motion Publishing was the first publisher in the United States to focus exclusively on “social-impact books” — books that benefit causes and nonprofits.
After publishing several books over a few years, we now provide education and services to authors and organizations interested in publishing their own books to raise money and awareness for the causes they support.
We are committed to helping authors and organizations publish informative, inspiring, entertaining, and engaging books that raise funds and awareness for nonprofits and causes.
How We Started
The idea for the venture came to founder Andrew Chapman as he was exploring ways to combine his experience in publishing with the desire to do greater good in the world. He knew the power of books to tell a story — and he knew the value of a story in promoting a cause, having led two grassroots volunteer organizations seeking to save natural lands in California.
In addition to that, Andrew was seeing firsthand the massive shift in publishing from a few “Big New York” publishing houses to thousands of independent publishers and authors. Various technologies had converged to make it not just possible, but also profitable, to publish custom and boutique books. His desire to do greater good using his expertise was now possible — Social Motion Publishing was born.
Our First Few Years Being a Publisher
In 2016, Social Motion Publishing released its first title, the children’s book K-9 Flash Becomes a Hero! The book has gone on to raise tens of thousands of dollars for its nonprofit, Project K-9 Hero, and help raise awareness of the organization to a national level. Project K-9 Hero now brings in more than a million dollars in donations per year and has a landmark bill moving through Congress.
Also in 2016, Social Motion Publishing founder Andrew Chapman presented a TEDx Talk on his vision for “social-impact books.”
Between 2017 and 2020, we published several more titles benefiting causes related to ocean pollution, bee preservation, rescue dogs, and children battling cancer.
Our Transition from Publishing to Teaching
In 2021, we started focusing our efforts on teaching. Our goal was always to get more social-impact books out into the world — and we can accomplish this more through teaching others than doing it ourselves.
As such, we are multiplying the ways we support authors and organizations seeking to publish their own social-impact books. We are accomplishing this through education, coaching, and connecting them with the necessary publishing service professionals.
Our Advisors
Paulette Ensign
Founder, Tips Products International
Based on her success writing and publishing a tips booklet that sold over 1.5 million copies, Paulette leverages this experience into advice and services for other information professionals. This includes business owners, consultants, speakers, coaches who want to transform their knowledge into information products to use for marketing, motivating, and making money. Through her company, Tips Products International, Ensign provides consulting, speaking, writing, editing, sales, and licensing services for clients worldwide.
Karla Olson
Publisher, Patagonia Books
In addition to leading Patagonia, a social enterprise book publisher owned by Patagonia Clothing, Karla has been in the publishing industry for more than 35 years and has been involved in the creation and development of hundreds of books representing traditional and custom publishing and packaging. Outside of Patagonia Publishing, she is the President of Publishers and Writers of San Diego; Founder and President of Read Local, an authors coalition; and President of IBPA: The Independent Book Publishers Association.
Lee Silber
Author, Speaker, and Entrepreneur
A three-decade veteran of publishing and business, Lee has written more than 25 books, given 2,400+ speeches, appeared in the media 1,300+ times, and started six companies. His best-selling “Creative Person” book series, published primarily by Random House, has sold hundreds of thousands of copies. As a result of his success, Silber is a nationally recognized expert on creativity, marketing, organization, goal-setting, publishing, leadership, and entrepreneurship. His website is LeeSilber.com.
About the Founder
Andrew Chapman has worked in many aspects of publishing over the past 35 years, including as a trade-published and self-published author, owner of two publishing companies, editor, designer, consultant, and in various positions in the publishing divisions of companies. In addition, he has a Bachelor’s Degree in Publishing and Writing from George Mason University, earned with a 4.0 GPA. This eclectic background matched with formal education is one of the things that makes him unique in the field.
Over the years, Andrew has literally taught thousands of authors and aspiring authors through his professional speaking (300+ seminars in the U.S., U.K., and Australia), writing (including 2,000+ publishing answers on Quora), and as president of a large regional publishing association. In this latter role, he led Publishers & Writers of San Diego in 2003–2010 from a dozen members to a thriving organization with 150 paid members and nearly 500 supporters. In 2012, he launched the first website to feature ratings and reviews of self-publishing services by the authors who have used them (SelfPubSmart.com, now inactive). In 2015, he transformed his company July Publishing Inc. (started in 2000) into Social Motion Publishing.
Check out Andrew’s TEDx Talk on social-impact books.