About the Author: Dawson Church, PhD
A century ago, George Bernard Shaw declared, “I would rather burn out than rust out.” This passion for life, work and understanding is characteristic of editor and author Dawson Church.
Dawson has played a leading role in the publishing industry for two decades. As co-founder of Aslan Publishing, he mentored many new authors, and published first books by several best-selling authors, including Robert Kiyosaki (Rich Dad, Poor Dad) and James Tywman (Emissary of Love). As CEO of Atrium Publishers Group, he grew sales from $2 million to over $8 million, and published or distributed over five thousand new titles over the course of more than ten years. Atrium, according to one industry source, was “the first company to put professional personal growth publishing on the national distribution map.”
He has worked on collaborative projects with many New York publishers and imprints, including Dell, Bantam and Penguin. Today he assists authors with self-publishing through the Author’s Publishing Cooperative, where he coordinates a support team of industry-seasoned veterans.
Dawson’s ideas about the role of small presses in the information industry, and about the explosion of electronic publishing, have influenced many companies. In a 1994 article in the leading industry journal, Publisher’s Weekly he was among the first to describe in detail how wideband online publishing would take shape in everyday use.
Dawson co-founded one of the earliest online book distribution companies (Books2u) in 1993, and led efforts by independent presses to obtain the same thorough distribution enjoyed by large publishing conglomerates. He has been honored several times with the Benjamin Franklin award for publishing excellence. Dawson immigrated to the US in 1977. His father was a missionary evangelist, and Dawson’s British roots were tempered by schooling in the US and Southern Africa.
As well as authoring a number of books including Facing Death, Finding Love (Aslan, 1994) and the forthcoming Soul Medicine (Elite, 2006), he has assembled several groundbreaking anthologies. They include The Heart of the Healer (Penguin, 1988) and Healing Our Planet, Healing Our Selves (Elite, 2005). The latter features such best-selling authors as Joan Borysenko, Deepak Chopra, Larry Dossey, Debbie Ford, and Neale Donald Walsch. He has appeared in print in USA Today, CNN News, The Los Angeles Times, Parenting Magazine, San Francisco Chronicle, and other national publications. He is involved as a volunteer with the delivery of social services in his community, and has for many years volunteered or served as President of The Family Connection, a project that supports homeless families making the transition to permanent housing. He is a committed half-time parent with three children.