Mark Levine, Minnesota Book Publishing Executive

It’s been a while since I updated this site and a lot as happened since my last post. For nearly two decades, I’ve been deeply entrenched in the pubtech industry, wearing multiple hats as a founder, CEO, co-founder, and board member. During that same time I’ve been actively involved in my domain name investment and consulting company. Along the way I’ve also invested in real estate (a rental property and two apartment buildings) and an organic cracker company, Flackers.

Book Publishing Industry Involvement

As you may know, from 2006 to 2016, I was the CEO and sole founder of Hillcrest Media Group. The idea for starting a self-publishing came while rollerblading in 2006, and it blossomed into a thriving enterprise that published over 11,000 titles and 30 employees when I sold it in 2016 to Salem Media Group (NASDAQ: SALM).

Currently, I’m on the board of directors at DropCap, a company I co-founded back in 2018 and was CEO until mid-2023. DropCap specializes in providing a cutting-edge software platform that aids book publishing companies in the US, Canada, and the UK, helping them maximize revenue and streamline the management of translation rights for their titles.

More recently, I’ve launched HaikuSnack, a unique platform that serves up haikus covering a wide range of topics, from pop culture and politics to food and entertainment. My involvement has been somewhat limited due to a recent acquisition—an online publishing magazine I’m preparing to relaunch soon.

Domain Name Industry Updates

I’ve been investing in domain names since the early 2000’s, initially buying them for use in my businesses but then as investments. In 2010, launched Domain Theory, which serves as the holding company for approximately 7,000 domain names. Investing in domains is like the stock market (predicting what domains and extensions will have value), working at an ad agency (coming up with names, spotting word trends, etc.) were combined. I’ve had a lot of fun contributing to the industry through appearing on many podcasts.

If you’d like to reach out or connect, you can easily get in touch with me through the contact page at Domain Theory or by visiting MarkLevine.com, which conveniently redirects to my LinkedIn page. I look forward to hearing from you.

Mark Levine, CEO of Hillcrest Media, Minneapolis

Mark Levine is the CEO of Hillcrest Media Group, a Minneapolis, Minnesota based book publishing technology company. At its core, Hillcrest Media Group is a technology company that has built a book publishing management solution that can efficiently move thousands of authors and publishers through the book publishing, editing, marketing, printing, and distribution process. Hillcrest’s technology manages thousands of book projects from various entry points into the publishing process — from uploading a manuscript to real-time inventory management.

Mark Levine led Hillcrest Media’s expansion from a self-publishing company to a multifaceted publishing company that works with individual authors as well as licensing out it technology.  Hillcrest’s proprietary publishing management software allows it to operate distinct publishing services websites with varying entry points in the publishing process, through one back end. Authors looking to self-publish their books may go through Hillcrest’s self-publishing division, Mill City Press. Authors with already completed files, who just want printing and distribution, engage with Hillcrest Media through it’s book printing and distribution division, BookPrinting.com. Authors just needing ebook publishing services will use Hillcrest’s ebook division, PublishGreen.com.

Already published authors looking to promote their books may list them for free at Published.com, the oldest online book directory (1997).  For published authors and independent publishers just looking for book marketing services, Hillcrest offers those services through its book marketing division, PublicEye.com.

While Mark Levine is not a fan of Minnesota winters, he keeps warm indoors, spending much of that time working on new book publishing products and services, including Fiction.com (launching in 2015), which will become the ultimate online destination for fiction writers providing writing advice from experts, online fiction writing classes, community forums and more.