The Story of Progress Press

For many years one of my dreams was to become a music publisher, so when I finished writing The Flutist's Progress in 1969, I decided to take the plunge into the realm of self-publishing. I engaged a consultant, Kenneth M. Wylie, Jr., who gave me helpful guidance in the intricacies of editing, design, printing and marketing. He also negotiated a contract with Edwards Brothers, a prestigious printing company in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and not too many months later a shipment of 5,000 books found its way into my basement. (Luckily we are now in our third printing of The Flutist's Progress.) Direct-mail advertising was my first marketing approach. However, compiling a comprehensive mailing list of flute afficionados was no easy task. At that time the only organization able to provide a mailing list of flutists was the College Music Society. CMS publishes an annual directory of music faculties of all the colleges and universities in the USA, and from this directory they can extract and sell mailing lists customized to individual instruments and music disciplines. Their flute teacher list proved to be an important resource. From these initial CMS contacts and a rapidly growing word-of-mouth phenomenon, individual sales of The Flutist's Progress grew steadily, enabling us to gradually venture into other publications such as the Gordeli Concerto, the Elliot Snake-Charmer, my Vade Mecum of Scales and Arpeggios, and the Steve Kujala Eurhythmionics. Many other projects are now in the preparation phase. Most of our sales currently are to large dealers like Flute World, Eble Music, Southern Music, Sheet Music of Portland, Northern Music, and to university bookstores. It is gratifying to note that since the founding of the National Flute Association in 1973, Flute Talk magazine in 1981, and the Internet in 1989, all of us music publishers and flute/piccolo makers now have much more effective ways of promoting our products through well-targeted advertising and mailing lists. Now with the launch of this website, Progress Press has happily caught up with the 21st century. --Walfrid Kujala 222 Main St. #504 Evanston, Illinois 60202 Phone: (847) 869-2998 * FAX: (847) 869-2933 E-mail:ProgPress@cs.com ©2008 by Progress Press