Who IS Kepler Associates?

Following college (BA/physical anthropology, Ohio State University), Jim developed and taught basic English, GED preparation, and "survival skills" communications courses in a maximum security prison. From there he moved into advertising and sales for a manufacturing company and eventually into publishing.

After a transfer to Chicago, Jim studied publishing production at University of Chicago, Northwestern University, and the Printing Industry Institute. He and Ann Kepler launched Kepler Associates in 1978, and he began writing and editing educational, healthcare, and business books for textbook and specialty publishers. He also taught editing and business writing courses at Roosevelt University and Columbia College and introduced a popular public presentation called "You Ought to Write a Book." He has spoken about various communications topics before the national conventions of the American Medical Writers Association, American Management Association, and Association of Professional Writing Consultants. Together with his colleague, Jane Ranshaw, he has presented day-long workshops on interdepartmental and personal practice consulting at the annual conventions of the International Society for Performance Improvement in San Francisco, Atlanta, Dallas, Anaheim and, this year, Long Beach.

More than a dozen years ago Jim changed his focus from education to business and industry. He continued to write, ghosting a history of the Union League Club of Chicago (The First One Hundred Years) and a book for the Chicago fire commissioner (Fire! Survival and Prevention, Harper & Row), and edited books on management and banking. But his primary work has been in the development of corporate procedures manuals, especially for customer service and consumer relations departments, as well as the creation of customer communications programs and response correspondence. Since 1991 Kepler Associates has also won several awards for their writing, editing, and production of Midwest Engineer magazine for the Western Society of Engineers.

Jim is the project development editor for a New York-based literary agency and works with Midwestern authors in the preparation of submission proposals for their book manuscripts. Kepler Associates also produces special event and commemorative books, such as corporate and family histories.

Jim continues to teach but now limits that to one-on-one coaching tutorials in business communications and creative property development. Contact him at jkepler@keplerassociates.com or 773/761-1858.

Ann is the author of The After-50 Pharmacy: An Easy-to-Understand Guide to Prescription and Nonprescription Medications (Contemporary Books, Landmark Books), winner of the American Medical Writers Association's Beth Fonda Award "for excellence in medical communication for a lay audience." Her other books include The American Medical Association's Pocket Guide to Back Pain (Random House); Emergency First Aid for Your Child (National Safety Council); Basic Rescue and Emergency Care (American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons); Children's Medicine: A Parent's Guide to Prescription and Over-the-Counter Drugs (Contemporary Books, NAL/Signet); and A Guide to Pregnancy & Childbirth (Budlong Press). She has also coauthored a book about alternative therapies and treatments.

Besides books, Ann writes several magazine articles, reference entries, and medical product sell sheets. While medical group editor for a major book packager and publisher, she produced numerous trade books, including an encyclopedic reference volume that involved coordinating the work of nine writers, three physicians, two pharmacists, a medical illustrator, and two production editors—and she did it all in five months, from concept to bound book. Project organization and management are Ann's strong suit!

Ann began her career in publishing after earning three degrees in six years from Ohio State University (BA/German, Phi Beta Kappa; BSEd/English., honors; MA/English). Starting as an English textbook editor in the college division of Charles Merrill Books, she later became series editor for two major lines, English and social studies. She launched her own editorial service after moving to Chicago, taking on projects for several local publishers, including a small house that produced patient education books and instructional guides. That assignment eventually turned into a position as editor-in-chief for the press and led her into full-time concentration on healthcare writing and editing.

One area in which Ann likes working is health and nutrition newsletters.  She has researched and written newsletters focused on older adult health, women's health, children's health, general healthcare and preventive medicine, and nutrition and dietetics. In addition, she has written and produced marketing and practice building newsletters for physicians, hospitals, and clinics.

In the early 1990s Ann found a way to combine a lifelong love of books with public service by serving on, and being elected president of, the Evanston, Illinois, public library. During her leadership of the board of trustees, the city allocated funds for its biggest public works project in its history and built a new, $24 million multimedia library that immediately achieved world class distinction as a community learning center.

You can reach Ann by email at akepler@keplerassociates.com or by calling 773/761-1858.
 

More recently Tom designed and typeset a family and corporate history book about a Chicago-area manufacturing company. That book, printed two-color throughout and heavily illustrated with period and contemporary photographs, was a recent prize winner in the book category of a publications competition. Some of the judges' comments: "Photos are terrific and the sepia-tone look gives a feel of age and authenticity to the book. Excellent touch!" "Very clean, neat appearance backs up the precise, careful tone of the company's attention to small details. Excellent look and feel." "Impressive and classy."

After studying art and design at Columbia College, Tom worked as a production and advertising artist preparing print layouts for an advertising agency. He then joined the staff of a book publisher, where he advanced to art director, producing cover and interior designs for a wide variety of trade books, especially health and medical titles and consumer product buying guides.

Tom works in QuarkXPress^TM, Adobe Photoshop^TM, PageMaker^TM and Illustrator^TM, HTML, NetObjects Fusion^TM and is familiar with several other software products and with both PC and Macintosh platforms. Current projects in which he is involved include design, typesetting, and photo manipulation for a bi-monthly trade magazine; design and typesetting of two books; design and typesetting of marketing materials for a magazine requalification firm; and development of Web site designs for several organizations. He has also designed and typeset a monthly eight- to twelve-page newsletter, structured Windows 95/NT help systems, and illustrated marketing materials for several clients.

Tom Kepler is the designer and webmaster of this Web site.

You can reach Tom at tkepler@keplerassociates.com or 773/761-1858.