Throne Publishing finds business niche, expands office at Zeal

July 19, 2018

This paid piece is sponsored by the Zeal Center for Entrepreneurship.

Throne Publishing built a thriving business around telling others’ stories. Its own story, though, added an important new chapter when founder Jeremy Brown moved into the Zeal Center for Entrepreneurship.

“It was just this safe space,” said Brown, who has been an entrepreneur for more than a decade.

“Being here, we’ve really come into our own. I feel we have a course now to move forward.”

When Brown started the business, he worked out of a downtown co-working space and focused on helping people promote their businesses by publishing books.

“I knew that worked, and I knew I could sell it, but it wasn’t 100 percent there,” he said. “Something was missing.”

When he moved to Zeal almost three years ago, he found the time and space he needed to figure out the business. His rent was affordable, and more importantly, he was connected instantly to resources who helped him nail down his vision and his strategy.

“I wouldn’t have been able to do that on my own,” he said. “That was huge.”

Throne has evolved into focusing on legacy books for families and businesses. Clients will spend a day walking through their life stories while staff turn the memories into a manuscript.

“I’ve done them in as little as four weeks, but typically it’s four months. We time it so the book is ready in three months, and we allow four weeks for printing,” he said.

Clients have included Sioux Falls-area businesses Envive, Interstates, Lloyd Cos. and Thompson Law. Others are families who want to preserve loved ones’ life stories and memories for future generations.

“He’s made a name for himself and his brand that serves authors and their book-writing processes all around the country,” said Zeal client specialist Thadeus Giedd, who calls Brown a “big-thinking entrepreneur.”

“He and his team have developed a craft in aiding those authors to expertly construct, design and distribute their publications.”

For those who want to write a book but don’t know where to start, Throne has created the Awaken Workshop.

“It is a daylong, one-on-one workshop in which the author walks through their story, all their ideas for a book and walks away with a clear book outline,” Brown said. “We also offer the opportunity for people to be trained in our Awaken process and become Certified Awaken Guides.”

Throne has used Zeal’s flexibility effectively, Giedd said, which includes 45,000 square feet of office space with different sizes of suites.

“Entrepreneurs are not locked into multiyear commitments,” he said. “A company that gets approval to locate at Zeal can start in a smaller 200-square-foot space but grow and scale up to a bigger office as they need to.”

Throne has moved several times to larger offices, most recently into a 1,200-square-foot space with a dedicated author reception room and a recording studio.

“We’re making the customer experience and physical space really matter,” Brown said. “We literally have a fake fireplace like a fireside chat room with bookshelves, and we really set it up to be an experience.”

Zeal also is working with Throne to set up a studio for the building that offers space for video and audio streaming as well as podcasting.

“It’s getting some great use from businesses doing marketing pushes or that are content creators,” Giedd said.

Throne has used “all the core elements and opportunities” that Zeal offers, Giedd added, from low-cost office space to meeting rooms and conference rooms that have been used for book launches and signings, to using staff for business advice and the Zeal community for networking.

“There are really cool businesses coming in here, which makes it even better,” Brown said. “There’s been a real increase in community just naturally happening. We’ve been equipped and empowered out here.”

The sharper focus on his business model has prompted him to add full-time staff in addition to independent contractors. He employs writers, an editor, a designer and is planning to add a project manager and additional designer.

“Through the mentorship at Zeal, I nailed down why I keep at it and how I wanted to grow it,” Brown said. “It’s way more than books now. We’ve found where our skills meet a deep need.”

With up to two years left to lease at Zeal, Brown also now feels comfortable assessing future office needs.

“But Zeal let us explore space,” he said. “I know what to look for in our next office. I’ve got my eye on what’s available and what’s coming up, and I know what we need. Before, I wouldn’t have known that. If we hadn’t been at Zeal, we wouldn’t have had that freedom to explore.”

Want to stay in the know?

Get our free business news delivered to your inbox.



Throne Publishing finds business niche, expands office at Zeal

Throne Publishing built a thriving business around telling others’ stories. Its own story, though, added an important new chapter when founder Jeremy Brown moved into the Zeal Center for Entrepreneurship.

News Tip

Have a business news item to share with us?

Scroll to top