The first version of this program was published in 1989 by Steve and Lisa Carlson of Upper Access Books, in Hinesburg, Vermont. To help manage their own publishing business, the Carlsons commissioned the development of a Windows application, called “PIIGS” (Publishers Invoicing and Information Generation System), to track orders, inventory, and to calculate royalties. When functional, they made the program available to others in the small press movement.
Since 1990, Ron Lawrence has been the principle developer and support for PubAssist. Ron and Steve continued to work together for nearly 30 years, until Steve’s retirement in 2018. Through those years, Publishers’ Assistant has been used by thousands of independent publishers throughout the world, and, the program has met the many challenges in this enigmatic business. The focus, however, has always been to provide serious capabilities at a price that independent publishers can afford.
Today, Publishers’ Assistant is a legacy PC application, but remains essential and runs under Windows 10. There are thousands of users, world-wide.
Serious new development is underway to incorporate those things that are unique to publishing into popular web applications, such as WordPress® and WooCommerce®. You can check on our progress by taking a look at our Demo pages.
We’re in a transition period, but our commitment to supporting the small-press publishing industry remains strong. At the core is a faith in the strength of numbers. We hope you’ll join us in that effort.