Nomad Editions Continues to Build Momentum in Advance of January Official Launch; Announces New Custom Media Division Headed by Former Inc. Editor Chris Leach

NEW YORK, Dec. 15, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Nomad Editions, a first-of-its-kind media company producing digital weekly publications designed exclusively for mobile devices such as the iPhone, iPad and other platforms, today announced the launch of its new Custom Media Division, which will produce customized, original content in partnership with select corporate brands and sponsors. The division will be headed by former Inc. Magazine editor and media industry veteran Chris Leach.

Since leaving Inc., Leach has created custom media for dozens of companies, from IBM to Northwestern Mutual Life to Fidelity Investments to ESPN to Medco. The start of this new division builds on momentum from the launch of the first three Nomad Editions—Wave Lines and Real Eats, which went live on December 3, and Wide Screen, which launched on December 8. The entire Nomad Editions platform will be live, with the launch of u+me, in early January, 2011.  

"Nomad Editions has created tremendous momentum as a premier source for high quality, original digital content," said Mark Edmiston, CEO of Nomad Editions. "With the launch of our new Custom Media Division we can now leverage the power of highly targeted readership needs so that corporate sponsors and database owners can effectively engage with specific audiences whom they want to reach, with content that is originally crafted for mobile devices."

Leach will oversee the custom content development team for Nomad Editions and will focus on launching two specific content areas in 2011: health and sports.  For each custom digital publication, Nomad Editions will partner with select corporate sponsors to customize ads, editorial and sponsor sections, in addition to the high-quality original content provided by Nomad Editions' award-winning editorial team.  

Leach has spent the last five years publishing a monthly magazine about diabetes with a circulation of 1 million-plus and creating the first "reality" video series about diabetes for the Web, which can be viewed at Realage.com or TCOYD.org under the title of Extreme Diabetes Makeover. Robert Benchley, a long-time colleague of Leach's, will lead the health initiative as the Chief Content Officer.  Both Leach and Benchley worked for many years with John B. Caldwell, regarded by many as the father of custom publishing and for whom the Custom Content Council's Lifetime Achievement Award is named.

Nomad Editions' Custom Media's second subject area will be college and professional sports, and will be directed by sports marketing guru and Nomad Editions Director of Business Development Peter Savarino. Along with Savarino's experience in sports media and marketing, Leach too, has an extensive background in the sports area. He was hired along with Caldwell and Benchley by ESPN in 1989 to develop TV Sports, a programming guide that became the prototype for ESPN The Magazine, and later produced a weekly ad campaign in Sports Illustrated for the network that was among the first media promotions to feature SportsCenter in the early 1990s.

Leach began his career as a print journalist and publisher while an undergraduate at Princeton University in 1969, when he teamed with Steve Forbes and other Princeton undergraduates to found Business Today, then and now the largest circulation student-published magazine in the U.S. He founded New Jersey Monthly in 1975, selling it in 1980 to become editor of Inc. Magazine, a role he filled until 1985.

Between 1992 and 2002, he co-founded two custom publishing companies, Marblehead Communications (later Cadmus Custom Publishing, now The Pohly Company) and Custom Communications Partners, which was sold to Forbes in 2001. Since 2002, he has been director of custom media for EPS Communications, a diversified marketing communications company.

"Nomad Editions is built around a proven publishing formula—create quality content to meet specific needs and interests of a specialized audience," said Chris Leach, Director of Custom Media at Nomad Editions. "I look forward to leading the efforts in the Nomad Editions Custom Media division, providing readers with a highly customized and targeted reading experience that is not available elsewhere today, even on the digital platform."

For more information, including instructions on how to register for free one-month trial subscriptions to Nomad Editions' digital weeklies, please go to www.nomadeditions.com.

About Nomad Editions:

Nomad Editions is a unique media marketplace that provides readers with digital publications on a wide range of subjects, developed specifically for mobile devices. High-quality editorial and rich multimedia capabilities are enhanced by new technology that automatically formats content onto the web browser of any mobile device, ensuring easy engagement and mobility on this new media format.  Founded by Mark Edmiston, former Newsweek President and long time media investment banker—along with renowned designer Roger Black and a team of media veterans—Nomad Editions uses a subscription-based business model where editors, writers and contributors are fairly compensated for their creativity.

SOURCE Nomad Editions