JACK COVERT/800CEOREAD

BUSINESS, RETAIL, SPECIAL SALES

Jack Covert is the President and Founder of 800-CEO-READ. In 1984, Jack was hired by the Harry W. Schwartz Bookshops (an independent chain of bookstores in Milwaukee from 1927–2009) to promote business and computer books to the Milwaukee business community. Over the past decade, 800-CEO-READ has concentrated on selling business books while also spreading great business ideas via its daily blog, its monthly newsletter The Keen Thinker, the monthly publication of essays on ChangeThis, its annual Business Book Awards, and its yearly magazine In The Books. In 2010, 800-CEO-READ began a partnership with Inc. to publish and promote its Business Book Best Seller List. In 2012, 800-CEO-READ will offer an exciting new online service, KnowledgeBlocks, to help users save, organize, and customize their business information.

Jack grew that 3-shelf business book section of the store into a 7-million-dollar specialty business book retailer and has earned quite a reputation. “[I]n the world of business-book publishing . . . , his championship of obscure works has helped turn such books as The Goal into national bestsellers, and his monthly best seller list is a frequently cited standard.” Then–Doubleday/Currency editor Harriet Rubin described Covert “as not simply a bookseller—he’s a tracker and a prophet” (Inc., 1995).
In 2000, Jack began writing reviews of new and notable business books in a monthly, nationally syndicated column entitled “Jack Covert Selects.” Ultimately these reviews led him to collaborate on The 100 Best Business Books of All Time, a book that not only ranks the best business books, but also provides references to nearly 400 notable books for the business reader. The 100 Best has now been updated in paperback and reprinted in ten languages.

Email: Jack@800CEOREAD.com
Twitter: @JackCovert