Education B.A., M.A. Website MarkFord.net | Name Mark Ford | |
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Nationality United States of America Other names Mark Ford, Michael Masterson Occupation Author, entrepreneur, publisher, investor, publisher, consultant Alma mater Queens College, City University of New York, University of Michigan | ||
Mark Morgan Ford, also Mark Ford and Michael Masterson, is an American author, entrepreneur, publisher, real estate investor, filmmaker, art collector, and consultant to the direct marketing and publishing industries.
Contents
- Early life and education
- Early career
- Newsletter publishing
- The Oxford Club
- American Writers and Artists
- Palm Beach Letter
- Real estate development
- Published books
- Controversy
- References
Ford is the author of essays and books on entrepreneurship, wealth-building, economics, and copywriting. He has also written a book of poetry and a book on word use titled Words that Work.
Ford's business writing is published under the pen name Michael Masterson. His books, Automatic Wealth and Ready, Fire, Aim, were recognized on the Wall Street Journal and New York Times Best Sellers lists.
Ford is active in real estate development both in the United States and abroad.
Since 1993, he has been the chief growth strategist for Agora, Inc., a publisher of newsletters and books.
In 2014, Ford co-wrote the comedic coming-of-age film After Midnight with Steve Cabrera.
Early life and education
Ford was born in Brooklyn, New York. His parents, Frank Ford and Joan OíByrne Ford, were professors of literature and communications, respectively, at Molloy College in Rockville Centre.
In 1962, Ford launched his first business, a kitchen-table publishing company that produced and sold satirical pamphlets, such as Excuses for the Amateur. He sold these for a nickel to his classmates. Also in 1962, Ford wrote his first poem.
He graduated from South Side High School in 1968 and earned his Bachelor of Arts from Queens College (CUNY) in 1973. In 1975, he received a Master of Arts from the University of Michigan. He completed his PhD coursework at Catholic University in 1977, but never finished his thesis.
Early career
According to TheStreet.com, Ford "launched dozens of successful businesses in several different industries, some of which have grown well beyond $100 million."
In 1976, Ford enlisted in the Peace Corps and spent two years in Africa teaching English literature and philosophy at the University of Chad in Ndjamena. He authored a book about Chadian culture and a newsletter for Peace Corps volunteers. In 1977, he married Kathryn Fitzgerald.
Newsletter publishing
In 1980, Ford took a job at a start-up publishing company in Boca Raton, Florida.
In an interview with Boca Raton News, Ford recalled that the first newsletters they published were typeset and printed with outdated equipment but that the quality of the print didn't seem to bother the customers. The production facilities were improved as revenues grew.
In 1983 Ford was promoted to vice president in charge of marketing and product development. He executed a campaign to launch a new line of newsletter companies targeted to consumers, covering topics from health to travel to investing to astrology and gambling.
By the early 1990s the combined revenues of those companies exceeded $135 million in annual revenues.
The Oxford Club
In 1983 Ford wrote his first advertising campaign for an investment club called The Royal Society of Lichtenstein that covered wealth building, tax deferral strategies, and personal liberty.
Several years later he took part in the launch of a U.S.-based investment publication that was based on the success of the Royal Society of Lichtenstein. The publication, titled The Oxford Club, grew quickly and by 1987, when it was sold to Agora Inc., had more than 30,000 members.
American Writers and Artists
In the early 1990s, several of Ford's protégés created a correspondence school to teach the fundamentals of writing for the direct marketing industry called American Writers and Artists, Inc.
Aside from courses on writing advertising copy, AWAI also offers self-study programs on web marketing, resume writing, graphic design, publishing, travel, and photography. Ford, under the pen name Michael Masterson, created the Accelerated Program for Six-Figure Copywriting.
Palm Beach Letter
In 2011, Ford co-launched the Palm Beach Letter, a wealth-building e-letter published by Common Sense Publishing.
According to its homepage, the Palm Beach Letter is a general circulation publication that aims to provide its subscribers with useful advice about building wealth, living well, and investing.
Real estate development
Ford has been a real estate investor and developer for more than 30 years. He currently has investments in approximately 40 real estate development companies and developments including a 1000-home residential housing project in Panama and a 3,000-acre resort on the west coast of Nicaragua.
Published books
Mark Ford, (also identified as Mark Morgan Ford or Michael Masterson) has authored and co-authored books on marketing, copy-writing, and entrepreneurship. Some of these books include:
In 2012 Ford published a poetry collection called Back and Out Again (Cap & Bells Press) under his full name, Mark Morgan Ford, so as to distinguish his poetry from Mark Ford, a better known poet.
Controversy
In 1991 the U.S. Postal Inspection Service seized $6.6 million in bank accounts held by Ford and his partner, Joel Nadel, for allegedly violating civil mail-fraud and money-laundering statutes. The case was eventually settled in November 1993 without Ford and Nadel admitting or agreeing to wrongdoing. The government repaid Ford and Nadel more than $3 million, plus interest, and a compensation fund was established.