ASPEN was established by Joe Sinclair in 1990 as the publishing arm of his company, Container Marketing Ltd. which had successfully published and marketed his book Refrigerated Transportation two years earlier.

ASPEN has since published seven books, five of them written by Joe Sinclair.  It has also helped several writers to publish books under their own or other publishers' imprints.   Joe has also written a further three books under the imprints of other publishing houses.  This is described in detail in the Books section accessible via the link on the right.

The experience he has gained, both in writing and publishing, as well as in marketing the books that ASPEN has published, makes him eminently qualified to help others to self-publish and to teach them how to market their own works.  Check out the Self-Publishing link on the right.

ASPEN has also been the publisher of several house magazines, journals, and newsletters, both  "paper" and  on-line versions.  This was previously on behalf of others, in some cases commercial enterprises,  and sometimes charities.  ASPEN then took the decision to publish and print its own magazine, Nurturing Potential, incorporating the ideas and features, as well as the knowledge and experience of the many colleagues and friends who have been involved in these activities in the past.

20 issues of Nurturing Potential were produced over a four-year period, before illness obliged Joe to put the project "on the back burner" pending his recovery.  This took longer than anticipated, until - in 2009 - consideration was given to its revival.  At the same time ASPEN published Joe Sinclair's Did I Really Say That? a miscellany of his writings, much of which was culled from the articles published in Nurturing Potential.