Where It All Started

How a publishing company run by authors could be the new, big thing.

Renee Frey, CMO Authors 4 Authors Publishing

So last week I talked about what we at Authors 4 Authors Publishing didn't like about the publishing industry. Today, I want to share our dream with all of you: a publishing company that just gets it right.

An Idea

It all started with an idea. I knew I wanted to write and met the most wonderful group of writers on Scribophile (check out our group website here). We started collaborating on short story anthologies, which got me asking questions about publishing. How did it work? As a writer, all I focused on was telling my story the best way possible. Little did I know there was a whole other world out there.

I work in wonderful (sometimes) Corporate America. I have seen firsthand how business is done. Large companies use their pool of resources to negotiate discounts—making competition from a smaller, up-and-coming company more difficult. Not trying to get overly political here, but we all know how Wal-Mart, for example, has run smaller businesses out of town. Publishing is no different. Authors either spend just as much time, if not more, trying to get someone to publish their work as they originally did writing it or else sink their own resources into it.

But what if there was another way? What if independent authors worked together and pooled their resources? What if a writing group, instead of just helping each other with writing, helped each other with ALL aspects of book production?

Cooperative, Democratic, and Progressive

Within my writing group, two wonderful ladies agreed with me wholeheartedly. So we decided to create our own publishing company—one that gets things right.

We are a Cooperative

We incorporated as a cooperative—that means that we are all owners. As we grow, we will extend opportunities to key people to also be owners. This means that everyone working on a book has a personal stake in it—we all own it, and we all want it to succeed. No one at our company will just be there for a paycheck.

We are Democratic

We want to empower everyone in our company. Part of us all being owners means we all vote on key decisions to shape our company. Our culture begins and ends with empowering everyone in it to seize the day and their destiny. No underpaid slush readers here—everyone you interact with has a vested interest in how your work will help us grow!

We are Progressive

Electronic publishing has disrupted the industry. Publishers need to change how they do things—and we want to lead that change. The same culture that makes us want to get things right—from how we treat everyone in the company to how we handle authors—makes us forerunners in business as well as relationships.

In English, Please

Sorry—I do get a little excited about business! But what this means is that we recognize that behind every manuscript, no matter how developed it is, lies a real person who invested time and effort into an idea—just like we did.

We wanted to make our company culture, or the way we are, something that works better for creative people—like authors! We want our company to reflect our personal values of respecting all walks of life—so we did!

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