How we got here, Part 2
Plus number crunching
In preparation for our meeting later this week with the MIT Venture Mentoring Service, we are hard at work on our spreadsheets, really digging into all the costs involved in producing, marketing, and selling Galiot books, and thinking about ways to ensure adequate revenue. There's a lot of "What if we did this?" and "What if we turned that idea on its head?" On Wednesday we will present our financial model to our mentors, who will no doubt poke some holes and challenge us, but this is an important part of our process. It will ensure we are on solid footing.
In our reader survey, someone asked “A similar new press but exclusively for women started up last year. It required $15,000 from each author. Will Galiot Press expect a similar contribution?”
The answer is a resounding NO. We do not believe writers should have to pay to get published. If they want to hire an independent editor before submitting their work, or hire a publicist to supplement what Galiot Press will provide, they will of course be free to do so. But we will not require any form of payment from our authors.
REPEAT: Galiot Press will not require any form of payment from our authors!
We also want to make it very clear that we are not creating this press to address a personal need, but rather what we perceive as an industry need.
And now, here's the promised second half of how we got here.
How We Got Here: Anjali's version
I came to publishing via a zigzagging route. I was first an infrastructure planner, then (and overlapping) I co-founded an arts non-profit and served as its part time executive director for ten years. During that time I started writing my first novel, which was published in 2014. (More on that below.) Overlapping with that was a stint as a freelance project manager in health care reform. My own mixed background means that I am drawn to interdisciplinary fields, and my practical nature means that I like hands-on projects and problem-solving. I am energized by seeing where knowledge, systems, and practices from one industry can inform others and create better experiences.
Getting a publishing deal for my first book, an historical novel set in 16th century Rajasthan, India, was an eye-opening journey. It's a book that is doubly foreign for most American readers: it takes place five hundred years ago, in another country. It tells a story that is specific, but also, I thought (and, it turns out, my readers think) is universal, with themes of inter-generational conflict, the desire to change one's station in life, the sacrifices one makes for one's art, the evolution of traditions, the fear of change. Yet editor after editor rejected it despite very positive comments about the writing. They didn't have "the editorial vision" for it. (Which I learned meant they couldn't convince the marketing team.) They felt I should have a European (read: white) character in it to make it more relatable. (Never mind that there were no Europeans in Rajasthan in the 1500s.) And then there was the "we already have an India book" line. I had to bite my tongue to not ask how many US books they had.
I ended up signing with a new (at the time) publisher who did a great job with producing the physical book. But they did not have a marketing team at the time. I hired a publicist for what I thought was a considerable sum of money and it turned out that the publicist was awful, and that in fact good publicists cost about double what I paid. Today, I know many writers who pay upwards of $10,000 for publicists who work on promoting the book for the three months leading up to publication, and the three months following it. And still the author puts in a ton of time and effort. I organized over 50 events on my own, including a self-funded book tour. So what happens to those writers whose books agents and editors think won't sell a lot of copies, like debut authors without a track record or writers tackling themes or settings that are unfamiliar to agents and editors, or writers whose books cross genres or are not easily categorized? They don't get published, is what happens. Some of those writers go the self-publishing route, but that requires time and money and energy and business savvy, and still there is prejudice against self-published books, no matter how professionally produced they are. And what happens to authors who don't have the money to hire a publicist, or whose life circumstances don't afford them the time to devote to promoting their book themselves? Their books don't sell well. Which then further reduces their chances of a deal for their next book(s).
Even those authors lucky enough to make it through the grueling process of finding an agent, and then getting a publishing deal, and having the means to help get the word out about their work, lose a lot of agency in the process. They don't get to have much say in their cover design. They don't have final say on the title of their book. They are ghosted by their editors, who are overworked and, often, underpaid. They wait 18 months or more to see their book published, and then have to worry about the sales numbers of the first three months, which is what the industry tends to look at as a measure of "success." It can be very demoralizing.
So when Henriette said she wanted to start a press, I immediately said I'd do it with her. And then as we heard more and more stories of frustration from our many writer friends, I said we shouldn't wait. The time is now. We can do it. We can think creatively and harness new technologies and borrow from other industries and create a whole new model that respects the writer and brings important stories to readers, and fosters collaboration and connection. So here we are!
I'm so glad you are going forward. Your bravery is impressive, and you are greatly needed.