The Last No I Needed
The per unit economics were there all along, we just need to apply them to ourselves.
Hi I’m Fiona. Welcome to The Turquoise Bit, my (now) bi-weekly look at the non-obvious stuff that can change how you think, decide and lead when given a second look.
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First, up. I believe in my book and that’s the most important thing. I don’t need a classic publishing deal to tell me that. Traditional publishing is however, still external validation and many people’s reason for pursuing it. For a book which in many ways encourages us not to need that very thing, I wonder why I even considered it? I warn against doing what we ‘should’ do over what is right in a decision. I am encouraging human judgement alongside data and so combining them myself, being honest with my audience data and the all important per unit economics, I arrived at my choice to go hybrid-independent publishing. Customer focused, professional quality, just funded and orchestrated differently.
Decision clarity
Getting my final agent rejection this week was actually uplifting. Honestly it felt like relief. Don’t misunderstand me, it’s not giving up on my book, rather I was hit with instant clarity. I had choices and narrowed them down — traditional publishing won’t be the route for me.
As I have weighed up the options of traditional, hybrid and self-publishing, there was no obvious choice at the beginning. As a second time author I know what it takes, and I know where my budget is best spent, what I miss and what I will and won’t compromise on — quality or the idea itself. I would have loved the idea of traditional, but as vanity is not why I write, plus 18-24 months waiting is not what I feel works for me, I was wary. After speaking to many of those who did get published this way it wasn’t all as rosy as they thought. Many traded royalties for very little in return, some had to cut content to save cost, and most still had much of the work to do and no actual guarantee of being in a bookstore. Perhaps I just needed to take options off the table for focus.
If I was an agent, I wouldn’t sign me
This one was the eye-opener. I fully believe in my idea and the problem it solves but at the end of the day I’m a business leader and so I too look at the per unit economics; publishing is after all a business. Although writers like myself want to change the world and share ideas that matter, it doesn’t mean the financials don’t apply to us.
Writing about decisions as a leader with 30 years experience, it would be remiss of me to blindly ignore the financials just because this is my book. Data and judgement together all the way. As with any category, the more parties involved in the making, distributing and selling of something, the more parties the margin needs to be split between. Books themselves don’t make much money, and connected activities — speaking, workshops, other opportunities — don’t always flow via the agent.
I’m not a celebrity
This is no surprise, I’m not famous. Writing non-fiction comes with a few hurdles; it’s a crowded category, business and management even more so. You pretty much need to be a celebrity or one of five people in the world who are the source of truth on your topic to have a chance of getting backing into a large publishing house. I totally get that and I’m not complaining. Publishing is not really about the idea of the book — it’s about the platform and the ability to sell.
If I were an agent with limited resources, I would be looking for the handful of contracts that make the most money. I can see how an agent makes far more money with other books than they can with mine. I’m not a household name and I’m not writing for the masses, at least not in this edition.
It’s always about risk
The strange rule in publishing that I’ve not seen anywhere in the businesses I’ve been close to, is that a retailer can still return unsold copies to the wholesaler for a full refund. This effectively means they destroy the books rather than pay additional shipping costs. It seems not only a colossal waste but a policy in need of updating. To get per unit costs small enough to have headroom for good marketing needs big production runs, and yet those are the most risky. Publishers take all the risk rather than it being shared across the value chain. It’s a significant hurdle. So I will lean in to it.
The perceived value is changing
My last paperback book retailed at €12.99 was reasonably priced. A hardback at €25-€30 today still feels like a sensible purchase. And yet today readers seem more willing to subscribe to a Substack — the entry-level is €5 or €6, equating to over €70 for a year — for a volume of wisdom that’s likely far less organised, less tangible and for many writers involved far less work. Continuous relationship rather than information alone is the direction.
I’m still a newbie here so don’t have that channel established really either. I’m building it gradually, but it does make me smile at the change and perceived value of writing itself. It’s a perfect reminder for me of why I decided to put pen to paper — finger to keyboard — with a book and what I’m going to do with it, and how I will stay connected in my writing in the new ways too.
Being honest about what I have or what I don’t
Writing from 30 years of experience gives me a deep experience bank — dare I say wisdom — but I haven’t spent my entire career building an audience. Moving countries and industries while a source of my creativity, my name on a book in a bookstore will mean nothing to most people. Yes I worked at some big brands but that is not the marketing itself.
If I write advice and create metaphors and concepts that aim to inspire people, so I absolutely need to walk my talk. Regardless of how much you love your work — and there was a lot of love for my book amongst my early readers — it still needs to earn its place on a retail shelf.
Where my experience and storytelling shows up is on a stage or in front of teams doing the actual work. Those channels are still there, and that is how I will also take my insights to market.
It changes changes the target customer
Decisions That Carry is written for leaders who need to make and communicate decisions across their business, and need to create, protect or rebuild trust in doing so. Some of those leaders may find my book directly, but many won’t — and so the HR department, the learning and development teams, the corporate offsites, those are the moments where my concentrated wisdom could enter. It’s not likely to be something that needs an agent, and I know that the agents know that too.
Living and learning
Yes there is the slight frustration that I put many hours into the agent submissions — tracking down agents in my genre, waiting for submissions to open, dutifully following each one’s specific process. I had only three replies, one within 24 hours after I accidentally signalled that AI was used. The rest are lost on the wind. I’ll never really know whether my idea wasn’t liked or, as I suspect, that my platform and commerciality were the challenge. Feedback is a core component in most businesses, but largely absent in publishing. I think we can do better here in the future.
As I look forward I’m energised. The indecision that sat with me while I left options open is now gone. Clarity, focus and renewed drive are on my side. I think I always knew I wanted this route, but when you have open leads, sometimes you don’t want to be the one to close them. So it worked out well that I got that rejection. It was the last one because I am not looking for any more.
I’m very much still in the game, but I’m not playing to win. I’m playing to improve.
This week’s Look Again
What answer do you already know yourself, but are waiting for someone else to say for you?
Thanks for reading along. Have a good week.