by Tammy Ditmore
That was the challenge given by Angela Bole, CEO of the Independent Book Publishers Association, to the hundreds of publishing aficionados gathered for the opening of the 2018 Publishing University. I certainly had no trouble learning “one thing” during the next day and a half at Pub U in Austin. I learned new ideas from keynote speeches and breakout sessions, picked up tips in conversations with industry experts and lunch-table companions, and discovered new products at vendor tables and sponsor displays.
It’s a bit harder to honor the second half of Angela’s challenge: teach one thing. As I sat down to create this article, I struggled with how to best summarize what I learned in sessions on hybrid publishing, audiobooks, mission-based marketing, nonfiction revenue streams, and e-learning systems. Eventually I realized the “one thing” I want to pass on from what I learned at PubU. This one thing can be the key to reaching your goals in writing, publishing, or anything else you set out to do: to be successful, you must first define your success.
Writing and publishing can be tough, frustrating pursuits, and only a very few ever reach the twin peaks of fortune and fame. Fortunately, multiple weeks on the best-seller list is not the only way to measure success in the publishing industry. Speaker after speaker in sessions across a broad spectrum of specialties told participants that the first step to achieving success is knowing how you define it. Do you measure success in sales, or audience participation, or awards, or the satisfaction of a high-quality product, or some other criteria? Define your idea of success so you can achieve success.
Knowing how to define success is key to achieving it and also the key to a joy-filled life, according to keynote speaker Daniel Lerner, New York University psychology professor and author of U Thrive: How to Succeed in College and Life. In his address kicking off PubU, Lerner told the crowd of publishing enthusiasts that the key to achieving success and happiness is to pursue “harmonious passion” rather than “obsessive passion.”
When you pursue a passion harmoniously, Lerner said, you will practice an activity because you love it and because you enjoy the process, not just “the win.” A harmonious passion will be “a part” of your life—maybe a very large part—but it will not be “the only thing” in your life, he said. By contrast, an obsessive passion is pursued for others, status, glory, or money, Lerner said, and it will crowd out other activities, relationships, and people.
People who pursue a passion harmoniously are just as likely to master their craft and achieve success as those who pursue it obsessively, Lerner noted. And harmonious-passion practicers are far more likely to lead happier, more fulfilled lives with better relationships and fewer negative outcomes, such as addiction and burnout. So, what’s Lerner’s first step to ensuring that success and happiness co-exist? Know how you define success!
Although none of the other PubU speakers shared Lerner’s background in positive psychology, many of them shared similar ideas about success for authors or publishers. Maggie Langrick, CEO of LifeTree Media, said that aspiring authors need to ask themselves two questions before attempting to publish a book:
- What do you need the book to do for you?
- What do you want the book to do for your readers?
If you don’t know the answers to those questions, how can you have any chance at success? Do you need to make a profit with your book? Or is it more important to reach a small segment of a specific audience? You have to know what success will look like in order to have any chance of achieving it.
The overarching mission of a writer or a publisher can play an enormous role in determining whether a book achieves success, according to the panelists in Saturday morning’s keynote session, “Where Mission Meets Marketplace.” Karla Olson of Patagonia Books told the audience, “sales are not the only measure of success.” The primary focus for the book-publishing arm of Patagonia, best-known for outdoor clothing sales, is “to get readers involved,” she said. When Patagonia’s books raise environmental awareness or prompt grassroots activism, the publisher is achieving its distinctive goals, even if the book never becomes a bestseller.
“Legitimacy and voice,” are two of the hallmarks of success for Brooke Warner, co-founder of She Writes Press. She told the panel audience, “I feel strongly about women’s voices changing the world.” The relationship between authors and readers provides value to She Writes Press and its community, according to Warner, and serves as one measure of its success. “It’s so rewarding for our authors to hear back from readers.”
Panelist Kathy Strahs of Burnt Cheese Press, which focuses on food-related media, said just knowing her friends’ kids use her child-friendly cookbooks makes her feel successful. But that doesn’t mean book sales are irrelevant. “I come to publishing from an interest and passion, but at the end of the day, I expend real money to produce a book, so I have to create something that can make money,” Strahs said.
Publishing today can look like a bewildering and ever-changing landscape of confusing terms and concepts: traditional publishing, self-publishing, hybrid publishing, ebooks, print-on-demand, audiobooks, online learning, webinars, podcasts, distribution contracts, foreign rights, subsidiaries, and multiple revenue streams. Looking at the list of PubU’s breakout sessions can make a novice author feel dizzy.
Maybe that’s why so many speakers this year stressed that there is no one-size-fits-all version of success. Authors and publishers must have an idea about where they want to go before they can possibly hope to chart a passage through publishing’s puzzling provinces. Choosing a destination dramatically improves the chance of success.
How do you define success?
If you need help answering that question, get in touch with someone at WPN or at IBPA. Nobody at either organization will claim to know it all, but we stand ready to learn and to teach at least one thing to help you along your path.
IBPA, Pub U FACTS
Independent Book Publishers Association is a not-for-profit membership organization that has served the indie publishing community since 1983. With nearly 3,000 members, IBPA is the largest publishing-trade association in the United States.
Publishing University 2018 was held April 6 and 7 in Austin, Texas. In addition to educational sessions, the event included the 30th annual IBPA Benjamin Franklin Book Awards, honoring winners in more than 50 categories for excellence in book editorial and design. Photos, video, and audio recordings are available to download.
Tammy Ditmore is the owner of eDitmore Editorial Services and a WPN board member. She was awarded an affiliate scholarship through WPN to attend PubU 2018.