by Jay Hartman
Normally, my column has a question about something going on in the publishing industry and I’m able to answer it from…well…a publisher’s perspective.
I have a secret. As of April of 2023, I was no longer a publisher.
In October of 2022, my business partner in my publishing house decided that she wanted out. As I was unable to purchase her share of the business, she sold the entire company to an investor (I didn’t own enough of the company to control the sale). One of the conditions of the sale required me to remain on for a period of six months. As that time came up on expiration, it became clear the new owner and I had very different visions of the company I built over 13 years. I decided to leave my position and let the new powers-that-be run things the way they wanted.
My leaving had two big issues.
One, I had a noncompete that basically kept me from doing much of anything in the publishing industry for a period of a year. Two, since my 13 years of work was an investment of time and not financial investment, I didn’t receive a dime from the sale of the business.
So, after 13 years as the head of a publishing house, I found myself out of a job with no income and not allowed to start over until October of 2023. I had to sit down and have a real heart-to-heart with myself. Did I really want to start over with publishing? Was I better off taking my experience and getting a full-time job somewhere in a related field and give up on the idea of having something of my own?
Authors find themselves in this position all the time. The passion for writing is rarely backed by the income to support it. There aren’t a whole lot of authors with full-time careers writing that fully supports them. Sometimes an author will get to book three in a series, look back at their royalty statements and think “remind me why I’m doing all of this, again?”
Thing is, when what you do is fueled by passion, you don’t always make the rational decision. Mind you, there’s a difference between “right decision” and “rational decision” as nobody can tell you what the right thing to do is. That’s something you have to feel in your heart. The rational decision reminds you that you have things like rent and utilities and a Labrador/Rottweiler mix named Zeke that relies on you for every aspect of his existence. OK, that last one might have been a bit more specific to my situation.
So, much like the author looking at their craft and what to do next, it was time sit down and have a come-to-Zeke with myself to determine what I really should do. The rational decision was to get a full-time job somewhere to ensure the bills got paid. The right decision is that I’ll always want to be a publisher, I’ll always want to promote independent publishing and authors and I’ll never be happy if I have to give that up.
I’m happy to say that as of October 2, 2023, I can once again call myself a publisher. I launched Misti Media, LLC which not only allows me to get back into the publishing game at my own pace, but allows me to explore other avenues and outlets for which I didn’t previously have the time. Now, I have a YouTube channel, I’m helping coordinate open mike nights, I’m educating authors and so much more. Everything at my pace and everything is mine. Can’t be sold out from under me.
So, the tone of my column will be changing a bit. I’ll still be tackling industry stuff from a publisher perspective, but now I’ll also take you behind the scenes of what’s essentially a publishing startup. I’m going to show you the good, the bad and everything in-between. If you ever wondered what went into building and maintaining a publishing house, you’ll want to stick around the column for updates.
For once, rational and right seem to have come together in a cohesive way and I couldn’t be happier.
Looking to get The Publisher Perspective? Send your questions to jhartman@mistimedia.com with TPP in your subject line.
Jay A. Hartman, founder of Untreed Reads Publishing, promotes ebooks with an emphasis on independent authors and publishers. He’s written about the ebook industry for fifteen years and previously served as content editor for KnowBetter.com, one of the internet’s oldest sites reporting on ebooks and epublishing.
