PUBWEST 2013THE INNOVATIVE PUBLISHER

November 8, 2013

HOW TO SUCCEED BY INNOVATING IN EVERY AREA OF YOUR BUSINESS

What Small and Medium-Sized Publishers Can Do

Steven Piersanti, President and PublisherBerrett-Koehler Publishers

10 Areas of Innovation

1. Eat Our Own Cooking2. Company Ownership3. Author Relationships4. Publication Agreement5. Editorial Practices6. Marketing Systems7. Digital Publishing and Marketing8. Community Building9. Company Governance10.Compensation Practices

Berrett-Koehler Publishers

Founded 1992. Steve was previously CEO of Jossey-Bass.

$8 to 9 million in revenues/year. Profitable 10 years in a row.

Publish 30 to 40 new books and new editions per year.

500+ titles in print, over 40 have sold 100,000+ copies

25 employees. Main office in San Francisco. Some employees work from home offices in San Pablo, Carpinteria, Perth.

Mission: Creating a World That Works for

AllThree publishing agendas:

BK Life: individual change and development

BK Business: organizational change and development

BK Currents: societal change and development

1. Eat Our Own CookingLearn from and Apply Our Book’s Ideas in Our Company

2. Company Ownership

Berrett-Koehler is owned by our stakeholders:*Employees *Authors *Customers *Suppliers *Service providers *Sales partners*Publishing supporters

3. Author Relationships

BK Authors Cooperative:• Annual Authors Retreat• Annual Marketing

Workshop• Authors Mentoring Authors• BK Authors Collaboratory

Bill of Rights and Responsibilities for BK Authors

“Author Day” for each new book

4. Publication Agreement

Author-friendly, power to authors:• Author can take rights

back if author is not happy• No competing works

clause or right to next book

• Author involvement in decisions

• No bait-and-switch in royalties

• High discounts to authors• Same advance for all

authors• Shorter, simpler, clearer

contract

5. Editorial Practices

BK community involvement:• BK authors as book scouts• Outside reviews for all

manuscripts• Hundreds of manuscript

reviewers• All book titles market-tested

Editorial work is front-loaded

Learning exchanges with publishers

Open Book Editions self-publishing

6. Marketing SystemsAuthors are full partners in marketing:• Set realistic expectations --

“The 10 Awful Truths about Book Publishing”

• Full info on what BK will/won’t do

• Market through 20+ channels• Detailed reporting on

actions/results• Coach/help authors to market

well• Open access to all BK staff• Authors support other BK

authors• Unique catalog: BK news,

partners• Unique newsletter: BK

Communique

7. Digital Publishing and Marketing2007: “digital community

builder” 2008: strategic plan: dive into digital

Placed digital staff in editorial dept., with cross-departmental digital team

Many experiments: apps, videos, enhanced ebooks, self-assessments

Digitized almost all titles; sell through 50+ digital distributors

8. Community Building

Build and involve community in many ways:• Hundreds of BK stakeholders

participate in strategic planning

• Guests at Author Day lunches

• BK community dialogues• BK Authors Cooperative• Berrett-Koehler Foundation• Annual shareholders

meetings

9. Company Governance

Power shared among stakeholders, social mission driven:• First publisher to become a

certified B Corp• Creating a BK Constitution• Staff together make many

decisions• Staff meeting is highly

participative• Board of Directors has

employee, author, customer, service provider, sales partner, social mission, management, shareholder members

10. Compensation Practices

No class systems:• Entire staff approves, revises

compensation system• Same compensation system

for executives and employees

• ESOP• All staff receive same annual

incentive compensation• No secrecy; staff know all

salaries• No annual performance

reviews