An Introduction: Who Am I and How Can I Help Writers?
First, I have to say…wow! Thank you to all of you who saw the announcement post yesterday and subscribed. (And of course, thank you to everyone who has been subscribing for a while!) It is very heartening to watch this community of writers grow. Since there are so many new readers here, I wanted to introduce myself and my experience in the brand and publishing worlds.
For as long as I can remember I’ve been obsessed with books, storytelling, and writing. As a kid, I subscribed to book clubs, spent every weekend in Barnes & Noble, had a notebook I carried around to write stories in, and spent many hours living in story worlds I built in my imagination.
I flirted with the idea of going into publishing post-college but it seemed like an impossible industry to break into—it was extremely competitive and challenging to even get a job in the mailroom of a big publisher, not to mention the fact that the starting salary was somewhere around $19,000/year in New York City. I kept reading as a hobby and passion and launched my career in the startup world. Ten years later, I decided to not only revisit my flirtation with the publishing world but to fully commit to it: I started my own publishing house.
My years in the startup world were spent mostly in the brand and communications space. I started off creating launch plans for some of the internet’s buzziest consumer tech companies, putting together detailed strategies on messaging, positioning, press, influencers, etc. Then, I moved in-house to lead communications at SeatGeek, where I ended up overseeing the brand, corporate, consumer, and data-driven PR programs and also managed the content marketing strategy including our popular podcast. After that, I took a job I never thought I’d have, overseeing communications for Glossier (which, at that time, was relatively unknown) and led PR, influencer, social, editorial, community, experiential, and partnerships. I still look at those years as the most formative: not only was it an absolute all-star team, but I learned so much from Emily, Glossier’s founder. I left and did some marketing and brand consulting, then accepted a full-time role as COO of the popular direct to consumer aperitif company, Haus. That was another really exciting journey—we were at the epicenter of the low-alc movement and we were disrupting an unconscionably complicated industry (sounds familiar). After a couple of years, I worked up the courage to venture out on my own and launch Parea Books, my own publishing company.
When I entered the world of publishing, I knew nothing. Truly. I didn’t know how acquisitions worked, I didn’t know how advances worked, I didn’t know how book design worked, how NYT bestsellers lists worked (in my defense, no one does), how editors worked. I believe this has mostly been to my advantage—I’m not jaded or disillusioned by the “typical” way of doing things, I have the naïveté to try to innovate a giant, archaic industry, and I’m looking at all aspects of it with fresh eyes; however, these eyes have also had a decade of experience doing the very thing that publishing has no idea how to do: connect with customers directly through effective brand-building, community engagement, and creative marketing strategies.
Over the last 18 months I have gotten a tremendous amount of insight and experience. I’ve talked to heads of imprints at Simon & Schuster, I’ve worked directly with acquisitions editors at the Big 5, I’ve met the founders of the most impressive and well-respected new publishers, I’ve hired book designers, printers, illustrators, and editors. I’ve acquired authors, I’ve launched and sold books. I signed a distribution agreement with one of the largest distributors in the world, I’ve been to international rights fairs, I started co-hosting creative writing retreats with award-winning authors, I created a boutique marketing and creative studio to help authors. I helped launch a self-published author’s book in a very competitive and crowded genre and helped her reach the top of her category on Amazon and achieve incredible sales metrics as a first-time debut author (Colleen Hoover is currently reading her book…) and I’ve also helped a publisher with over 30 NYT Bestsellers with their marketing and consumer strategy.
I also know that there’s a lot I still don’t know. I don’t know the ins and outs of rights distribution (I’m learning a lot at the moment, though!), I don’t know the intricacies of retail marketing, I’m not a contract law expert, I wouldn’t dare advise you on the super technical specs of book production, and I can’t personally edit your contemporary literary fiction novel (though I can help you find an editor). But I can tell you how to effectively build your audience, how to find and engage a community of readers, how to navigate decisions around publishing and conversations with publishers, how to think about your own brand and success as an author, and many other critical parts of being a writer.
For all of the things I don’t know, I’m bringing in guest writers to weigh in. For example, I can’t tell you everything about the financials involved in self-publishing as I’ve never self-published, but I know many authors who have and would be happy to share.
For those who know me, you know that what motivates me the most is seeing talented people succeed. My goal is to package all of the things I’ve learned over the past 12 years into practical, actionable posts that empower authors with the knowledge that’s almost impossible to find elsewhere.
Looking forward to going on this journey with you!