$20,333.08. That’s how much money I’ve spent on Publishing Genius since January 17, 2008. This includes printing books, marketing, shipping, and numerous miscellaneous fees. (To give an idea of operating costs, deduct the cost of printing from that number. Printing spend is $12,916.51.)
$13,640.24. That’s how much I’ve taken in from direct sales, Amazon payments, bookstores, sale of rights and so on. Both of these numbers astound me.
$6692.84 is the difference.
For that much money, I could have made the movie “Clerks.”
This isn’t going to be one of those announcements that ends, “We’ve had a great run, and are eternally grateful to everyone who has supported us over the years.” I plan to keep plugging away because doing PG is rewarding and fun. The point of this post, which is going to be long, is just to provide some more glimpses behind the scenes. I figure I’m interested in this so everyone else must be, too.
That said, I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t know jack-shit about running a business, or how other small presses do it. I think you can figure a 5% margin of error in my numbers here, which I suspect is unacceptable for any level of management. And I don’t know how those numbers line up with other small presses, either. I’m curious about how much Hobart spends when they make a book like Adam Novy’s, which is mad wow like a Bible, or Mary Miller’s, which has red stuff on the sides.
Other people’s presses are interesting. I’m not sure what is most interesting to me about PG, which aspects of the job I like the best. When I start to think about what I like, I wonder why I do this in the first place. That’s crisis-inducing. Here’s a question for the other people who run a press: why?
Personally, I’ve never been able to think of an answer besides: I’ve always wanted to. I made comic books in 5th grade. I made zines in high shool. In 1999 I ran a hopeless online journal. If pressed, I would say I publish books because I want to influence culture.
Because that’s possible. But which part of the business do I like best?
Editorial work? To define the position, I think of the editor as the person in charge of tying all the other jobs together — from selecting a manuscript, to editing and revising it with the author, to determining a marketing strategy, to overseeing the design.
Or do I like the administrative end best? (Actually, maybe.) This would include sales, budgeting and accounting (of course), decisions about company structure, working with bookstores and printers, and “staffing” like how to use interns or how to pay artists or proofreaders. Oh, and also that loathsome thing: the post office.
Or is it marketing? Talking to the media, trying to get reviews, being engaged in the scene.
It’s like what Jesus said about the body — every part of the business is as important as the others. I want to say the marketing is of primary importance, but it’s really just the hardest part (for me). Once a book has been produced, that’s when the work begins. Making the book is the easiest step in the process (for me).
There’s always a little window that’s open when a book is released or announced, and it’s going to sell a handful of copies then. But once that window closes — and it closes quickly — sales drop off. It’s the publicist’s job to keep getting attention for the book. Eye level is buy level.
In the PG “model,” though, I’m the publicist and I suck at it. No really, I’m the worst. So, knowing that, I came up with the brilliant idea to just publish a lot of books, and they will promote each other. Right? Like, so you’ve heard of A Jello Horse? Well, that publisher also put out MLKNG SCKLS by Justin Sirois. I figured I could put out 2-4 books a year and devote a lot of time to promoting them, or put out 8-10 books and spend almost no energy promoting them. I chose the latter, but still I seem to be focusing mostly on marketing.
But really I’m just floundering around in that regard. I do things when I think of them, and sometimes they are effective in terms of getting a book reviewed or a writer interviewed or something, but I have no unified plan. And I have no plan to get a plan, except to switch gears from obsessing about “how do you put out a book,” to “how do you sell things?”
I often feel like my strategy is an asshole strategy, because what has ended up happening is that Mike Young is out in the world saying, “Check out my book on Publishing Genius” and Mairéad Byrne is doing likewise and yesterday Stephanie Barber sent out an email to all her friends saying, “Buy my book at www.publishinggenius.com” — so what is happening is that all these writers are making ME famous, not the other way around. The thing is that I have a limited number of contacts, and when there’s a book coming out every few weeks, it seems questionable to make the rounds through my friends-slash-colleagues asking them to support another PG book. But ignore me. Journalists aren’t the story, and publishers shouldn’t be either.
Except — when I look at other publishers’ websites, I am often filled with envy. So many people are doing so much right in their technology integration, or the simplicity of their business structure. I wonder — how many books are they selling? How are they using their distributors? What’s their advertising budget?
The thing is, I fund PG myself, from my paychecks. (I have never used credit cards because I am bad with money so I won’t allow myself to have credit cards.) I have a pretty good job and I make more than I did in any job I ever had before, back when I was working front desk at a hotel or doing data entry as a temp. Publishing stories that are only read by other people who want to publish stories is a weird way to spend money, but I wouldn’t give it up for a nicer car.
And there’s another way to look at this, anyway — maybe I’m not funding this myself, after all. Rather, I’m given the privilege, by readers, of doing this. There are some names that appear in my Paypal account several times. I sincerely feel that these people, many of whom I’ve never heard of or heard from outside of their purchases, have done as much for PG as I have.
Still, my ambition is not to be a small press. I don’t recognize small presses as inherently more interesting than big presses. In the asset management world, brokers look at the personality of funds managers and funds managers look at the personality of corporate CEOs. The guy in charge of a fund has people following him around to determine what he’s eating and what his mood is like so they can decide early how he’s going to manage BlackRock’s 3 trillion dollars. These are the real taste makers, and they are astute, and they recognize it’s the people who make the decisions, not the corporate name.
My ambition is be bigger than Random House. To make Rachel Glaser’s book sell a million copies. I honestly am not interested in literacy. It doesn’t bother me that Wittgenstein’s Mistress doesn’t appeal to a wider audience, or that executives add suffixes to words to invent new verbs. I want to sell a lot of books. I don’t know why I got into publishing, but now that I’m in, I know why I’ll keep doing it – to earn back the $6693 I’m in the red.
Tags: cash money, Publishing Genius
Great stuff, loved reading it, all of it. I hear you too.
My debut novel, Transubstantiate, just came out. Here’s one idea that did get me a lot of eyeballs. You’re already on Facebook and and all that. I joined GoodReads.com about six months ago. Started adding the books that I love, and friends, and it’s been pretty cool. What I didn’t know, was that as an author, there are a lot of benefits too. They have a section called giveaways, where you can do exactly that. My press (Otherworld Publications, new small press out of KY) and I gave away five copies. Now I’m nobody, this is my first book, with a new press, I barely have a net presence at all. BUT..I’ve published some 20 stories online and in print, won a contest at ChiZine, have a story coming out in the Cemetery Dance anthology Shivers VI, I’m a workshop moderator at chuckpalahniuk.net, so I have SOME connections and press out there. What I did was tap into all of those things, promote this giveaway wherever I could (FB, Twitter, my blogs, various forums, etc.) and we got over 1000 people to register for the 5 books we gave away. Of those 1000, I probably knew 100 people, tops. That’s a lot of new people looking at my book. Of those 1000, 200 marked the book as “to-read” on their bookshelves. Right now there are 10 people reading the book “officially” at GoodReads, and I know I’ve gotten sales out of it, maybe a couple dozen.
So, point being, something like GoodReads might be a good way to get some new people to your books.
Also, try LibraryThing.com, it’s not quite as cool and interactive, but it works too. Right now I have 257 people that are entered into a giveaway to get 1 copy of my book. Again, more exposure.
Good luck. I’ve been digging your work, the site, the books.
Really interesting post, thanks for sharing all those details. I think it’s great that you’re admitting to a realization that you were more concerned with “how do you put out a book” but now you’re realizing it’s more important to figure out “how do you sell things?” It’s somewhat unethical to be more interested, as an entire press, in publishing than in promoting/selling. And it’s great that you’re saying that losing out-of-pocket money on the endeavor doesn’t excuse not selling, and doesn’t heighten the cause. An author should choose a publisher because the publisher will try to get the book into the hands of readers, not because she or he is anxious to be published. And a publisher should want to sell things.
Wow, thanks for posting this.
Part of the magic — and beauty — of small publishing is that, going into the deal, the writer knows that he/she is dealing with people who are in the business for the art and for the artist — not for money. That’s a big deal, and it has a lot to do with things that I’ve involved myself in. (A few of you know about it, but I’m sure that most of you don’t.)
Also, authors who choose small publishing do so, I think, not insignificantly because they know they’re going to be dealing with just such people.
Of course, there’re many reasons why writers aim their books at small publishing.
Based on the rest of the article, I’m guessing that what you mean about wanting to sell lots and lots of books is that you want to make a big impression upon publishing — not just that you want to make money. (Random House wants to make money.)
But it seems to me that Mr. Robinson DID admit that losing money heightens the cause. I mean, I’m sure that that there was more than one implication in there, but I felt good reading that, because it said to me: “losing money only strengthens our determination”.
Seemed more like at first he thought it heightened the cause, then eventually realized that was narcissism. “And there’s another way to look at this, anyway — maybe I’m not funding this myself, after all. Rather, I’m given the privilege, by readers, of doing this. There are some names that appear in my Paypal account several times. I sincerely feel that these people, many of whom I’ve never heard of or heard from outside of their purchases, have done as much for PG as I have.” It’s great to do what you do because you love it, but losing money out-of-pocket doesn’t necessarily mean anything.
Yeah, I don’t think there is much practical value to losing money. If I was making a lot of it, I could do a lot more to get the books out there, and publish other books that I have to reject because I don’t have enough money. Especially because I won’t have a job at all come January. Then who knows what’ll happen.
Thanks, everybody, for your comments.
The other day I had a great marketing idea for small presses that could open things up. I love small presses. I love being introduced to fresh voices. I want small press titles to have a feasible way to reach eye level in high traffic areas.
This post really gave me some insight into the nature of the business. Thanks for taking the time, Adam!
Hugely interesting, Adam. Thanks for posting.
good post
this post has at least as much insight and candor as the movie “clerks”
I think Publishing Genius is cool.
I really enjoyed reading this post, Adam, and I really admire your honesty and transparency when it comes to talking about PG sales and money.
I love thinking about ways to marketing/promote/brand. It’s certainly a challenge trying to solve the question of: Once everyone that cares knows, how can I get those who don’t know to care?
Great post, Adam. I would love to see more small presses talking about what they spend on printing in particular because I always feel like we spend so much damn money on printing and wonder if that opinion is accurate or just that I hate being parted from money.
Promotion is so hard. I don’t enjoy publicity either. I want someone to handle all that. Thanks for sharing your insights.
Adam,
You know I love the shit out of Pub Genius and I think putting out Rachel’s book and Mike’s book is one of the greatest feats since ever, but I was wondering, since you’re shedding light on a lot of shit, what the point was to the early editions? I mean, as a person who’s going to buy that shit anyway, no problem, the earlier the better, but does it do you any good, pocket-wise to do so? I think for the casual fan that can be a little frustrating because, for instance, I talked to a few kids at the reading who wanted to purchase books but maybe couldn’t have on the spot. They’re probably the types who would return to the bookstore but would shy away from online ordering. Also, it would’ve been great to have books in the store to leave after the fact considering The Boston Globe even mentioned the reading in their About Town section or whatever. The bookstore can get anything once it’s out on SPD, but those kids are already champing at the bit and who knows if they’ll still feel the same way a few months from now. Obviously the ideal would be to send ’em to the Pub Genius website, but you know how people are, if it’s not in front of their face often times, they don’t want to do the little work of a click and send. Or are even dissuaded because of the wait. A person posted on Mike Young’s facebook joking about how she’d heard about Rachel’s book coming out for the past 3 months or something and I think this release-real release thing can make it seem like an echo chamber since we all know about the small window that books have to really grasp the more casual buyer. Not trying to shit on your business model, I’m sure you’ve got your reasons, I just wanted to know about ’em. I would also like to see Mike and Rachel sell a million copies. Thanks man. Does this make sense? Quick type up before heading out.
That’s a good question and I’m really grateful for your feedback. One of the things I don’t think about enough are people who buy books at bookstores.
The point of the early editions was basically to get books out to reviewers that require them long in advance, but I also wanted to make them available for the tour R&M were going on, and also also to have them for loyal PG supporters who might have wanted them first, and hopefully those people would/will write about them on their blogs or talk to their friends and so on. To create a little early buzzing in the vacuum. I’ve never done ARCs before and I don’t know that they’re cost effective for PG, but this way I was basically able to pay for the printing and get copies out in advance. Oh yeah, also since I always find tons of typos after the first printing, I wanted to do these temporary ones to uncover those typos and clear them up for the future printing.
It was an experiment. I don’t think it’s been totally successful, but it was fun.
I have this nightmare phobia where you get hit by a bus while the driver is on your IPhone (he stole it by bashing a gourd over your head)
And, yes, maybe my first thought was, “Is he folding?”
So my book sinks into Jello and Pringles.
So glad that’s not the idea.
Dude, people shout PG books. And the reads thing is malarial.
and also I have never, never drank ouzo. Until tonight
S
Oh and I have bought maybe 5 Mary Miller Hobart books so do that. I assume all people buy 5 of her books?
If not, fuck off!!
Or go do it.
Lots of people spend $3000 a year on a hobby: fishing, skydiving, whatever. If you’re still getting a charge out of publishing, then good for you! Not everything either has to make money or be subsidized by the non-profit-industrial complex.
“Publishing stories that are only read by other people who want to publish stories is a weird way to spend money, but I wouldn’t give it up for a nicer car.”
Too cynical and you don’t believe it.
Sorry for over-commenting. I am about to get incredibly drunk due to a small inheritance notice.
Great stuff, loved reading it, all of it. I hear you too.
My debut novel, Transubstantiate, just came out. Here’s one idea that did get me a lot of eyeballs. You’re already on Facebook and and all that. I joined GoodReads.com about six months ago. Started adding the books that I love, and friends, and it’s been pretty cool. What I didn’t know, was that as an author, there are a lot of benefits too. They have a section called giveaways, where you can do exactly that. My press (Otherworld Publications, new small press out of KY) and I gave away five copies. Now I’m nobody, this is my first book, with a new press, I barely have a net presence at all. BUT..I’ve published some 20 stories online and in print, won a contest at ChiZine, have a story coming out in the Cemetery Dance anthology Shivers VI, I’m a workshop moderator at chuckpalahniuk.net, so I have SOME connections and press out there. What I did was tap into all of those things, promote this giveaway wherever I could (FB, Twitter, my blogs, various forums, etc.) and we got over 1000 people to register for the 5 books we gave away. Of those 1000, I probably knew 100 people, tops. That’s a lot of new people looking at my book. Of those 1000, 200 marked the book as “to-read” on their bookshelves. Right now there are 10 people reading the book “officially” at GoodReads, and I know I’ve gotten sales out of it, maybe a couple dozen.
So, point being, something like GoodReads might be a good way to get some new people to your books.
Also, try LibraryThing.com, it’s not quite as cool and interactive, but it works too. Right now I have 257 people that are entered into a giveaway to get 1 copy of my book. Again, more exposure.
Good luck. I’ve been digging your work, the site, the books.
Really interesting post, thanks for sharing all those details. I think it’s great that you’re admitting to a realization that you were more concerned with “how do you put out a book” but now you’re realizing it’s more important to figure out “how do you sell things?” It’s somewhat unethical to be more interested, as an entire press, in publishing than in promoting/selling. And it’s great that you’re saying that losing out-of-pocket money on the endeavor doesn’t excuse not selling, and doesn’t heighten the cause. An author should choose a publisher because the publisher will try to get the book into the hands of readers, not because she or he is anxious to be published. And a publisher should want to sell things.
Wow, thanks for posting this.
Part of the magic — and beauty — of small publishing is that, going into the deal, the writer knows that he/she is dealing with people who are in the business for the art and for the artist — not for money. That’s a big deal, and it has a lot to do with things that I’ve involved myself in. (A few of you know about it, but I’m sure that most of you don’t.)
Also, authors who choose small publishing do so, I think, not insignificantly because they know they’re going to be dealing with just such people.
Of course, there’re many reasons why writers aim their books at small publishing.
Based on the rest of the article, I’m guessing that what you mean about wanting to sell lots and lots of books is that you want to make a big impression upon publishing — not just that you want to make money. (Random House wants to make money.)
But it seems to me that Mr. Robinson DID admit that losing money heightens the cause. I mean, I’m sure that that there was more than one implication in there, but I felt good reading that, because it said to me: “losing money only strengthens our determination”.
Seemed more like at first he thought it heightened the cause, then eventually realized that was narcissism. “And there’s another way to look at this, anyway — maybe I’m not funding this myself, after all. Rather, I’m given the privilege, by readers, of doing this. There are some names that appear in my Paypal account several times. I sincerely feel that these people, many of whom I’ve never heard of or heard from outside of their purchases, have done as much for PG as I have.” It’s great to do what you do because you love it, but losing money out-of-pocket doesn’t necessarily mean anything.
Yeah, I don’t think there is much practical value to losing money. If I was making a lot of it, I could do a lot more to get the books out there, and publish other books that I have to reject because I don’t have enough money. Especially because I won’t have a job at all come January. Then who knows what’ll happen.
Thanks, everybody, for your comments.
My copy of Big World doesn’t have red stuff on the edges. Does everyone else’s?
Also, you should give authors incentives to leak their own sex tapes, because that did wonders for Kim Kardashian, whom I now know to be completely body bald thanks to a Scott Garson Facebook update.
I like yams
The other day I had a great marketing idea for small presses that could open things up. I love small presses. I love being introduced to fresh voices. I want small press titles to have a feasible way to reach eye level in high traffic areas.
This post really gave me some insight into the nature of the business. Thanks for taking the time, Adam!
Hugely interesting, Adam. Thanks for posting.
excellent post, adam
good post
this post has at least as much insight and candor as the movie “clerks”
I think Publishing Genius is cool.
I really enjoyed reading this post, Adam, and I really admire your honesty and transparency when it comes to talking about PG sales and money.
I love thinking about ways to marketing/promote/brand. It’s certainly a challenge trying to solve the question of: Once everyone that cares knows, how can I get those who don’t know to care?
Great post, Adam. I would love to see more small presses talking about what they spend on printing in particular because I always feel like we spend so much damn money on printing and wonder if that opinion is accurate or just that I hate being parted from money.
Promotion is so hard. I don’t enjoy publicity either. I want someone to handle all that. Thanks for sharing your insights.
Great post. I love hearing about this stuff, because I could never run a press and I’m in triple awe of those of you that do.
Adam,
You know I love the shit out of Pub Genius and I think putting out Rachel’s book and Mike’s book is one of the greatest feats since ever, but I was wondering, since you’re shedding light on a lot of shit, what the point was to the early editions? I mean, as a person who’s going to buy that shit anyway, no problem, the earlier the better, but does it do you any good, pocket-wise to do so? I think for the casual fan that can be a little frustrating because, for instance, I talked to a few kids at the reading who wanted to purchase books but maybe couldn’t have on the spot. They’re probably the types who would return to the bookstore but would shy away from online ordering. Also, it would’ve been great to have books in the store to leave after the fact considering The Boston Globe even mentioned the reading in their About Town section or whatever. The bookstore can get anything once it’s out on SPD, but those kids are already champing at the bit and who knows if they’ll still feel the same way a few months from now. Obviously the ideal would be to send ’em to the Pub Genius website, but you know how people are, if it’s not in front of their face often times, they don’t want to do the little work of a click and send. Or are even dissuaded because of the wait. A person posted on Mike Young’s facebook joking about how she’d heard about Rachel’s book coming out for the past 3 months or something and I think this release-real release thing can make it seem like an echo chamber since we all know about the small window that books have to really grasp the more casual buyer. Not trying to shit on your business model, I’m sure you’ve got your reasons, I just wanted to know about ’em. I would also like to see Mike and Rachel sell a million copies. Thanks man. Does this make sense? Quick type up before heading out.
That’s a good question and I’m really grateful for your feedback. One of the things I don’t think about enough are people who buy books at bookstores.
The point of the early editions was basically to get books out to reviewers that require them long in advance, but I also wanted to make them available for the tour R&M were going on, and also also to have them for loyal PG supporters who might have wanted them first, and hopefully those people would/will write about them on their blogs or talk to their friends and so on. To create a little early buzzing in the vacuum. I’ve never done ARCs before and I don’t know that they’re cost effective for PG, but this way I was basically able to pay for the printing and get copies out in advance. Oh yeah, also since I always find tons of typos after the first printing, I wanted to do these temporary ones to uncover those typos and clear them up for the future printing.
It was an experiment. I don’t think it’s been totally successful, but it was fun.
I have this nightmare phobia where you get hit by a bus while the driver is on your IPhone (he stole it by bashing a gourd over your head)
And, yes, maybe my first thought was, “Is he folding?”
So my book sinks into Jello and Pringles.
So glad that’s not the idea.
Dude, people shout PG books. And the reads thing is malarial.
and also I have never, never drank ouzo. Until tonight
S
Oh and I have bought maybe 5 Mary Miller Hobart books so do that. I assume all people buy 5 of her books?
If not, fuck off!!
Or go do it.
Lots of people spend $3000 a year on a hobby: fishing, skydiving, whatever. If you’re still getting a charge out of publishing, then good for you! Not everything either has to make money or be subsidized by the non-profit-industrial complex.
“Publishing stories that are only read by other people who want to publish stories is a weird way to spend money, but I wouldn’t give it up for a nicer car.”
Too cynical and you don’t believe it.
Sorry for over-commenting. I am about to get incredibly drunk due to a small inheritance notice.
No, they all don’t, and those with color aren’t all red. Aaron did some special screen pressings for AWP 2008 in Chicago–I think there were yellow, black, red, and maybe blue and green?
My copy of Big World doesn’t have red stuff on the edges. Does everyone else’s?
Also, you should give authors incentives to leak their own sex tapes, because that did wonders for Kim Kardashian, whom I now know to be completely body bald thanks to a Scott Garson Facebook update.
I like yams
excellent post, adam
Great post. I love hearing about this stuff, because I could never run a press and I’m in triple awe of those of you that do.
No, they all don’t, and those with color aren’t all red. Aaron did some special screen pressings for AWP 2008 in Chicago–I think there were yellow, black, red, and maybe blue and green?
Always appreciate these posts because I’m always boners about the economics of small pressery. Keep up the good work, dude, and I hope you can get your $6k back.
I totally agree, and that’s the way I usually think about it w/r/t finances. When I consider Sean’s perspective, though, where it would be a pretty bad thing if I started to lose interest in the hobby, that changes things a bit. With most hobbies, people aren’t relying on you for their livelihood. That certainly sounds self-important, and I don’t mean it to, so feel free to tone down the word “livelihood” to whatever’s more appropriate. I just mean to problematize the notion of publishing as a hobby, for people who are thinking of taking it on as one.
You’re right, I don’t believe it.
wait, i thought you lost your job. you got it back or another one?
good post.
My lex is outside plus I got a 64
But my Benz is wrapped up around a telephone pole
You know my name
I dug reading about the insides of PG and the small press adventure in general. I’ve only ever messed with a couple print journals and now an online only journal, but I can say it is a tough gig. I want to recommend that you read BOHEMIAN NEW ORLEANS: THE STORY OF THE OUTSIDER AND LOUJON PRESS by Jeff Weddle. It’s through U Press of Mississippi and may even be out of print. If so, let me know. I’ll figure out a way to hook you up. It’s the best book I’ve read about the the small press thing, the indie thing. All that.
Always appreciate these posts because I’m always boners about the economics of small pressery. Keep up the good work, dude, and I hope you can get your $6k back.
Amen to that, brother. So true. Did that myself. Probably one of the few books I’ve bought that many copies of and then just sent out to friends, and whatnot.
I bought two. I need three more.
I didn’t know they were different colors, but yeah, he did them all himself because having it done ended up being too expensive. And it was just the first batch or whatever.
I bought two and made the rest of my friends buy there own.
get your head out of a beer and into a book!
I totally agree, and that’s the way I usually think about it w/r/t finances. When I consider Sean’s perspective, though, where it would be a pretty bad thing if I started to lose interest in the hobby, that changes things a bit. With most hobbies, people aren’t relying on you for their livelihood. That certainly sounds self-important, and I don’t mean it to, so feel free to tone down the word “livelihood” to whatever’s more appropriate. I just mean to problematize the notion of publishing as a hobby, for people who are thinking of taking it on as one.
You’re right, I don’t believe it.
wait, i thought you lost your job. you got it back or another one?
good post.
My lex is outside plus I got a 64
But my Benz is wrapped up around a telephone pole
You know my name
I dug reading about the insides of PG and the small press adventure in general. I’ve only ever messed with a couple print journals and now an online only journal, but I can say it is a tough gig. I want to recommend that you read BOHEMIAN NEW ORLEANS: THE STORY OF THE OUTSIDER AND LOUJON PRESS by Jeff Weddle. It’s through U Press of Mississippi and may even be out of print. If so, let me know. I’ll figure out a way to hook you up. It’s the best book I’ve read about the the small press thing, the indie thing. All that.
Amen to that, brother. So true. Did that myself. Probably one of the few books I’ve bought that many copies of and then just sent out to friends, and whatnot.
I bought two. I need three more.
I didn’t know they were different colors, but yeah, he did them all himself because having it done ended up being too expensive. And it was just the first batch or whatever.
I bought two and made the rest of my friends buy there own.
get your head out of a beer and into a book!
Ditto what most are saying here, Adam. Appreciate your willingness to shed behind-the-scenes light. Quick question: When’s that “official” release date again for Mike Young’s book?
Ditto what most are saying here, Adam. Appreciate your willingness to shed behind-the-scenes light. Quick question: When’s that “official” release date again for Mike Young’s book?
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Best wish!
Forgive me, I notice you don’t mention taxes, deductions, and schedule “C” and the like. If you’re going to be big as Random House, it’s probably best to keep it straight with Uncle Sam and his cousin with your state government. You might be surprised — if you actually played it straight on the taxes, given deductions, etc., you might actually have EARNED a net income on revenues of 13 Gs with expenses of 20 grand, OR even more likely: your net loss on PG, assuming its not a separate entity, could help you with your overall income / tax liability.
Best wish!
Forgive me, I notice you don’t mention taxes, deductions, and schedule “C” and the like. If you’re going to be big as Random House, it’s probably best to keep it straight with Uncle Sam and his cousin with your state government. You might be surprised — if you actually played it straight on the taxes, given deductions, etc., you might actually have EARNED a net income on revenues of 13 Gs with expenses of 20 grand, OR even more likely: your net loss on PG, assuming its not a separate entity, could help you with your overall income / tax liability.
Yes, was gonna say, make sure you write that shit off. sounds like a familiar story but come tax time you’ll at least get it back (if you or a spouse has another more profitable gig).
i’ve heard restaurants typically don’t net income till 3-5 years, i wonder if small presses are the same? maybe even more so if you have inventory on hand. i thought my in & out lines might cross after a few years but alas no: http://www.5cense.com/10/images/clam/calamari_finance.jpg … but like you, i suck at promotion.
adam,
next time i see you i want to cry in your arms, and then laugh till my gut burns, then give you the password to my online banking account, then go get a sandwich and maybe go to the pool or something.
Yes, was gonna say, make sure you write that shit off. sounds like a familiar story but come tax time you’ll at least get it back (if you or a spouse has another more profitable gig).
i’ve heard restaurants typically don’t net income till 3-5 years, i wonder if small presses are the same? maybe even more so if you have inventory on hand. i thought my in & out lines might cross after a few years but alas no: http://www.5cense.com/10/images/clam/calamari_finance.jpg … but like you, i suck at promotion.
I love reading about all these small press particulars and I appreciate your honesty and passion. Thanks for the interesting post, Adam.
P.S. I agree with Derechio Bianchi: you could probably get that $6K back come tax time.
adam,
next time i see you i want to cry in your arms, and then laugh till my gut burns, then give you the password to my online banking account, then go get a sandwich and maybe go to the pool or something.
I love reading about all these small press particulars and I appreciate your honesty and passion. Thanks for the interesting post, Adam.
P.S. I agree with Derechio Bianchi: you could probably get that $6K back come tax time.
[…] Robinson of Publishing Genius wrote a very nice post at HTML Giant the other day. He has declared that after about two and a half years running Publishing Genius, […]
Thanks Steven. I’m only now coming to the point where I’m starting to see the need for getting an accountant, and having the financial tracking to make it possible.
Re: this post: http://wp.me/pPsYs-1DY
Thanks Steven. I’m only now coming to the point where I’m starting to see the need for getting an accountant, and having the financial tracking to make it possible.
In my experience, there’s no other way to run a profitable business other than to learn how to run a business, how to sell things, all that stuff that seems like a drag, but actually takes more creativity and imagination than anything else I’ve ever done. Good luck to you, my brother in publishing. Stick to it and keep on keepin’ on–you’ll work it out.
Re: this post: http://wp.me/pPsYs-1DY
In my experience, there’s no other way to run a profitable business other than to learn how to run a business, how to sell things, all that stuff that seems like a drag, but actually takes more creativity and imagination than anything else I’ve ever done. Good luck to you, my brother in publishing. Stick to it and keep on keepin’ on–you’ll work it out.
Dear Adam,
With respect, your report that you are just now realizing the need for an accountant, records, and other biz matters is way too common. Nobody will watch out for you but you. The basic information and requirements on the biz money stuff are available on-line for free, or for very modest cost. For 100 or 150 bucks per year — and I believe that cost is deductible the next year — the TurboTax disc for small business can be had, which walks you through it step-by-step at tax time.
Dear Adam,
With respect, your report that you are just now realizing the need for an accountant, records, and other biz matters is way too common. Nobody will watch out for you but you. The basic information and requirements on the biz money stuff are available on-line for free, or for very modest cost. For 100 or 150 bucks per year — and I believe that cost is deductible the next year — the TurboTax disc for small business can be had, which walks you through it step-by-step at tax time.
[…] stunning. For example, Adam Robinson also contributes to HTMLgiant, where he recently posted a breakdown of Publishing Genius’s finances. It’s an eye-opening and educational statement for […]
[…] Press, to write about MLP for my ongoing series Dear Small Press Publisher, originally inspired by Adam Robinson of Publishing Genius. As we continue to look at these small press case studies, let’s […]
[…] Or more generally, does it seems the most viable way to circulate new poetry? I like referring to this article when conversing about small presses because I like the sentiment that the writing is meant to be […]
[…] a savings account! (read this htmlgiant post about the cost of running PGP in […]
[…] used to do occasional “inside baseball” posts about running a small press, like this one from four (!) years ago. I guess it’s been a while. I find them clarifying, and usually after […]
[…] the business stuff before, like seven years ago at HTMLGiant, when I wrote a post called “$20,333.08” which grapples with the cost of publishing, but I don’t write a lot about the fun […]