A SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS MODEL
Ibrahim Ahmad of Akashic Books
IF YOU are lucky enough to encounter a group of two or more independent publishers in the wild—whether in their natural habitat behind the tables at the Brooklyn Book Festival or perhaps gathered furtively at BookExpo America, in the less hospitable terrain of the 5000 section at New York City’s Javits Center, tucked between displays of cat cartoon calendars and book-themed socks—you will find that their conversations often unfurl in a language that is unintelligible to outsiders, a vernacular limited to parsing the inimitable horrors of ONIX metadata feeds, the soul-crushing degradation of Excel pivot tables, or the diabolical expense ratios of company retirement plans. In other words the language of the daily life of independent publishing is, at least on the surface, far removed from that of literature or high art. Indeed it may at times even resemble the peculiar lingo of corporate America—where time in the office is spent developing human resources protocols and cultivating Bookstagram influencers and reconciling monthly sales reports. This is a language that, if we were at all conversant in before taking the plunge into the rough-and-tumble world of “indie publishing,” may have instead translated into better-paying careers selling higher-margin products like shoes or bundled insurance products or artisanal vodka or book-themed socks.
While few enter the world of independent book publishing with even a sliver of business acumen, the presses that are lucky enough to survive as viable companies over the long term do so after quickly developing those skills, sometimes despite themselves; we have no choice but to learn on the fly and to respond to the challenges of the marketplace as a matter of existential survival. (Of course the other key element to success seems to be a healthy dose of good fortune.) Happily we are not alone in this struggle, and there exists a viable template for turning introverted book nerds into savvy businesspeople: namely the ongoing resurgence of independent bookstores across the country, which has at its heart an organized and deliberate focus on bookseller education, advocacy, and empowerment.
Under the stewardship of outgoing CEO Oren Teicher, the American Booksellers Association (ABA) over the past decade has revolutionized the way booksellers think about the business of books and the role of indie bookstores in building and nurturing communities of readers. (Here I should mention that I serve on the steering committee of the Independent Publishers Caucus, a publisher organization dedicated to raising the collective IQ of indie publishers, largely inspired by the ABA paradigm.) Independent publishers would be well served to study and emulate the best practices of indie booksellers—despite the idiosyncrasies of our respective trades, the two enterprises are uniquely complementary and simpatico as small businesses, sharing both a belief in the transformative potential of independent culture as well as the attendant challenges brought about by the very nature of that independence. Indie publishers must leverage our special relationship with the indie sales channel while simultaneously serving as better partners to them; the anticipated early-2020 rollout of Bookshop (bookshop.org), a reimagined online bookstore portal created by publishing veteran Andy Hunter, is intended to be a significant new tool to support the independent bookselling community and may serve as a bulwark against online retail hegemony.
In many respects there has never been a better time to be an independent publisher: The twin barriers to entry—initial printing costs and distribution—are significantly easier to overcome today than when Akashic Books was founded in 1997. But in anticipating what the future of indie publishing might hold, it is instructive to reflect upon the recent past: A decade on, the lessons of 2008–2009 can sometimes feel perilously hazy, when book sales seemingly evaporated overnight and toppled—or threatened to topple—publishers large and small. Despite a decade of macro-level economic expansion, the publishing ecosystem remains fragile; as both retail and distribution channels consolidate, razor-thin margins persist for every constituent party involved in making, distributing, and selling books—from the companies that source paper to the credit card swipe fees that can be the difference in a bookstore’s profitability.
To wit, the $15.95 retail cost of our average novel hasn’t changed since 2008, trailing cumulative inflation over that period by nearly 20 percent, but, like so many other businesses, our material costs (printing and shipping) and overhead (rent and payroll) have ballooned over that same period. How many of us are prepared for an economic downturn, let alone a fullblown recession? We must continue to innovate and think outside of the box while continuing to diversify our streams of revenue—let foreign licensing and audio rights sales serve as our cat calendars.
Ultimately, leaving aside the machinations of geopolitics and the levers of the global economy, we must instead focus on those things within our immediate grasp: In addition to striving to make our businesses financially sustainable over the long term, we have an imperative to make them attractive workplaces to begin with. Again, following the ABA’s example, we need to raise our collective intelligence around issues like parental leave and health insurance and retirement benefits while finding ways to nurture overworked staff (and prevent burnout), so that we’re not simply stepping stones for corporate jobs. This dynamic also directly affects our ability to create truly diverse and inclusive workplaces, which might explain why there are pathetically few people of color (or from other historically marginalized groups) in leadership positions at independent publishing houses. (In this regard, we somehow manage to make our corporate counterparts look like bastions of progressivism and racial harmony, which is no small feat.) The fact remains that there is nothing intrinsically better about an independent company if our definition of success does not include our employees. At Akashic one of our biggest assets is the stability of our staff—four of us have worked together for over fifteen years, and our “junior staff” members are grizzled veterans with five-plus years of experience under their belts. We are admittedly outliers in this regard, but staff turnover can prevent independent publishers from developing the stability (and institutional memory) that presages long-term success.
Of course the most important thing we can do as independent publishers is to embrace our individuality and avoid redundancy. It is heartening that the culture at large is seemingly beginning to catch up with the types of works that indie publishers have long trafficked in and that presses like City Lights, Europa Editions, and the New Press are being rewarded both critically and commercially. Whether we are championing writers of color, introducing new voices, or presenting literature in translation, we hope that readers pick up our books with the knowledge that the logo on the spine actually means something. And this awareness will persist regardless of the whims of the market.