Thoughts on pyramid schemes
Part II of my insider publishing story.
I’m writing this newsletter on election day, knowing it will land in your inbox on Wednesday morning. I can’t imagine what the morning will hold or what you might be feeling as you read this. But no matter the outcome of the election, I hope this story is a gentle reminder that while there are many things beyond our control, there are also people and systems that are directly influenced by us and we have the power to bring about change in so many ways, big and small.
This post is Part II of my publishing origin story. If you didn’t read Part I, start there first.
So, publishing royalties are trash. And, it doesn’t seem to matter whether it’s a physical book or eBook- the author gets very little in return for the sales that they make.
While my wheels were turning about how I might build my own platform in 2018, I listened to a podcast about eBooks with the Family Freezer Lady. (Doesn’t she look so happy??!)
I was elbow-deep in a freezer meal prep obsession at the time and had initially listened to the podcast to learn how to better prep 20 meals in 30 minutes (a girl can dream).
But then, she started talking about eBooks… specifically, how the eBooks she sold on her site brought in monthly revenue, and she didn’t have to manage any inventory. It was “passive income” (this term is laughable now and must be addressed in a future newsletter).
It was a lightbulb moment for me.
Could I build a publishing platform for eBooks only with little overhead and have more space to give money to authors?
I told my brother, David, about this idea. He just happened to have experience building eCommerce sites and offered to build F-flat Books (his name idea) with me. (In case you were wondering, there is no such note as “f-flat.” It really just means “e,” so our entire business name is a nerdy musician joke.)
I knew that the power of this company would lie in the community. I didn’t just want to sell my own books; I wanted others to be able to use the platform, too. David and I decided that we would give 70% of royalties to authors (versus 3-5%), let them keep the rights to their work, and give them control over layout and design. My goal was to launch in the summer of 2019 with five books and continue to add titles throughout the year.
I started pitching my idea to other academics.
“Hey! I’m starting a new publishing company! We’re giving away most of our money to authors! Want to publish with me?”
Rejection. Rejection. Rejection.
I faced numerous tight-lipped smiles, lots of ghosting, and then some opposite, more encouraging reactions.
I had supporters who believed in this mission and vision from the start. Other academics acknowledged how broken the system was but couldn’t imagine it any other way.
After numerous conversations and connections, we launched on July 31st, 2019, with four books.
We had four books! We were a real company! We had contracts, an LLC, and a way to deliver materials. It was actually happening. We even figured out how to use a payout plugin so we could pay our authors on a biweekly basis instead of once per year (yes, we pay our authors just like they would get paid for any other job.)
Now, it’s 2024. We have over 100 books on our site, we support over 60 authors, we launched a second imprint last year, we are now doing physical distribution, and we have an entire arm of our company devoted to professional development.
This sounds like such a success story! Sound the trumpets! Cue the Confetti! 🎉
But wait…
As we’ve grown over the past five years, so have our costs. As we expand our audience, our needs also expand. We’ve had to make some adjustments from our original model, which include:
50% royalties to all new authors (instead of 70%)
Exclusive distribution rights for several years
A more selective acquisition process based on market interest (“What will actually sell?”)
When I talked about our business model at a creative mornings session earlier this year, someone came up to me at the end with a question that stuck with me:
“Now that you’ve been in it for a while, do you get why the publishing houses have the margins that they do?”
In a sense, my answer is “yes.” I get why it’s hard to make money in publishing and how there is much risk and waste involved. I get why you need capital to fund print runs in an oversaturated market and why it’s hard to take a risk on new authors. Sometimes David and I joke that we’ve built an “upside down pyramid scheme” where everyone at the bottom gets all the money, and the folks at the top don’t 😂.
But at the same time, I believe there is a better way. And honestly, we’re still in the “figuring it out” phase of our business. We still can’t provide salaries for staff, and everything we do is bootstrapped. But we have a mission, a vision, and actionable steps for how this can work and how we can not only be author-centric but sustainable.
(Photo of me with some of my authors back in 2023 at our annual conference.)
In 2021, I talked with a business advisor, who listened to me talk about F-flat’s history.
“What if someone steals your idea?” he asked.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, what’s stopping one of the big publishing companies from stealing your model? Then, they’d get your authors, and you’d be out of business?”
“So…you’re saying I’d be out of business because music education publishing became equitable across the board?”
“Yes.”
“I’d say we won.”
Inspiration
🎧 This TED Radio hour on relationships is a must listen. It also features my favs, the Gottmans.
🎧 Do you know why music affects us so deeply? I loved this conversation on 1A and the research about brain activity while listening!
Creative
🌟 I’m officially in the editing phase of my novel. I read the whole thing from front to back (the first time I’ve read the early scenes I wrote a year ago!) and have an editing plan that I’m excited about. If you asked to beta read it, I will be in touch soon!
🌟 I’m working on more songwriting collaborations in this season. It’s been a fun challenge to collect song seeds from other artists and help bring them to life.
Thanks for subscribing and reading. I hope you use your agency to bring about change in small and big ways.
Connect with my work elsewhere:
🎧 listen to my podcast with Kimberly McGlonn
💻 Order my children’s book, Rosie Rocks!
📚 visit my fair-pay publishing company, F-flat Books.
🎤 get songwriting support through Songwriting for M.E.
A great read on this surreal Wednesday morning 🫶🏻