7 Bold Strategies for the Aspiring Indie Publisher

Wow! I just spent the past week immersed in the deep and murky waters of the publishing industry, and the sense is this: the publishing revolution is shaking up the market of the written word, and this is great news for independent publishers.

The once steady but now outdated operations of the business are giving way to new opportunities to innovate. The catch is to be quick, clever and downright daring.  But this is no easy task given the complex and steady drama of the publishing industry.

With that said — as you ponder your future in publishing — take a moment to consider these insightful, off-the-cuff tips for starting your own publishing company:

Stay ahead of the curve, and DO something

Make sure you:

• Read blogs that matter and even blogs that don’t matter. Join the growing bonfire of conversation. Participate in forums, webcasts, conferences, Kindle readings (if there is such a thing), Twitter lists, etc. See how others are stepping up to the plate.

But also DO this:

• Write a business plan. Pioneer a new revenue model. Start networking with writers. Publish your first ebook or mini-ebook. Start a blog and market yourself.

In other words, know when to retreat from the conversation stream so you can develop a real business that publishes real content.

As Seth Godin would say, don’t be an asymptote! (Linchpin affiliate link)

Don’t let technology define your business.

Given the glorious rise of iPhones, Kindles, iPads, Nooks and other smart e-reader gadgets, this tip may sound counter-intuitive. But it’s not.

Remember that the essence of our livelihood depends on procuring marvelous content for a receptive, intelligent market. Consider this an act of art, one that requires the creative integrity of human editors. No machine can shoe-in for that.

So while it’s imperative to embrace digital formats and their nifty platforms, don’t let it lead you astray. Content and readers come first, always.

Pay attention to bloggers.

The blogosphere is a sprawling metropolis of words and writers. And like any sprawling metropolis, you have an underbelly, an uptown and everything in between.

The residents of the underbelly are easy to spot and easy to ignore: sleazy marketers, so-called wealth coaches and gurus galore.

It’s the rest of the residents you should keep an eye on. There are some great writers out there, grooming their talent on blogs, steadily-amassing tribes of readers eager for brilliant content.

Sadly, throngs of these bloggers will go undiscovered to the mass market — likely befuddled by the tricky business side of publishing.  But for the enterprising indie publisher, this is nothing short of a golden opportunity.

Specialize, specialize, specialize.

If you’re a visionary, specialization isn’t always easy. But it’s necessary. Trying to be the end all of publishing drastically cuts your survival rate. So why not pick a niche and stick with it?

For example, look at O’Reilly Books, which specializes in computer technology education. Harlequin is the cornerstone of romance. New Riders—an imprint of Peachpit Press—has the upper hand on the creative media community.

As Marian Schembari of Digital Book World notes in her latest article:

Not only is focusing on a specific niche beneficial in terms of selling books, it ultimately helps a publisher grow by establishing authority within their niche.

Focusing on a specific market also forces you build your brand while and engage more intimately with your niche audience, which leads to my next tip.

Electrify your social marketing

Traditionally, publishers don’t engage directly with their audience — that’s usually up to the booksellers.

The social web is turning this model upside down — no surprise. Customers expect frontline interaction with their favorite brands through the now-established channels of Twitter and Facebook.

I’ve observed that many struggling publishing companies—hulking and entrenched in legacy—are still hung on the old model of retailer marketing. They are slow and reluctant to adapt social media, and this is where you may have an advantage here as an indie publisher.

To further expand on this point, you absolutely must check out Engaging Readers in the Digital Age by Shiv Singh of Razorfish. It’s drop dead awesome.

Take experimental liberties

Now is the time to try anything and do anything. There is no model. The old ways aren’t working. Unleash your ultimate creative monster. Laugh at getting laughed at. Be very audacious. And so on…

Stay right where you are…for now.

This tip is for all people not in New York: don’t bother moving to New York if you’re not already there. At least for now.

I can’t tell you how many times I feel like I’m missing the boat because I’m not in the world’s epicenter of the publishing industry. Is it me or is everything Publishing in New York?

But—big but–I’m grateful (to be in Hawaii, for one thing) to be positioned a healthy distance from the snarkiness and entropy of it all. Except for the occasional in-person conference, the internet offers everything you need to plan a 21st century publishing company.

I spend most days alone at my desk, unencumbered by what other people think I should be doing, or how I should be doing it.

I’d like to think that sometimes it pays to be an outlier.