Positive Power Spotlight: Chelsea Green Publishing
Positive Power Spotlight: Chelsea Green Publishing
Today, I had a reason to get very angry with a large New York publisher–and it got me thinking about how lucky I was to work with Chelsea Green for my fifth book, Grassroots Marketing: Getting Noticed in a Noisy World.
There are of course many highly ethical publishers, but I’m profiling Chelsea because I have personal experience. Maybe I’ll profile others in the future.
Some of what I like:
* Every book they publish tries to make the world a better place. Their line emphasizes environmental sustainability, social change, viability of small agriculture, and eating well
* They’re not afraid to take on very controversial topics and aren’t intimidated by the political climate of the day
* They are nimble enough to scale up quickly, as they did with George Lakoff’s bestselling Don’t Think of an Elephant in 2004
* It’s easy for an author to reach senior executives, even the publisher–and that stayed true even when the publisher who’d bought my book stepped down and was replaced
* Contract negotiation was remarkably painless, despite my requests for some very nontraditional clauses–and even the original contract draft (before my changes) was among the most author-friendly I’ve ever seen
* As an author, my input was valued at every step, and the company was very open to suggestions such as awards to enter
* The design and editorial staff worked very collaboratively with each other and with me, and gave me their best work even though I was far from a superstar (something that did not happen with other publishers I’ve dealt with)
* Chelsea keeps the book in print almost eight years after publication and has become my only US publisher to pay me royalties beyond the initial advance
* Every single person I’ve ever met, phoned, or e-mailed, including people staffing a book table at a conference where I wasn’t even speaking, has been gracious, friendly, and helpful
Ah, if only all publishers were like this! If I ever publish the work of others, I’ll use Chelsea as my model.
