Atari's Nolan Bushnell.
(Credit:
Courtesy of Nolan Bushnell)
If there's an industry more stuck in the past than the music industry, it has to be book publishing.
It's with that in mind that a Pasadena, Calif. startup is trying to upend the traditional, often unpleasant publishing model that's more like a gauntlet than a process.
An author typically has to beg an agent for representation, then has to beg a publisher to take their book, hopes for an advance that covers expenses, writes the book, in many cases finds his or her own editors because the publisher's editors are too busy to pay attention, do his or her own marketing and promotion if they're not a big name, and, at the end of all that, hope to make a little money from sales since the publisher will take the bulk of money from sales.
Net Minds, which is make the rounds with press this week, is sort of an Amazon self-publishing service on steroids. A prospective author, say, an executive, creates a project file on Net Mind's system. On that, the author explains the book and, if they are looking for a ghost writer, shop it to roughly 500 freelance writers who have joined. They can also also find editors, designers for the cover and illustrators, a sales and marketing team for promotion, while publishing of the actual book is outsourced. The physical books are distributed through a partnership with the publishing giant Ingram.
The author starts with 80 percent to 90 percent of the royalties and sets up his or her own publishing team from that list of prospects. They can be paid a flat rate or through a share of the royalties.
"It's your show," said Net Minds CEO Tim Sanders.
Sanders knows a little bit about publishing. A former Yahoo exec who came into that company through the acquisition of Mark Cuban's Broadcast.com, he's written four business-related books. He said his experience in the publishing industry made it clear just how ripe book publishing is for disruption through Amazon, other self-publishing outfits, and his own, self-financed startup.
"I really keep thinking that what's really lacking in publishing is transparency at every level," he said. "It's a big old black box." His company, he believes, could put control in the hands of the writer.
That appealed to Nolan Bushnell, the founder of gaming pioneer Atari and a serial entrepreneur whose other businesses include Chuck E. Cheese's.
"I am and I am not a control freak," Bushnell said. "I like to understand all the moving pieces. If people are screwing up, I like to be able to fire them. You have no recourse in traditional publishing."
Bushnell is also known as the guy who gave young Steve Jobs a job. Bushnell's first book, Finding the Next Jobs, which he said collection of personal anecdotes and discussion on innovation, will be available next month.
"Too many people believe innovation is about a thunderclap and a light goes on...It's not that at all," Bushnell said. "It's about putting together an environment and an ecosystem in a company that fosters and nurtures creative ideas wherever they come from."
A startup takes on publishing, with help of Atari's founder
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A startup takes on publishing, with help of Atari's founder
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A startup takes on publishing, with help of Atari's founder
