Really thoughtful piece, Malhar. The observation about readers developing loyalty to publishers the way they do to authors feels exactly right to me. That's the bet we're making at Infinite Books: that if you're selective enough and care enough about the full experience of the object in your hands, people notice. The distribution challenge you flag is real and worth taking seriously; it is one of the toughest nuts to crack in the business. But I'd add one thing: the best distribution for a beautifully made book -- or any book, for that matter -- is the book itself. People talk about physical objects they love. They put them on shelves where other people see them. That kind of organic pull is slow, but it compounds.
Very interesting breakdown. Have you looked into Scribe Media that Tucker Max co-created? It seemed to have had a good self-publishing system going for awhile. I hope that there is a big enough market of people who actually want to read and buy books.
Lost Art Press fits your criteria - they publish books on woodworking. https://lostartpress.com
Love the intuition, but correct me if I'm wrong -- do any of these nascent ventures publish fiction?
We do at Infinite Books!
Really thoughtful piece, Malhar. The observation about readers developing loyalty to publishers the way they do to authors feels exactly right to me. That's the bet we're making at Infinite Books: that if you're selective enough and care enough about the full experience of the object in your hands, people notice. The distribution challenge you flag is real and worth taking seriously; it is one of the toughest nuts to crack in the business. But I'd add one thing: the best distribution for a beautifully made book -- or any book, for that matter -- is the book itself. People talk about physical objects they love. They put them on shelves where other people see them. That kind of organic pull is slow, but it compounds.
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This was a wonderful article from first principles.
Very interesting breakdown. Have you looked into Scribe Media that Tucker Max co-created? It seemed to have had a good self-publishing system going for awhile. I hope that there is a big enough market of people who actually want to read and buy books.
Thanks for posting!