Workman Stays Connected With Independents

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Peter Workman launched Workman Publishing Co. in 1968 with one title -- Yoga 28-Day Exercise Plan. Workman has since grown into a mid-size publishing house, which last year published 35 titles that sold over one million copies. In 2002, the company was the recipient of PMA's Special Achievement Award for Excellence in Independent Publishing. Workman's consistent and enviable track record stems from the "passion and energy that Peter brings to books and the way that booksellers and customers understand that we're going to do it right," said the company's national sales manager, Steven Pace, who talked with BTW recently about some of the inner workings of the independent publishing company.

Creating such a strong list begins with "Workman's underlying mission," said Pace. "We're always looking for the right opportunity, and every book we choose has to be exactly right before we ever bring it to market." That right opportunity can come from any source, he said, and doesn't necessarily need an agent.

"Workman is one of the last publishers that still takes submissions over the transom," said Pace. "In every list, we have one or two books that we've found that way." Workman receives approximately 5,000 submissions a year, and each one is looked at by two editors. Pace explained that this reflects the company's painstaking investment in every stage of the publishing process. "Everyone deserves to know their submission was looked at and either accepted or declined," he said.

Another step of the process is creating distinctive Workman jackets. "There's a bit of magic in it," said Pace. "For example, look at The Belly Button Book -- it's got a great image that's iconic Sandra Boynton, so just from design of the jacket you immediately know it's Boynton."

The cover art serves to generate it's own immediate buzz, explained Pace. He recently returned from the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association (PNBA) fall trade show where booksellers loved the fall title, Bad Dog, the follow up to Bad Cat, a number one New York Times bestseller.

"It was great to put [Bad Dog] in booksellers' hands. It had strong preorder numbers, but once they held it and saw it was just as great as Bad Cat, they started increasing their orders." Bad Dog's 4" x 6" size, counter display, and low price point make it "the perfect presentation," he said.

"But the hallmark of Workman," said Pace, "is how well the backlist does year after year. A publisher that publishes about 50 titles a year and has 35 titles that have sold over a million copies shows the value that Workman brings to the marketplace. We're not so frontlist focused. The fact that What to Expect When You're Expecting has sold over 10 million copies speaks to that."

Workman's dedication to the whole publishing process continues even after its books are on store shelves, noted Pace. "We tour just about every author on 10-, 20-, and 30-city tours," he said. "That's almost unheard of these days. And independent bookstores are [the sites] for most of those events. A lot care and feeding goes into our authors and books."

Workman became a Book Sense Publisher Partner when the program began and frequently uses the Red and White Box mailings as one method to stay closely connected with independent booksellers.

"We recently used the Red Box to mail out a flier for the book Putting Your Passion Into Print by Arielle Eckstut and David Sterry," Pace said. Putting Your Passion Into Print is the bookseller's answer to the customer who's written a book and wants to know how to get it published, explained Pace. "The Red Box gives us the opportunity to send out that flier to 1,200 Book Sense members and helps us connect with the Book Sense market, which this title is perfect for."

The importance that Workman puts on its relationship with independent booksellers is evidenced by the fact that Peter Workman, the company's CEO and president, "will look at every individual order from independent bookstores. He's thinking about Northshire and Vero Beach [Book Center] and how buyers at those stores are responding to a particular book," said Pace. That type of focused interest has caused the company to restructure its discount schedule to better suit independent bookstore's needs, he explained.

Starting October 1, Workman will offer a 40 percent discount on small orders. The change is "geared to help booksellers order direct," Pace explained. "It also means that booksellers can order the books when they need them and not have to wait to put together a larger order. These days it's critical to the bookseller that the customer doesn't wait. And in this economy, booksellers need to at least earn a 45 percent discount to make things work. It's an independent bookseller-friendly change." --Karen Schechner