Rethinking Failure:Finding The Opportunities

In Our Challenges

Dominique RaccahSourcebooks, Inc.

Digital Book World, January 2014

#DBW14

failure in book publishing

2 kinds of failure in book

publishing

Every day in America 3,500 books are

published* and only a handful will be

considered successful by any criteria

*Bowker

2 Kinds of Failure in Book Publishing

1. Books fail

How We Respond to Failure in Book Publishing

1. Books fail IGNORE

2 Kinds of Failure in Book Publishing

1. Books fail2. Corporate experiment or expansion fails

2 Kinds of Failure in Book Publishing

2. Corporate experiment or expansion fails

“throw it against the wall and see what sticks” strategy

today opportunity for a better strategy

our goal has to be to increase the

probability that a book, a series or a

program will be successful

In order to do that we need to understand why

the successful ones succeed and the failures

fail

Need better data, better processes, and

more transparency around every step in

the publishing process

And what’s critically important is that we

rethink our whole view

on FAILURE

Here’s why…

- Jeremy Lin, Houston Rockets

“You don’t get better if you win all the time. You look at yourself more if

you lose.”

- TechRepublicThe Power of Failing

“If you lead a team, a business unit or a company, giving yourself and your team permission to fail

may result in a breakthrough innovation that changes the

direction of your organization.”

some of my favorite uses for failure

My Favorite Uses For Failure

Failure as an instant of discovery

What we learned from Poetry Speaks

My Favorite Uses For Failure

Failure as a moment of inspiration

Aha!Duh!

My Favorite Uses For Failure

Failure as an opportunity to come

together, to create and strive together

January 2009Not Business As Usual

Sourcebooks Company Update~•~

My Favorite Uses For Failure

Failure as a recommitment to

discipline and process

My Favorite Uses For Failure

Failure as an opportunity to celebrate, model and

teach

My Favorite Uses For Failure

Failure as a means of unleashing creativity and

play

My Favorite Uses For Failure

Failure as the opportunity to

STOP doing something

EDU pivot all about creating and expanding opportunities for our

authors (and our team) around study aids books and

My Favorite Uses For Failure

Failure as the opportunity to STOP doing something…

stopping doing something allows you to start doing

something else

My Favorite Uses For Failure

Failure as an opportunity for inquiry, an

opportunity to learn something else…

Agile Publishing Model – 3 goals

1. More efficient (successful product

development faster)

2. Better author experience

3. More timely/updated books

My Favorite Uses For Failure

Agile publishing this title led to agile as a way of

thinking in our organization…and that impacted everything.

My Favorite Uses For Failure

Sometimes failure signals a bigger opportunity

We tried 4 other versions of Put Me In The Story before this one…

Put Me In The Story

9 of My Favorite Uses For Failure

1. Failure as an instant of discovery2. Failure as a moment of inspiration3. Failure as an opportunity to come 4. Failure as a recommitment to discipline and

process5. Failure as an opportunity to celebrate, model

and teach6. Failure as a means of unleashing creativity

and play7. Failure as the opportunity to STOP doing

something8. Failure as an opportunity for inquiry9. Sometimes failure signals a bigger

opportunity A good failure early on can make a company

Today, we have a new model. An

experimental model, that’s data-centric,

creative and exciting.

The Lean Startup Model

this experimental model has worked for

us

In this model: failure is an event. It’s about the facts.

It’s not about you.

“Bezos didn’t take the defeat personally. He later cast the mistake as the first step in a series of important experiments to bring third-party sellers onto Amazon.”

Brad Stone The Everything Store talking about Amazon Auctions

Fear of failure can stop you from playing your best game

Failure actually is the promise of getting it

right tomorrow

- TechRepublicThe Power of Failing

“A failure-free environment is an innovation-free zone”

I hope this is the last time we talk about

failure.

It’s aboutexperiments and results…

Looking forward to discussing

our experiments and results together!

Dominique Raccah

Publisher and CEO, Sourcebooks

Twitter: @draccah