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
