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Rethinking Failure:
Finding The Opportunities
In Our Challenges

Digital Book World, January 2014
Dominique Raccah
Sourcebooks, Inc.
#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 fail
2. 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…
“You don’t get better if you
win all the time. You look at
yourself more if you lose.”
- Jeremy Lin,
Houston Rockets
“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.”
- TechRepublic
The Power of Failing
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
Duh!

Aha!
My Favorite Uses For Failure

Failure as an opportunity to
come together, to create
and strive together
January 2009
Not 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
Put Me In The Story

We tried 4 other versions of Put Me In The Story
before this one…
9 of My Favorite Uses For Failure
1.

2.
3.
4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

Failure as an instant of discovery
Failure as a moment of inspiration
Failure as an opportunity to come
Failure as a recommitment to discipline and
process
Failure as an opportunity to celebrate, model and
teach
Failure as a means of unleashing creativity and
play
Failure as the opportunity to STOP doing
something
Failure as an opportunity for inquiry
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
“A failure-free environment is an
innovation-free zone”

- TechRepublic
The Power of Failing
I hope this is the last time
we talk about failure.
It’s about
experiments and results…
Looking forward to
discussing
our experiments and results
together!
Dominique Raccah
Publisher and CEO, Sourcebooks
Twitter: @draccah

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Rethinking Failure: Finding the Opportunities in Our Challenges #DBW14

  • 1. Rethinking Failure: Finding The Opportunities In Our Challenges Digital Book World, January 2014 Dominique Raccah Sourcebooks, Inc.
  • 3. failure in book publishing
  • 4. 2 kinds of failure in book publishing
  • 5. Every day in America 3,500 books are published* and only a handful will be considered successful by any criteria *Bowker
  • 6. 2 Kinds of Failure in Book Publishing 1. Books fail
  • 7. How We Respond to Failure in Book Publishing 1. Books fail IGNORE
  • 8. 2 Kinds of Failure in Book Publishing 1. Books fail 2. Corporate experiment or expansion fails
  • 9. 2 Kinds of Failure in Book Publishing 2. Corporate experiment or expansion fails
  • 10. “throw it against the wall and see what sticks” strategy
  • 11. today opportunity for a better strategy
  • 12. our goal has to be to increase the probability that a book, a series or a program will be successful
  • 13. In order to do that we need to understand why the successful ones succeed and the failures fail
  • 14. Need better data, better processes, and more transparency around every step in the publishing process
  • 15. And what’s critically important is that we rethink our whole view on FAILURE
  • 17. “You don’t get better if you win all the time. You look at yourself more if you lose.” - Jeremy Lin, Houston Rockets
  • 18. “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.” - TechRepublic The Power of Failing
  • 19. some of my favorite uses for failure
  • 20. My Favorite Uses For Failure Failure as an instant of discovery
  • 21. What we learned from Poetry Speaks
  • 22. My Favorite Uses For Failure Failure as a moment of inspiration Duh! Aha!
  • 23. My Favorite Uses For Failure Failure as an opportunity to come together, to create and strive together
  • 24. January 2009 Not Business As Usual Sourcebooks Company Update ~•~
  • 25. My Favorite Uses For Failure Failure as a recommitment to discipline and process
  • 26. My Favorite Uses For Failure Failure as an opportunity to celebrate, model and teach
  • 27. My Favorite Uses For Failure Failure as a means of unleashing creativity and play
  • 28. My Favorite Uses For Failure Failure as the opportunity to STOP doing something
  • 29. EDU pivot all about creating and expanding opportunities for our authors (and our team) around study aids books and
  • 30. My Favorite Uses For Failure Failure as the opportunity to STOP doing something… stopping doing something allows you to start doing something else
  • 31. My Favorite Uses For Failure Failure as an opportunity for inquiry, an opportunity to learn something else…
  • 32. Agile Publishing Model – 3 goals 1. More efficient (successful product development faster) 2. Better author experience 3. More timely/updated books
  • 33. My Favorite Uses For Failure Agile publishing this title led to agile as a way of thinking in our organization…and that impacted everything.
  • 34. My Favorite Uses For Failure Sometimes failure signals a bigger opportunity
  • 35. Put Me In The Story We tried 4 other versions of Put Me In The Story before this one…
  • 36. 9 of My Favorite Uses For Failure 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Failure as an instant of discovery Failure as a moment of inspiration Failure as an opportunity to come Failure as a recommitment to discipline and process Failure as an opportunity to celebrate, model and teach Failure as a means of unleashing creativity and play Failure as the opportunity to STOP doing something Failure as an opportunity for inquiry
  • 37. Today, we have a new model. An experimental model, that’s data-centric, creative and exciting.
  • 40. In this model: failure is an event. It’s about the facts. It’s not about you.
  • 41. “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
  • 42. Fear of failure can stop you from playing your best game
  • 43. Failure actually is the promise of getting it right tomorrow
  • 44. “A failure-free environment is an innovation-free zone” - TechRepublic The Power of Failing
  • 45. I hope this is the last time we talk about failure.
  • 47. Looking forward to discussing our experiments and results together! Dominique Raccah Publisher and CEO, Sourcebooks Twitter: @draccah

Notes de l'éditeur

  1. Books fail. We’re used to it. It’s kind of a constant in our business. We have lots of reasons. We have little data. And we view it uncontrollable. For that reason…
  2. We’re launching so many books…that we almost expect it. And there’s this constant pull forward to the next title so we don’t really ahave a chance to assess what happened, gatehr data, review it. So what do we mostly do…we ignore it.
  3. When that happens, you might see Blame, embarrassment, we don’t talk about it. Shameful.
  4. What we discovered was that while people are very happy to have their poetry read, they are unlikely to read and respond to other people’s poetry. Eveyrone wanted to be the poet, no on wanted to be the reader. A lesson that has proven useful when we were building other verticals.
  5. Can be the “duh” moment or an “aha” moment
  6. This was the most powerful lesson of 2008. you remember 2008. This was probably the turning point for my evolution as a CEO and for our organization. It was the start of the NEW Sourcebooks.
  7. Monthly company meeting. We report the results of the compnay, whether they be good or bad.
  8. Here are some other opportunities that failure presents.
  9. Others publish their failures for the world to see.  Engineers Without Borders Canada, which creates engineering solutions to international development problems, publishes a “failure report” every year alongside its annual report.  “I only let the best failures into the report,” said Ashley Good, its editor. The examples that are published, she said, show people who are “taking risks to be innovative.”Henry Ford said, “Failure is only the opportunity to begin again more intelligently.” And certainly ford motor has shown us that route. 
  10. This is one of the common opportunities in failure.
  11. Last year we got into, expanded and got out of the selling schools buiness. As always, all our folks got redeployed to other parts of the organization because stopping doing something allows you to start doing something else.
  12. This is one of the common opportunities in failure.
  13. I tried 4 other versions of put me in the story before the one that you’re seeing now. Each hit a different kind of deadend. NONe of those deadends were about the customer, the user. The user loved the idea. I just kept hitting tech hurdles. But each time the response to the conept was great. I got it. This is a big idea.
  14. So failure…it has it’s uses.
  15. This is where we have to go.. It’s how we need to think and help our people to think. And I can tell you that we’re not doing this 100% at sourcebooks. And it’s where we have to go.