Book Royalties Won’t Pay the Rent, But This Will

David Marshall Posted by David Marshall, Vice President of Editorial and Digital , Berrett-Koehler Publishers Inc.

David Marshall heads the editorial department, which is responsible for 40-50 new titles per year and 5-10 digital products or initiatives. 


I’m standing in for Anna Leinberger this week.  In my conversations with BK authors over the last eight years, I learned that most of them, especially the BK Business and BK Life authors, don’t earn the majority of their annual income from their book royalties *.  They have multiple sources of income and don’t write books as their full-time jobs.  Their most lucrative income streams are consulting (sometimes lasting for years), training workshops/seminars, and speaking engagements at public conferences or private company events.

For over twenty years, Berrett-Koehler has been helping authors get their messages out to readers around the world, but so far, we’ve mostly done it through the written word and spoken word, not through live events.  Our mission is Connecting People and Ideas to Create a World That Works for All, and we've been connecting people and ideas for decades, although we’re always looking for new ways to do that.  But we want to connect people to people too, which is the raison d’être for the BK Expert Directory.  It allows anyone access to that expertise in a much broader and deeper way—in person.  And it gives the experts in the directory access to a new source of clients (and income), many of whom will already be familiar with their work.

Over 700+ BK authors and those they've recommended are already in the directory.  If you provide expert services that match BK’s publishing program, I invite you to sign up for the BK Expert Directory as well (Get Listed).  A BK author or BK staff member may sponsor you.  Until March 31, 2016, we are waiving the one-year subscription fees.  If you hire experts in your company, non-profit, or government agency, please try out the BK Expert Directory to extend the positive change messages of our books to your organization.

Much appreciation,

David Marshall
Vice President, Editorial and Digital
Berrett-Koehler Publishers

* As a fellow author, I can relate. I'm an editor with BK by day and an co-author with my wife Kate by night.