Check out an excerpt from our feature with Wolf Hoelscher of Pubmission!
Ellechor Publishing proves that it’s possible for independent publishers to enjoy some success despite these turbulent times for the publishing industry. Since opening its doors to authors in 2009, the Christian fiction and nonfiction publisher has added eight books to its list with more on the way. Rochelle Carter, CEO of Ellechor, seems to be a big part of that success, thanks to her vision, love of books, and desire to make a difference with words.
Ellechor was one of the first publishers to join Pubmission. So I was excited to speak with Rochelle to catch up on how things were progressing with Ellechor. Our hour-long conversation confirmed my belief that small independent publishers have much to offer in this market, particularly with their ability to overcome the inertia that often plagues larger houses. Rochelle made it very clear in the outset of our conversation that she highly values her company’s ability to adapt.
“Our goal is not to become a huge publisher,” says Rochelle. “It’s to stay a small, family-style publishing house.”
Virtual and Paper-Free
A few weeks ago, self-publishing guru Joe Konrath posted a blog article titled Do Legacy Publishers Treat Authors Badly? In it, he mentions the absurdity of maintaining rent in New York City when a hop across the river into New Jersey could save struggling publishers tons in overhead.
As an editor myself, I know that working from home is perfectly feasible in this profession. I’ve done it myself for many years. With technology being what it is, there’s really not much of a reason to work in a corporate office. Rochelle came to the same conclusion: Like Pubmission, Ellechor is completely virtual. Rochelle lives in Oregon, while her VP resides in Tennessee, and others on her staff telecommute from Georgia, New York, and elsewhere.
She admits that she occasionally misses the ability to have one-on-one face time with employees for brainstorming sessions, and that sometimes it’s difficult to get input from everyone before she needs to make a decision. Instead, screen-sharing, emails, and phone calls suffice for editorial meetings and water-cooler chats. But the virtual office also gives Rochelle the chance to select editors and designers based on their capabilities rather than their home addresses. And she should know something about hiring people: Rochelle is also an HR specialist for Nike.
A number of Ellechor’s employees are volunteers seeking real-world work experience in a publishing company. Rochelle puts these volunteers in management and editorial roles and teams them up with more experienced contract editors and designers who guide them and make sure that they’re working above industry standards.
Coinciding with the virtual work environment is Ellechor’s commitment to maintaining a paper-free office. “I prefer not to use paper unless I absolutely have to,” says Rochelle. Using tools such asEchoSign for signing contracts and Pubmission for her submissions, Ellechor has proven that the overflowing bins of used paper that were once ubiquitous in nearly every publishing house are now just plain wasteful.
