Art Book Entrepreneur Tests "Team Publishing" Model
By Edward Nawotka in Publishing Perpectives


TUCSON: How does one man launch a niche publishing company in a credit-and-cash strapped economy, while incurring limited expenses in overhead and even less in personnel? For Greg Albers, founder of Hol Art Books-a new niche press focused on books about visual arts, ranging from art history to original fiction--the answer is "collaboration."

"Our business model is called 'team publishing,'" explained Albers, from his headquarters in Tuscon, Arizona. "We use the internet to establish a community of authors, editors, designers and others-basically anyone with the skills to contribute to the publishing process-and then we collaboratively identify, evaluate, and develop our titles.
(read on ...)


Bonus Material: Niche vs. Trade Publishing, Which Has a Brighter Future?
By Edward Nawotka

In our lead article, Greg Albers, publisher of Hol Art Books, explains his business model, which involves "team publishing." The company focuses on publishing books about art: from criticism and history, to fiction and poetry. "Writing about art isn't a widely recognized or exploited niche," acknowledged Albers.

In an interview in 2008 with blogger Eoin Purcell, Albers said his inspiration to start the company came from Mike Shatzkin of the Idea Logical Company, after Albers heard him give a talk at BookExpo America entitled "The End of General Trade Publishing Houses."
(read on ...)