Every Book Is a Startup

The publishing industry has responded to the emergence of digital technologies with many useful and innovative products, but the business of publishing has not yet reinvented itself for this new era—old, outdated models prevail, limiting both vision and opportunity.

Every Book Is a Startup provides a roadmap for publishing professionals interested in bringing a fresh, entrepreneurial approach to the business of book publishing, based on techniques proven effective in the world of tech startups. This book shows you how to apply tech industry concepts such as customer development, validated learning, and pivots to create publishing business practices that are agile, flexible, and highly profitable.

Here at O'Reilly Media, we've incorporated many of these techniques into our own publishing business, including "release early, release often." With that in mind, the initial release of this project discusses two core ideas for how this new way of thinking can be applied to book publishing, and solicits your ideas about what we might include in future releases of this book. What do you want to know more about? Would a variety of case studies be helpful? Let us know!