On Publishing, Artificial Intelligence, Running a Business, Parenting, Failure, Education, Booksellers, and Being a Partisan for Reading

A recent interview on the "Your Next Level" podcast

This is my last day in the office before I head to Pittsburgh next week for the big annual “Winter Institute” event of the American Booksellers Association, where I’m going to be delivering a five-minute address to the several hundred assembled booksellers over breakfast next Thursday morning, 2/26. I’ve been doing this for about a decade and it’s always a blast and a privilege. A few years back I was able to talk about the special, symbiotic bond between independent stores and independent publishers like Agate, and as someone who started his career in books as a bookseller, it’s always great to be in community with those folks.

Winter Institute is also the scene of the annual meeting of the Independent Publishers Caucus, one of the two main trade groups for small presses like Agate, and I was invited to take part in the keynote panel on “the state of the industry” that will kick off the meeting next Monday afternoon, along with a group of luminaries far more accomplished than me. I guess what I’m doing here on Substack is, in part, writing about the state of the industry, but specifically from the vantage point of independent publishing, which led me to think it might be a good idea to cross-post a podcast interview that went up yesterday on LinkedIn.

Late last year, I was approached by the podcast host, Eunicia Peret, who runs a financial consulting firm called Excelstra, about doing an interview on her “Your Business, Your Next Level” podcast. This interview isn’t entirely about books and publishing—it also delves into what it’s like running a small business (the main subject of this, really), and there ended up being a surprising amount of time devoted to kids and reading.

Here’s what Excelstra wrote about it: “What began in 2002 in Doug’s basement with a laptop and a vision has grown into a diversified publishing and educational enterprise. In this episode, Doug shares how feeling ‘ill-suited’ for traditional employment pushed him to build something of his own, how the publishing industry has weathered massive disruption, from the internet to eBooks to AI, and what today’s entrepreneurs need to understand about validation, intellectual property, and adaptability. If you’ve ever considered writing a book, launching something new, or pivoting in a changing industry, this conversation offers clarity and perspective.”

This seemed pretty apropos to put out into the world before I dive into it with my indie publisher and bookstore colleagues, many of whom are also small business owners who, like me, are focused not only on keeping those businesses sustainable, but also figuring out what’s ahead for us in a world of tight margins and unpredictable change.

More from Excelstra on what’s in this interview as “key takeaways”:

Entrepreneurship often starts with discomfort: Feeling out of place in traditional roles can spark innovation

Publishing is easier to access, but harder to monetize: The internet removed barriers but created discovery challenges

Validation matters in traditional publishing: Gatekeeping isn’t just restriction, it’s investment and endorsement

Copyright is typically licensed, not surrendered: Authors usually retain ownership while publishers license rights

AI has created massive legal and ethical uncertainty: Intellectual property battles are reshaping the industry

Reading builds cognitive capacity: Consistent exposure to books strengthens thinking, communication, and creativity

Consistency beats intensity in parenting and leadership: Small, repeated habits shape long-term outcomes

Resilience requires forward vision: Business owners must always ask, “what’s next?”

Failure builds endurance: Early setbacks often create the foundation for long-term success

Adaptability is survival: Especially in turbulent industries, reinvention isn’t optional

Here’s that podcast link again, if you’ve read all this way and are still interested:

https://pod.link/1742849393/episode/ODY3M2U4NjAtNGJhZS00ODIzLTk2ZmItYzA5YmY5OTczMjY4

And here’s a timeline summary:

[00:00:00] Introduction to Doug and the origin of Agate Publishing

[00:02:00] Feeling misaligned in traditional work environments

[00:04:00] The evolution of media and publishing in the 21st century

[00:06:00] AI, copyright battles, and legal uncertainty

[00:09:00] The risks of relying blindly on AI-generated information

[00:10:00] Parenting in a digital world: building reading habits

[00:13:00] Modeling behavior and creating family consistency

[00:16:00] Why reading strengthens cognitive and professional skills

[00:18:00] The realities of self-publishing vs. traditional publishing

[00:21:00] Gatekeeping vs. validation: understanding the difference

[00:24:00] Licensing, copyright, and what authors should watch for

[00:27:00] Early entrepreneurial failures and lessons learned

[00:30:00] The importance of constantly thinking about “what’s next”

[00:32:00] Final reflections on resilience and adaptability