2008 Fall Kickoff:
"This Is the Year" with Dominique Raccah
What is the secret to success? For Dominique Raccah, founder of successful independent book publisher Sourcebooks, Inc., that secret is: "Nothing happens without your passion." And one need only look at her publishing company's rise as a competent competitor to the mainstream New York book publishers to see how true her words are.
Dominique's palpable enthusiasm was an excellent way to start off the 2008-2009 CWIP year. The idea of following your passion fit in nicely with the kickoff theme: "This is the year." Her story and her wisdom were inspiring launching points to propel CWIPers in the direction of their own goals.
Sourcebooks was founded in 1987 with $17,000 drawn out of Dominique's 401K. Over twenty years later, she has more than earned back that initial investment and expanded her base from one employee (herself) working out of a bedroom to 70+ employees working out of the current Naperville office.
Dominique, who is known as the Chief Excitement Officer by her coworkers, says that by creating inspiring and exciting books that she wants to talk about, she has been able to inspire and excite others.
Dominique also says that while passion is the place to start, passion is not necessarily enough. It is important to learn from both your successes and failures. Some of the insights she acquired about books over the years include: an ugly cover can ruin your chance at sales; the media can generate enough interest in a book that booksellers will buy it, but this doesn't mean readers will buy it (sell-in vs. sell-through); and grab opportunities when they arrive, such as when Sourcebooks picked up the Fiske college guides and turned them into top sellers after Random House lost the brand.
Another secret to Sourcebooks' success has been Dominique's acknowledgement of the digital future. She has taken the idea of mixed media and run with it, creating innovative works such as Poetry Speaks, an anthology that includes CDs with the real live voices of poets, such as Walt Whitman and Sylvia Plath, reading their work.
Dominique admits that this is one of the most challenging years yet for the book marketplace, but with her driving passion and eye to emerging technologies, no challenge should be insurmountable. For CWIPers looking to make this their year, that is an excellent lesson to walk away with.
Tamara Matthews is Web site editor for CWIP. She can be reached at web@cwip.org.
Log in to the members-only area of the website to view Dominique's PowerPoint presentation.
Thank you to our event sponsor:
