Why We “Batch” at New Degree Press

I am creating an article series to share the magic of New Degree Press —what we do, and why it works.

I want to pull back the curtain and give you practical insights in a tactical way so you can use them on your book (or podcast).

Publishing a book should not be hard. Yes, it takes works to publish a book — but the act of doing should not be something that is reserved for a select few. Everyone should be able to publish if: (1) they want to publish, and (2) they are creating something tied to their purpose.

There are 2 statistics often used in the world of publishing: 81% and 2%.

81% — according to a NY Times article (from 2002), this is the percentage of Americans (and in general) who believe they have a book in them. The percentage of people who want to go out, create, and publish a book.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/28/opinion/think-you-have-a-book-in-you-think-again.html

2% — this number is also 3% depending on who you ask. Google this number, and you'll find dozens of articles titled “97% of writers don't finish their book: here's why and how to solve it.” It's a staggering statistic.

Source: Google.

This brings me to the biggest thing we do at New Degree Press — and why we've been able to publish our authors, and on time.

We Batch Everything.

Every author publishes in a Cohort (“a batch of other authors”).

This does 2 things:

1. Batching allows us to keep our costs down
2. We are able to build community amongst the authors in the cohort

How it all started

Source: Google Images (Georgetown, McDonough School of Business)

Before I get too far, I need to take a step back. None of this was planned.

Let me start from the beginning.

In August 2016, an entrepreneurship class of 32 students at Georgetown University were told on the first day of class they would write books.

The professor (Eric Koester) came up with the idea 2 weeks before the semester started with one of his best friends. It was a total accident.

There were 32 students in the class. 16 created “publishable” 1st draft manuscripts. 15 authors published. The 16th signed a book deal — they haven't published (yet).

The syllabus was scrambled together at the last minute.

We had no idea what we were doing — and yet we published.

Tucker Max (co-founder, Scribe Media) saw what we were doing and was impressed enough to help get us published. Tucker and his team helped create the New Degree Press Imprint that we published under. After they were done helping us, they gave us the Imprint to use.

We were college students at Georgetown University publishing books. In case you couldn't tell, I was one of them (see above photo - I'm 5th from the right). I wrote a book called Indie Gaming: Finding Entrepreneurial Success in Video Games.

According to a publisher, only 30 college students publish books a year.

They did — until we came along.

Because of our circumstances, we were forced to keep publishing costs as low as possible. We had to develop a shared timeline and publish on the same date in order to make the whole thing work.

The great bi-product: we became a community.

We helped each other each step of the way. We reviewed each other's manuscripts. We shared tips on selling our books. We promoted each other on social media — and more.

We had no idea what we were doing, but we had no idea what we were doing, together.

Having the same launch date didn't take away from each of our launches — it amplified them. Our constraints forced us to build a tight-knit community. The manageable costs made it doable, the community made it worth doing.

That's why every author publishes in a cohort. It just makes sense.

#1 — We Keep our Costs Down

Source: Google Images (Benihana.com)

If you haven't, read the Harvard Business Review Case Study: Benihana of Tokyo

This case study is a staple for business programs (Undergrad and MBA alike) — and for good reason. The entire lesson of the case is “Benihana is able to achieve profitability and scale” because they “batch” their operations:

• Customers sit at tables of 10
• Tables are not served until a group of at least 7 (ideally all 10) are seated at the table
• Groups of 2-3-4 sit together as one large group to fill a single table

If you go to a Benihana or similar Hibachi-style restaurant and you pay attention all of the ingredients are pre-packaged based on the table size. This allows Benihana create a budget on a per table basis. They can project their costs on a per-customer basis and then scale up the model.

This helps them save on costs: less variability, more consistency for each individual customer's experience.

Everyone should read the case and do the online simulation. Batching is as efficient as it is effective because it creates a shared experience.

In practical terms, this is how it works for New Degree Press. The more authors we publish at a single time, the less expensive (on average) it is to publish a single author:

• The Law of Larger Numbers — It is simply easier to negotiate a better deal when you are offering “volume of work.” Book publishing is largely variable, cost on a per-author basis can be distributed.
• Consistency of Work — Cover Designers and Layout Editors (Book Formatting/Typesetting) are always looking for more work. The more consistent the work you offer, the better a deal you can negotiate.
• You can make things more systematic — the more authors you publish at a single time, the process must be more tactical. Something that takes you 15 minutes grows exponentially when you are talking about 100 authors. Everything builds.

That's why New Degree Press takes our authors through a 20-week program. We don't offer “publishing services.”

We offer a platform — a product. Much like Benihana offers customers “a dinner experience.”

How To Apply this as a Self-Publishing Author:

If you're a solo-author, try and publish your book in multiple formats (Paperback, Hardcover, and Ebook). You can negotiate a better deal on Layout (on average - for each format of the book) because you are offering more work. Same goes for the Book Cover. The overall budget might be higher, but on average it is still cheaper.

If you are a solo-podcaster, have an audio-editor produce a set of 10-15 episodes at a time. This forces you to pull up when you do the recording of each episode, and helps you lower the budget on a per-episode-basis.

In either case — you should still try to find a community of other creators. You can negotiate an even better deal even if you only have 2-3 other people publishing a book or producing a podcast, same as you.

#2 — We Build Community for our authors

Source: Google Images (The Blue Diamond Gallery)

This is an intangible cost.

I can't tell you the exact value of publishing as a part of a group, but I can share the benefits.

The single greatest benefit.

Accountability.

If you are a part of a group of other creators (authors, podcasters, etc.) who are also on the journey of “publishing their work” you are 10x more likely to succeed and actually publish your book or podcast.

New Degree Press has published 100 authors. Only a small handful (less than 10) have either decided not to not publish or move into another publishing cohort.

The magic of a group is simple: As a creator, you are forced (empowered) to collaborate with other people who are at the same exact points in the process as you. As you experience highs and lows, they will too.

Are your Manuscript Revisions stressing you out? Your fellow creators are also stressed about their revisions.

What You Should Do: Commiserate together and make them your “Revision Partner” — go to a coffee shop and block off 2-3 hours to revise a chapter of your book. Make your goals extremely tactical, and then celebrate with lunch and a movie after!

“Great books aren't written; they're re-written.” — Anonymous

What You Solved: You have now created a 2-3 week revision plan, a plan where you have a foxhole buddy to keep you accountable.

Did something “EPIC” happen for you with your book — you landed on a book cover you're excited about, someone agreed to give you a back cover quote? Odds are a fellow creator probably had a cool moment happen for them too. After all, you both are on the same timeline.

What You Should Do: Go out and celebrate. Promote your friend's moment on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram Stories — and they'll do the same for you.

You could say something as simple as —

“Hey — wanted to share this awesome thing that happened to my friend [Name]. They're the author of [Title]. Wanted to share and send some love their way...”

What You Solved: It can feel weird to “promote yourself.” To overcome that insecurity, GIVE to someone else — someone you know and respect, like a fellow creator who is also creating a book alongside you. They'll do the same.

Also — you just helped someone on their Launch & Promotion Efforts. You just did marketing for their book (or podcast).

You quite simply can't do these things if you're not a part of a community.

Creating a book is lonely. Just like Entrepreneurship.

Why make it harder on yourself by going it alone?

Surround yourself with others, support each other, and document the journey.

At New Degree Press we batch all of our operations:

1. It reduces our costs (on average)
2. It helps us build community amongst our creators.

I could share stories about the early days of publishing — where I wanted to pull my hair out and quit. I almost did.

There were many sleepless nights in the early days trying to get the first 30 authors published. There still are plenty of late nights (but for very different reasons — I should only be so lucky).

The only things that kept me going: (1) I believed in the impact I was having on these creators, and (2) things would have to evolve in order for us to publish 1000 books in 3 years.

The moment I was able to flip into a world of “We Batch our Authors” by publishing them in cohorts: my whole world changed. The idea of New Degree Press went from being impossible to “it will take lots of work, BUT it can be done.”