How Dear Graduate went from self-published to a traditional publishing deal

Thank you to Josh Bernoff (who has written many successful business books and works with non-fiction authors on publishing projects) for writing about Dear Graduate, which we first self-published in 2022. A little excerpt below. Read the full story on Josh’s website.

”Is it possible to self-publish a book first, then solicit a traditional publisher? Sure, but only if your self-published book demonstrates a history of sales. If it doesn’t sell in a self-published format, you’ve proven to publishers that it’s not worthy of further investment.

In Build a Better Business Book I wrote about authors that made the leap, including Phil M. Jones with Exactly What To Say and James Fell with On This Day in History, Sh!t Went Down. I recently interviewed author Charles McEnerney about his book with Adam Larson, Dear Graduate: A Book for When We Take a Step Forward. This formerly self-published book for new graduates has just come out in a new edition from the Penguin Random House imprint Clarkson Potter. As you’ll see, it took a whole lot of work for the authors to get into a position to make that deal.”