I continue my journey to paint a holistic picture of the publishing industry. I was lucky enough to have Ben LeRoy on, who started both Bleak House and Tyrus Books, and has had a comprehensive experience/career within the publishing world. In this podcast, we cover a really fascinating history of Ben starting and selling his two small presses to bigger publishing companies, the strange relief of moving from your companies, the actual value of a publishing company, humanity’s desire to be taken care of, agents, publicists, how some books resonate and others don’t, bookstores, problematic authors, the “bummer talk” (hey, you’re excited about getting a book deal, but I have some bad news…), do you have a marketable book?, a debate over book pricing, giving books away for free, and finding your inner worth.