We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Michael Piekny. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Michael below.
Michael, so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?
When I was finishing law school and preparing for the bar exam, I needed some type of outlet and place to rest my mind between all the cramming, and I turned to a pile of books on my nightstand. I wasn’t yet a “reader,” even though I had always bought books and casually stuck my head in them, but picking up those books at that time in my life, and starting to read with curiosity, completely changed my life as a reader and a person. It was an “Aha!” moment that opened up an incredible new outlet and passion for me. Making it through those initial books on my nightstand–Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, Atonement by Ian McKewan, and The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas–launched me on a path to read as many stories as I could, to study literature, study the theory of literature, the craft of writing, to learn more about these strange objects (books) and how they worked to have such an impact on me. The more I read and the more incredible experiences I collected from books and their dreamy story worlds, the more I kept going on this path, hoping to find ever deeper pleasures in books. A great book has aesthetic prose, inventive story, and myriad other aspects that all add up and make you feel as if the top of your head were taken off, to quote Emily Dickinson. Having experienced that supernatural feeling so many times in my reading life, I am now on a mission to spread it to others. I am on a mission to bring as many people as I can to great books and to get them enjoying texts, studying and wrestling with texts, living with texts, so that I can pay forward those transformative moments I’ve had with books. Great writing and great story is a gift that is out there waiting for everyone–I’ve experienced the miracles it can work in a mind and a heart and the opportunity to share that with others is where I find my purpose in publishing.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I am the founder and publisher of Grailing Press, a trade publishing house specializing in fiction. We publish new titles and publish new editions of classic titles such as The Great Gatsby and others. Our mission is to grow the audience for beautiful books. Books mean the world to me, and I am passionate about sharing that love of the written word with as many people as possible and hopefully bringing new readers into the fold. We want to introduce people to the extraordinary experiences you can have with books and want to keep finding incredible writers to publish who deliver such an experience. The brand we are building is one of great story–read one of our books and you’ll be thrilled by it.
Being the publisher of a small press means the opportunity to check in on all aspects of the business–one day that might be talking with an audio book producer or sales partner, and another day can come down to cover design, editorial work, contract drafting, or meeting a new author we’d like to sign. I founded Grailing Press because as a publishing industry veteran, I truly enjoy all aspects of the industry and what it takes to find, publish, and sell great books. The varied workdays mean always having something new and different to turn to and getting to play around with a lot of interesting workstreams–all in service of putting meaningful stories into the world, which is a great mission.
In addition to our book publishing, Grailing Press also publishes an online writing magazine known simply as Grailing. This magazine is free to read and subscribe to and is a great way to discover new writers and new writing you might not otherwise have found. The magazine showcases our press’s editorial vision and lets you know what kind of great reading experiences are in store for you from one of our books. We have a few other projects we are working on getting off the ground, and can’t say too much about them yet, but keep checking grailingpress.com for great books and all our literary ventures.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
I think no matter what industry you are in, you’ll need a superlative ability to perform the core function of that industry–so for publishing, that is finding great books to publish. In other words, having a sharp editorial eye. Honing that core skill, for whatever industry, is going to set you up to go far.
Second, and as a fellow publisher once remarked to me, it’s not enough to just have great books–meaning, that core skill in the industry is probably the minimum of what is expected of you. So for a publisher, simply acquiring and publishing great titles is something that should go without saying. The next skill to add on to that core skill is one on the business side, marketing and sales. How are you going to find an audience for your great product or service. Do you know the platforms where your audience expects to find you, do you know how to stand out there, can you manage the labyrinth of channels, partners, intermediaries, and the like that it takes to build, deliver, and promote your product? No matter what you’re doing, there will always be a business side to it, and navigating that skillfully is going to be another prerequisite.
Finally, a third skill that will get you incredibly far, is people skills–being a good person to work with, giving everyone you come in contact with more value than they expected, and having the ability to connect with anyone in a genuine way that isn’t just about the transaction, those values are foundational to success. A friend of mine told me about an experience he had while studying business in the United States–he’s from Guadalajara and in his program they were talking about the start of a business negotiation; he mentioned that in Mexico it would be customary to first have a long discussion about family between the parties, even in large corporate deals, and to exchange details about children, in-laws, hometowns, etc. He was shocked that business in the US didn’t traditionally proceed like this. And I think he was on to something–connecting with the people you’re working with and building meaningful relationships is going to make everything better about the path you’re on.
The core skill, the business skill, the interpersonal skill–that’s a great combination to be happy and successful with your work.
Any advice for folks feeling overwhelmed?
Feeling overwhelmed can be a routine occurrence! At the press we are always trying to strike a balance between growth and execution–we spend a lot of time thinking of business development partners and ways to expand, and then the bill comes due on those efforts and we have to actually execute. Cue the overwhelm. The best advice I try to take when I’m feeling overwhelmed in publishing is to narrow down to the thing I am currently working on and do well with that. So I try to forget about how big a goal is and how many steps are going to be involved in it–just find the step you’re currently working on and handle that. After doing that a few times the overwhelming feeling is likely to recede some.
Contact Info:
- Website: grailingpress.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/grailingpress/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/grailingpress
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/grailingpress
Image Credits
Mila Korobkova
