About
Why Racket exists and what it attempts to accomplish.
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Philosophy: Our raison d ĂŞtre
Traditional publishing has been broken for decades. If you don’t believe me, then ask any author who’s been through the process. With the notable exceptions of A-listers like Michael Lewis and Malcolm Gladwell, complaints about marketing, production, order fulfillment, book quality, value, and overall experience are rampant. Author advances have plummeted and, in many cases, disappeared altogether. Making matters worse, industry stalwarts have become even less likely to work with first-time and even mid-tier authors or require them to guarantee thousands of copies sold. Expect these trends to intensify.
Against this backdrop, many rookie and even experienced authors have opted for subsidy presses and other self-publishing chop shops. These currents have intensified in recent years. To state the obvious, these low-cost, high-volume outfits are a different kettle of fish. They typically assign the next person up to work on key aspects of authors’ books: editing, interior and cover design, indexing, and the like. Maybe those folks are qualified to make your vision a reality. Maybe not. You’re rolling the dice.
A Better Way to Publish
Racket is a boutique hybrid publisher that operates in a fundamentally different way. Its team of experienced professionals has successfully completed hundreds of non-fiction books. Rest assured: You’re in excellent hands. Not only will the end result delight you, but you’ll also enjoy the process. Why? Because Racket has developed RacketHub, a proprietary book management system that:
- Maximizes transparency, the chance that your writing project goes smoothly, and enjoyment. (Yes, writing a book is time-consuming and challenging, but it should also be fun.)
- Serves as a single source of truth.
- Eliminates frantically searching different apps for key documents and messages.
- Organizes all of the information needed to complete your book.
- Keeps the author and the entire team on the same page.
- Minimizes the inefficiency and administration that increase the cost and time to complete each project.
- Launches your book soon as possible.
Racket’s über-talented team will make your book’s vision a reality much faster than if you had gone the traditional route.
Thanks for reading. If this message sounds appealing, we’d love to hear from you.
Phil Simon
Founder, Racket Publishing
WE KNOW BOOKS.
Writing Partners, Not Clients
By treating its authors as partners and not clients, Racket provides sage guidance on all aspects of the writing process. From planning to writing to post-production to marketing, It’s accurate to call our approach unreasonably hospitable.
If you want to try your hand at indie or self-publishing, have at it. Snakeoil salesmen abound. Through trial and error, though, you can find decent editors, indexers, e-book specialists, designers, and proofreaders. They can certainly meet your needs.
But who’s overseeing the entire project—from idea to launch? More importantly, is your book idea any good?
Fast, cheap, and good. Pick any two of the three.
Racket works with its clients on a holistic basis. First-time and experienced authors benefit from a true publishing partner, not just a service provider. That’s our jam. If this doesn’t sound cheap, trust your instincts.
As in life, however, you get what you pay for.
Tools Matter
With rare exception, traditional publishers and the vast majority of publishing professionals are stuck in their ways. They cling to antiquated business processes, technologies, and mindsets. For example, emails and attachments continue to rule the day. There’s just one problem:
It’s no longer 1998.
Simon believes that there's a vastly better way to write and publish. By embracing new, user-friendly collaboration tools, it's possible to make publishing a book far more efficient, cost-effective, and even downright fun. Yes, fun.
Praise
Read what current and former clients have to say about their experiences with Racket Publishing.
Team
Management & Ghostwriting
Phil Simon is the award-winning author of 14 books, most recently The Nine: The Tectonic Forces Reshaping the Workplace. He founded Racket Publishing in 2022. Before that, Simon started Motion Publishing in 2010, ultimately selling the company in 2017. Over the course of his storied writing and publishing career, he’s worked on dozens books in different capacities.
His work with authors includes ideation, brainstorming, title creation, positioning, and ghostwriting. Don’t get him started on Breaking Bad, Marillion, and Rush.
Design
Jessica Angerstein is an experienced graphic designer who loves to take complex topics and make them easy to understand. She excels at creating stories that inspire people. Her passion is wallpaper removal, but she loves to create book layouts and bring each page to life. She has worked on all five Racket titles.
Luke Fletcher is a professional freelance graphic designer with two decades of related experience. He has designed the covers for dozens of books in his career, including the Racket titles The Nine, Low-Code/No-Code, and Project Management in the Hybrid Workplace. While not designing covers, you may find him spending time with his kids or watching Breaking Bad or The Big Lebowski.
Editing & Proofreading
Karen Davis is an experienced and highly skilled editor. She has worked on more than 600 books over the course of her career. Her attention to detail and ability to distill a story are second to none. She enjoys biking and just loves dogs. She has worked on all five Racket titles.
Indexing
Johnna VanHoose Dinse has been creating vibrant indexes for a little more than 20 years. She has worked on many notable consumer trade books, such as the For Dummies series and Complete Idiot’s guides, as well as those for academic and healthcare presses. Her philosophy of indexing: “I create a roadmap for the reader to use to navigate the information presented in all the ways they might need to use it.” She has worked on all five Racket titles.
Ebook Conversion
Vinnie Kinsella is a full-stack designer. Over his career, he’s successfully completed hundreds of ebooks, including all Racket titles.
Advertisting
Jeffrey Kimura is an experienced marketer with deep expertise in paid search, ad optimization, and keywords.
