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A small publisher can't buy paper by the warehouse-load, so it can't price books the way the corporate houses do. Pluto Press makes up the difference another way. Some titles carry others, and when a book matters more than it is likely to sell, Pluto looks for an organisation to buy copies at a discount, which raises the print run, lowers the cost of every copy and lets the book go out at a fair price.
Its ownership was shaped by similar constraints. When Pluto needed investment in 2018, staff on publishing salaries couldn't put money in, so the Pluto Educational Trust, a charity, invested and took a 60% stake. Three former staff hold 30%, and the current staff hold 10% through their own co-operative, with a seat on the board. The trust also lends to Pluto when the banks won't.
Veruschka Selbach, Pluto's managing director, joined me to talk through how that works day to day: why a split decision on a book goes back for more work rather than to a vote, why she counts long service as an asset, what the business side of a values-led publisher actually demands, and what it takes for a book to change how people think.
In this episode
- How Pluto keeps impact-first titles viable: some books carrying others, and partner organisations buying discounted copies to raise the print run and lower the cost of every copy
- Why an independent publisher prices at the top end of the market, without the economies of scale the corporate houses have
- Staff first: equal parental leave for fathers and mothers, two months' sick leave on full pay, a four-and-a-half-day week, and five of a team of 18 who have stayed more than 20 years
- Who owns Pluto since 2018 – a charitable trust, three former staff and a co-operative of current employees – and why it isn't a full worker co-op
- How the biggest decisions need the agreement of every shareholder group, staff included
- The weekly meeting, open to anyone in the company, where Pluto decides which books to publish, and what happens when the room is split
- What a managing director does when she is one voice among many
- Opening a US office in Las Vegas in 2022, and bringing Lawrence & Wishart, founded in 1936, under Pluto as an imprint
- What it takes for a book to shift how people think: accessibility and timing
About the guest
Veruschka Selbach is managing director of Pluto Press, the independent publisher founded in London in 1969. She has worked in publishing for more than 20 years, mostly on the academic and trade side, after answering a newspaper ad in Cape Town, South Africa, for a marketing assistant at Oxford University Press. In 2012 she co-founded Do Sustainability with three former Earthscan colleagues, publishing short, practical books on sustainability for a business audience; it published 50 titles before it was sold in 2015. She joined Pluto as managing director in 2017, after working with the press as a consultant.
Links mentioned in this episode
- Pluto Press (London, England), the independent publisher Veruschka leads
- The structure and governance of Pluto Press, Pluto's own explanation of how it is owned and run
- Pluto Educational Trust, the charity that holds 60% of Pluto, and the Decolonial Centre, one of its projects
- Lawrence & Wishart, founded in 1936 and now a Pluto imprint
- Staying Power: The History of Black People in Britain by Peter Fryer, first published by Pluto in 1984
- Red Prepper: Building Collective Resilience in an Age of Collapse by Eric Shonkwiler
Chapters
- 00:00 – A book's impact, found years later
- 00:47 – Companies that break convention, and succeed
- 01:07 – Impact before profit, and still growing
- 02:40 – From a newspaper ad in Cape Town to publishing
- 04:41 – Co-founding Do Sustainability after Earthscan
- 05:27 – Joining Pluto Press
- 06:04 – Taking out less than you put in
- 08:47 – Why people stay: long service as memory
- 10:10 – What sets Pluto apart: a mission that holds it to account
- 12:11 – How some books pay for others
- 14:33 – When crises bring new readers to the backlist
- 16:22 – What to do with profits from crisis-driven sales
- 17:34 – A not-for-profit in practice
- 17:56 – Who owns Pluto: a trust, former staff and the team
- 19:45 – Why not a full worker co-op?
- 20:58 – The board, and how the biggest decisions are made
- 22:28 – Why slower decisions are worth it
- 23:54 – Growing by acquisition: Lawrence & Wishart
- 25:44 – Making your own luck
- 27:53 – The spreadsheets behind the mission
- 30:43 – Passion, creativity and partnerships
- 33:40 – Sharing without money
- 34:22 – How a book gets published at Pluto
- 37:13 – When the room is split: the bring back
- 38:19 – What a managing director does
- 39:58 – Opening a US office in Las Vegas
- 43:24 – One editorial team across two continents
- 44:01 – US demand for books on mutual aid and care
- 45:29 – What it takes for an idea to change minds
- 47:02 – Be realistic, then prove the alternative works
- 48:22 – Building the case for something better
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