Associate Publisher, Business at McGraw Hill Professional Donya Dickerson
Donya Dickerson is the associate publisher of business books at McGraw Hill Professional. She is an experienced associate publisher with a history of working with authors on developing bestselling content and building brands as thought leaders and experts in their fields. Since 2004, Donya has worked as an executive editor across the other McGraw imprints, including McGraw Hill and McGraw Hill Eduction. She obtained her Master’s in comparative literature and creative writing from the University of Cincinnati. As an editor and publisher, Donya is well-attuned to trends in the industry, willing to brainstorm ideas, a creative thinker, and focused on making her books a success, both within McGraw Hill and to the external world of book buyers.
In an article in Publishers Weekly magazine you recently stated, “There’s good business behind being a good person…” How has publishing specifically and notably changed in this regard, from where it once was?
When I started acquiring in the business category, the corporate leadership style that was popular at the time was completely different than it is now and the books we published reflected this. The big books at the time celebrated the Jack Welch approach of firing your bottom ten percent and leading through fear. Today’s companies realize that there is a direct correlation between keeping people happy and keeping people engaged—and that there is a huge return on investment when you treat your people like humans. We’ve published several books on this topic and they really resonate with today’s business readers.
“…there is a direct correlation between keeping people happy and keeping people engaged…there is a huge return on investment when you treat your people like humans.”
The reception area at McGraw Hill’s offices.
How did you get your start in book publishing and what has it been like to see publishing go through so many transitions in recent years?
I actually started out on the path to be an English professor and while getting my MA in Comparative Literature, I had an internship at the very prestigious (and now sadly defunct) literary journal Story Magazine. I quickly realized that teaching wasn’t for me and found that publishing was where I belonged. At the time, Amazon was fairly new (and only sold books) and publishers were trying to figure out what an eBook was—so yes, I’ve seen a lot of transitions through the years. Every industry has its disruptions and publishing has not been seen traditionally as a very agile field but we’ve been able to pivot and innovate in a way that has ultimately given more choice to the end consumer. Now, people can choose how they want their content, whether it’s print, ebook, audio, or even video. What’s gratifying to me is that people still love books and that doesn’t seem to be going away any time soon.
McGraw Hill is known for being a large, global publisher. What do you see as the benefits in going with a major trade publishing house such as MGH, over a smaller press?
There are many benefits to working with a larger publisher. For starters, you really do have a team working with you on your book. Not only do you have an editor, but there is a production team that turns your manuscript from a Word doc until a high-quality book, a creative director who helps design a beautiful cover, a copy director who helps position the book to help make it discoverable, a marketing team to help get you book in front of the right audience, and of course, a sales team who pushes it through their channels. For McGraw Hill, distribution is one of our strengths—we sell through many changes to reach the largest number of potential customers, including global retail distribution, potential academic adoptions, translations, licensing, and much more.
What was it like for larger independent publishers, such as McGraw Hill, in having to cope with the aftermath of the recent COVID-19 pandemic?
Last year, when everything started shutting down, we realized we had to make some very quick decisions. We pushed out most of our late spring and summer books to the fall—it was definitely the right decision as there were many disruptions in shipping, the retail channel, and more. Still, it was a tough call to make. Many business authors rely on speaking to sell books, and that’s been challenging as most in-person events were cancelled last year. We’re starting to see that return but it’s going to take some time before it’s back to what it was pre-COVID. Some authors have successfully pivoted to online events, but it’s been challenging for others and this has impacted the category. Some topics—specifically around keeping employees engaged, remote working, and avoiding burnout have continued to do well. We also saw books in the finance category get a boost as people tried to make sense of all that was happening with the markets last year. And after the murder of George Floyd, we saw a big interest in organizations on books in the I&D space—I see that as something that going to continue to be top of mind for organizations.
“…we saw a big interest in organizations on books in the I&D space—I see that as something that going to continue to be top of mind for organizations.”
How important has the perception of an author platform become in the space of nonfiction book publishing and how is this best showcased in a nonfiction book proposal?
Truthfully, the platform is almost as important as the book idea. Yes, we want something that’s fresh and interesting in terms of content, but we also need an author who is front of his or her audience and who people look at as experts. It’s extremely challenging to get the buyers at retail stores to take large quantities of titles if the author’s platform is lacking. In a proposal, I like to see that the author is in front of their audience, wherever that audience is. For some authors, that means a big social media following. For others, it means hosting a popular podcast with hundreds of thousands of downloads. For others still, it could be a large newsletter. For business books, speaking and consulting in front of large audiences is the best way to reach an audience and drive book sales. An ideal author has multiple ways to reach their audience—and they are already doing it. A red flag in a proposal is someone who talks about how they “plan” to start speaking or build their social media. I want to see an author who has already established that. A strong proposal also outlines the actual plan an author has to promote their books. I’ve seen authors whose marketing plans start six months from pub date and goes through the first year of publication. That definitely gets my attention.
It is clear that you acquire mostly in the areas of business/investing/finance for McGraw Hill. What types of business books are working well in the major trade publishing space? Are there other areas of interest for you, such as how-to or reference books, that are adjacent to these areas of business book publishing?
For us, we do best with titles that help professionals succeed at their job—this is of course is a very broad definition. It can mean a sales methodology that can help a sales professional exceed his or her quota. Or leadership or presentation skills for someone trying to get to the next level. But it can also be for executives who want a breakthrough strategy to lead their organizations to the next level. We cover most categories within business—management, leadership, finance, investing, sales, marketing, entrepreneurship, business skills, real estate, and more.
How have business books generally performed in the audiobook and foreign rights (books-in-translation) spaces?
Over the past few years, we’ve seen a great spike in audio book sales. This has been a great format for us. And we have always had strong foreign rights sales. The global community has a tremendous interest in business topics.
Melinda Epler’s How to Be an Ally: Actions You Can Take for a Stronger, Happier Workplace (McGraw Hill)
“…anyone can correct the imbalances they see at work and ultimately create a workplace where diversity and belonging go hand-in-hand.”
McGraw Hill CEO Simon Allen joined nearly 2,000 CEOs in a commitment to advance inclusion and diversity in the workplace. McGraw Hill also recently acquired and will be publishing TED speaker, CEO of Change Catalyst and co-founder of the Tech Inclusion Conference Melinda Epler's How to Be an Ally, about leveraging the power of allyship to build an equitable, innovative workplace where everyone feels safe, valued, and empowered. What was it like working with Melinda on such an important book?
I’m so proud to be working with Melinda and to be publishing her book. I feel that the conversation around inclusivity and diversity in the workplace has become front and center for so many organizations right now and yet so many people still feel uncertain about what they can do to build an inclusive workplace. What made Melinda’s book so compelling to me is that she takes the topic of I&D out of the HR space and shows how anyone at any level can support their underrepresented colleagues. The book shows how anyone can correct the imbalances they see at work and ultimately create a workplace where diversity and belonging go hand-in-hand.
Do you have any advice you could share for hopeful writers eager to become published authors?
Take your time to research your category and to write your proposal. I’ve seen so many proposals that feel like they were written in less than a week and without an understanding of what else is in the marketplace. I’m much more impressed with authors who show me they know the category and how their book fits into our list. I also recommend never saying that there’s no other book like yours—it’s better to show books that are similar and have sold well. This indicates there is a market for your book—and having this knowledge also impresses editors.
Can you finish this sentence? I love reading because...
There’s so many ways to answer this. It’s how I learn new things…it helps me understand new viewpoints…it takes me places I’ve never seen in person…it sparks my imagination…and sometimes it’s a great way to escape (and I think we all needed a little of that in the past year!)