Woman in Business Interview with Angela Engel

Angela Engel is Founder and Publisher of The Collective Book Studio and this week’s woman in business interview.

Angela Engel’s expertise in publishing is rooted in 20+ years of sales and marketing experience at established publishing houses, such as Chronicle Books, Ten Speed Press, and Cameron + Company. She founded the Collective Book Studio in order to level the publishing playing field, producing titles from award-winning and notable authors like Fran Hauser and Jenna Hermans. With a unique partnership publishing model and collaborative work ethic, Angela and the Collective Book Studio has been featured in Publishers Weekly, Parents, Real Simple, and more in just five years of business.

This is her interview…

Tell us about your business

The Collective Book Studio is an award-winning, women-owned and run company located in Oakland, California. We publish high quality lifestyle, food, gift and children’s books, while maintaining a pledge of being environmentally friendly. This is reflected both in the production of our books and in subject matter. We only use book printers that adhere to strict guidelines when sourcing paper and constructing books.

Additionally, diversity is important to us, and we make an effort to elevate those voices through the books we publish. Between LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC authors, we want to represent stories that may go unnoticed by bigger publishers. We believe that it’s important that these stories be heard, and we’re so grateful to be able to be such a big part in making that happen.

Our target audience encompasses a wide variety of readers, from young to older consumers with disposable income looking for high quality gifts. We do our best to make sure that any reader can find a beautiful book that they love, no matter what genre of book they are looking for..

Please tell us what being a business owner means to you and why you became an entrepreneur in the first place?:

For me, being a small business owner means to contribute to the larger ecosystem of companies in the United States that create economic opportunities and change in the publishing landscape. Being women-owned and independent means that I have the opportunity to give debut authors and new voices a chance to have their stories told and be sold in major retail outlets. I am driven to change the publishing Industry and level the playing field for indie presses.

The corporate publishers continued to hold tight to their control in 2023 on bestseller lists. As 84.8% of the 2,080 positions on PW’s weekly hardcover lists were occupied by titles published by major houses. (Publisher’s Weekly Source ) I aim to change that and have more bestselling books come from small, independent publishers.

What or who has been your greatest influence in business and why?

The greatest influence are my beautiful three daughters. I’ve been working in publishing for a long time and when it came time that I wanted to start my own business, I thought about what stories I would want them to read. I wanted them to hear stories from all different types of people, and learn about things they may not have been able to easily learn about before.

What would you say is your greatest professional accomplishment to date?

That is a hard question to answer since I’ve been able to accomplish so many great things in only four short years. As a company, we’re quickly approaching our 100th title published going into our fifth year in business, and we have 37 award winning titles. We’re sold and distributed worldwide by Simon & Schuster ! I consider myself so fortunate to have been able to do so many amazing things with the help of my team.

What’s the best advice you have received in business that you wish to pass on to our readers?

Be agile, understand that it’s a lot of hard work and have a lot of resilience. You need to be flexible. It’s wishful thinking that everything is going to go perfectly one hundred percent of the time, so you need to learn that it’s okay to just roll with the punches.

What is your relationship with social media?

It is a real love/hate relationship. It’s something that we need to have since it’s where we reach a lot of our consumers. They’re between the ages of 27-50, and so many of them are on socials. We’ve been focusing on using LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. We’re starting to put some more thought into TikTok, even though our genres aren’t typically represented there. We aren’t afraid of being trendsetters, so hopefully we can help give some more exposure to those titles across all social media platforms!

What is your favorite app?

I gravitate towards two different types of apps – either fitness or shopping – things that I find very useful. I love FitGrid to help to plan my workouts and apps like Etsy, Target or Old Navy to get things for my kids. I also love Goldstar for finding good deals on tickets for plays and different types of entertainment.

What have been the most effective marketing initiatives or programs you have used to promote your business?

We have several different types of marketing initiatives that we’ve found to be useful. In regards to getting authors to submit their work to us, we’ve found that it’s best to use LinkedIn, op-eds and bylined articles that talk about our goals and values, highlight that we are a women-run business and how we want to uplift marginalized voices.

For selling books, we make a really good effort to market ourself to book buyers and influencers in the social media and Internet book communities. We found that staying true to what our audience expects by continuously producing high quality products keeps people coming back to us.

We’ve also used direct email marketing very successfully. We’ve been able to cultivate a list of over eight thousand subscribers, ranging from other industry professionals to just average book lovers. We currently use Klaviyo for this since it was able to seamlessly integrate with our Shopify based website for e-commerce.

What one thing have you learned as a small business owner that has served you well over the years?

Narrowing all that I’ve learned to one thing is so difficult. Running a business has taught me so much, like learning how to be forgiving of yourself and actions since nothing is perfect. If I had to pick just one thing though, I would say that learning to ask for help has served me really well. Asking for help and seeking out mentors by going to publishing conferences and asking for advice amongst professionals that have been in the industry for a long time has given me a lot of insight on how to better myself and my business.

How has your routine changed since covid?

The biggest change our company’s routine has experienced since Covid is going remote. We used to rent a coworking space, but we realized that working within our own spaces has benefited our business’s work culture.

It has created a wonderful work-life balance for our employees, and each of us have been able to find a routine that works best for each of us. We have tools that allow us to have an idea of where people are on their projects and we know that we’ll all complete our work, even if it’s not within the traditional 9-5 hours. Ultimately, we found that this has been a change for the better and the way our company functions now.

What productivity tools do you use?

Airtable is our most used productivity tool. It has become a lifesaver. It allows me to have a birds eye view across all departments and it lets the rest of the team have a peek into the different departments when they need information. It allows us to all work together in a streamlined way.

From a CEO perspective, accounting is key to the health of the company. We, of course, use Quickbooks for the financial side and it allows me to look and keep track of all our numbers, like the cost of goods, and budgets for hiring freelancers, marketing and trade show bills, as well as tracking our sales income.

Are there any other resources/tools that have helped you run your business?

Our team is addicted to Google Chat! It allows us to easily talk to one another and lets us avoid the typical waiting period that is associated with emails. We can answer each other in under a minute and it helps us keep making progress on our projects since it helps us avoid any hang ups when we need to ask other departments questions. Additionally, we use post scheduling apps for our social media, since it allows us to prep everything we need for our posts ahead of time and it has helped make our lives so much easier!

Do you have any new projects coming up (or have you just completed a big project ~ reached a milestone, etc.)? If so, please tell us about it.

We are publishing the debut children’s book by Emmy award-winning journalist and philanthropist Lauren Sánchez. The Fly Who Flew to Space offers young readers a high-flying adventure through exquisitely detailed illustrations by Clio-award-winning artist Raleigh Stewart. The book’s jacket doubles as a glow-in-the-dark poster, adding an extra layer of magic to the reading experience. Scheduled for release on September 10, 2024, the book will be available in both English and Spanish, and feature captivating glow-in-the-dark elements and a special poster!

We are thrilled to collaborate with Lauren Sánchez and her team. Supporting creative women and publishing books that take children on new and exciting adventures is at the heart of what we do.

Sánchez and her team selected us due to the Collective Book Studio’s exceptional attention to detail and dedication to high-quality publishing and our commitment to responsible printing and sustainable paper sourcing aligns perfectly with Sánchez’s environmental values.

We are honored that Lauren chose us for her first venture into children’s literature, aligning with our mission to publish books that inspire, educate, and entertain.

How do you prepare for the next day?

Being a mom with kids of all different ages can make it hard to prepare for everything, so I just do my best. I found that taking some time for myself at one point during the day – whether it’s a workout class or a nightly walk – gives me the time I need to mentally prepare and figure out what I’ll need to do.

What is the number one meeting you never miss (and why)?

What do you do for fun/relaxation?

Exercising or cooking! I love running, strength training and swimming. I love to read articles and op-eds about politics and what’s going on in the world.

How would you describe yourself in a single sentence?

Extroverted, enthusiastic, exuberant, a little bit eccentric, but most of all loyal and honest.

What is the Number One Business Goal you plan to accomplish over the next year?

I want to hit two million dollars in revenue and be able to establish myself as a go-to independent publishing house for lifestyle, children’s and gift books.

What is the number one book you recommend to our readers? And why?

I really cannot recommend one book because I’m an enthusiast of genres. One of my all time favorite books is Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison. I love Embrace the Work, Love Your Career by Fran Hauser since I wish I had it sooner in my life, back when my children were young and I wanted to make a career change. As far as cookbooks, I really love 52 Shabbats, the first cookbook we published, since it reminds me of cooking at home and being with family.

What practices or boundaries have you implemented in your personal life to create more work/life balance?

Working from home and being able to work remotely has helped me create a better work-life balance. It allows me to work when visiting family and friends, or see other places as long as I have wifi.

Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?

I started my small business without VC funding, and I’ve really learned the importance of shopping small and researching the brands that you’re buying from. Conscious consumerism has become really important to me, and being able to support BIPOC, women-owned and LGBTQIA+ run businesses is one of my biggest priorities when shopping. I hope other people start to pay attention to where they’re supporting and do their best to support these small businesses with lots of heart, like the Collective Book Studio.

What’s the best way for the readers of WE Magazine for Women to connect with you (feel free to include the links to your social networks and websites)?

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thecollectivebookstudio/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thecollectivebook/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-collective-book-studio/

Website: https://thecollectivebook.studio/