Karen Strauss has worked in book publishing since 1981, when she started at Bantam Books as a senior publicist. She then moved on to The Free Press division of Macmillan (now Simon and Schuster) to become its Director of Trade Marketing.
In 1991 she founded Strauss Consultants, Inc., which was originally conceived to service small publishers who needed representation into the large chain and wholesaler book accounts around the country. With the advent of Print on Demand technology and e-books Karen is now working with Self-publishing authors and micropublishers to help them develop a publishing program that would give them an equal level playing field with the traditional publishers.
In Sept. 2012 she co-launched RockStar Publishing House, a hybrid publishing company, primarily built for entrepreneurs who write books to further their business to help people succeed in all aspects of life.
Since then, Karen has launched several branded publishing companies for organizations.
On the show Karen talks about the lightning speed with which the publishing industry has changed, highlighting the shift from “print-on-demand” to “e-books” being the most significant. She shares advice on why and what people are writing about: 1) a passion of theirs; 2) something they have accomplished/advice they want to share and/or; 3) that great novel they have always had in mind. If you’re going to write, she recommends being disciplined and write something every day.
Karen reconfirms the need for quality, not only in writing but with how you choose to publish your work. She elaborates on the three ways to publish in today’s market: 1) self-publishing; 2) traditional via big publishing houses and; 3) with a hybrid publisher – particularly one with national and international distribution.
She also discusses a broad range of costs to publish, package options from ala carte to one stop shopping solutions, to why it’s important to have a marketing plan for your book before you publish and subsequently distribute your book.
In addition to her company website www.straussconsultants.com Karen can be reached via email at karen@rockstarpublishinghouse.com