Diversion Books, an independent publishing firm founded by agent Scott Waxman in 2010, has been steadily growing and launching new initiatives since its inception. It publishes about sixty titles annually and has a backlist of a thousand titles.
Yesterday, Diversion announced the creation of Radius Book Group, a full-service publishing solution that will help authors develop their books, then publish and distribute them through Ingram. Radius will be led by managing editor Fiona Hallowell, formerly a HarperCollins developmental editor.
Radius offers customized packages, but also two pre-packaged plans: one provides a more basic level of service, while the other is premium. For the premium package, in addition to the upfront package fee, Radius takes a 30 percent cut of net royalties. Radius also takes a 30 percent cut on custom packages where an author requests services such as title management, accounting, or other ongoing customer service.
When asked if authors would be limited to using only Ingram for distribution, and how long the contract term with Radius would last, Hallowell said, “Our goal is to put together a package that makes sense for individual authors…. The packages are really guidelines for authors to see the variety of ways we can work with them to achieve their goals, but we anticipate that most projects will have some amount of customization.”
Bottom line: Radius’s unique selling proposition as a self-publishing service appears to be twofold: work with publishing-industry veterans and get a custom solution that fits your needs. The big question we can’t answer is what Radius will be charging; they declined to give us even a ballpark range. For some authors, the fact Radius takes a percentage of profits will be a nonstarter. In addition to its publishing service, Radius also offers marketing packages that appear to offer meaningful value—a rare thing in this service space—although much depends on their cost.
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals; in 2023, she was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.
Jane’s expertise regularly features in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, The Today Show, Wired, The Guardian, Fox News, and BBC. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs. She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.
