I flew to Vancouver to meet Jesse Finklestein of Page 2 Publishing in beautiful Mount Pleasant.
Have you ever found something you love doing but one tiny part of it you hate?
You love the company, the job, the values, the people … but hate your boss.
You love the school you teach at, the kids, the classroom … but can’t stand the commute.
We encounter these decisions all the time. You love something but you just can’t deal with this little part of it.
Jesse and me posing with one of her three most formative books (Spoiler alert!).
Enter Jesse Finkelstein, co-founder and principal of Page Two Publishing, a premium author-centric publishing house.
Why did I bring up the deal-breaker conundrum?
Because Jesse always felt this way about the publishing industry.
She went up through the ranks at the big publishing companies, all the way to COO at D&M Publishing. But she kept asking herself: What if there was a publishing company that put the author’s goals first?
So Jesse created Page Two, which sits somewhere in between self-publishing and traditional publishing.
A little letter Jesse received in one of her three most formative books… passed to her mid-lecture at McGill.
Page 2 takes an author’s idea, looks at whether it has market potential, and then supplies the author with all the tools a big publishing house would: editors, copy-editors, graphic designers, distribution channels, everything.
In Chapter 23 of 3 Books, Jesse and I go deep into how the publishing landscape is evolving … and then we dive into her three most formative books.
We discuss how acclaimed political writers can actually not be political enough, how books can get over-edited, the Harlem Renaissance, and how reading acts as therapy, and much, much more…
I absolutely loved listening to Jesse and think you will, too.
Welcome to Chapter 23.
Listen to Chapter 23:
Click here to Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Overcast, Spotify, Youtube or Google Play.
What You'll Learn:
When is it okay to be a quitter?
How can authors retain creative control in the strict world of publishing?
What are the most important steps to take when publishing a book?
How have self-published books radically changed over the past decade?
How did the Harlem Renaissance affect book publishing, particularly for black authors?
How has poetry transformed over the past century and why is it resurfacing again?
What makes a book accessible to readers and how do writers tap into that?
What book can help us learn from trauma and look past it with a fresh perspective?
notable quotes from jesse finkelstein:
CONNECT With Jesse:
word of the chapter:
Resources Mentioned:
Jesse’s first book [11:15]
Jesse’s second book [22:30]
Jesse’s third book [33:36]
The Coaching Habit by Michael Bungay Stanier
Bleak House by Charles Dickens
Dust Tracks on a Road by Zora Neale Hurston
In Search of Zora Neale Hurston (Ms. magazine article)
Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur
Early Morning, Kingston to Gananoque by Michael Ondaatje
Psychology of Influence by Robert Cialdini
Adultolescense by Gabbie Hanna
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
