When Pellerin Books co-founders Laura Palmer and Jessie Sullivan were recently featured in LoveReading’s Industry Insights series, they were asked a deceptively simple question: what problem were they trying to solve when they founded the company?
Their answer wasn’t that publishing is broken.
In fact, quite the opposite.
After decades spent working across traditional, independent and digital-first publishing, Laura and Jessie have enormous respect for the industry and the people within it. Between them, they have worked with hundreds of authors, helped millions of readers discover their next favourite book, and seen first-hand what great publishing can achieve.
But they have also witnessed something else: a growing disconnect between the way readers discover books today and the systems publishing still relies upon.
Pellerin was founded on the belief that if reader behaviour has changed, publishing models should evolve alongside it.
One of the themes that ran throughout the LoveReading interview was the importance of understanding why publishing operates the way it does. It’s easy to look at challenges facing authors today and assume the industry is getting something wrong. Laura and Jessie take a different view.
Historically, publishers had limited shelf space to compete for, limited review coverage to secure, and limited opportunities to persuade readers to take a chance on an unknown author. In that environment, concentrating resources around publication made perfect sense. A book often had a relatively short period of time to prove itself before attention shifted to the next wave of releases.
Similarly, publishing a large number of books and then focusing resources on those showing the strongest signs of success wasn’t irrational. It was a practical response to uncertainty. Nobody can predict with complete confidence which books will become bestsellers.
As Laura explained in the interview, publishing is a difficult business and resources are finite.
The problem isn’t that these systems were poorly designed. The problem is that reader behaviour has changed faster than the systems themselves.
Today’s readers discover books differently. They still browse bookshops. They still read reviews. They still listen to recommendations from friends. But they also discover books through search engines, recommendation algorithms, newsletters, podcasts, BookTok, Bookstagram, online communities and digital retailers.
Increasingly, readers aren’t relying on a handful of gatekeepers to tell them what to read next. They’re building reading around their own tastes, interests and habits. That shift creates opportunities.
As Laura noted during the interview:
“The midlist isn’t lacking readers. In many cases, readers simply haven’t found those books yet.”
It’s a simple observation, but an important one. The challenge facing many books isn’t that readers wouldn’t enjoy them. It’s that those readers may never have the opportunity to discover them.
For publishers, that changes the question entirely. The challenge is no longer simply how to maximise visibility during a launch window. It’s how to ensure readers can continue finding books long after publication.
One quote from the interview neatly captured this shift:
“In the print-first era, a book’s life was often measured in weeks. In the digital era, a book’s life can be measured in years.”
For Jessie and Laura, that isn’t just an observation. It’s a fundamental change in how publishing should think about success. If books can remain discoverable indefinitely online, then publication day becomes less of a finish line and more of a starting point. That idea sits at the heart of Pellerin’s approach.
It’s why the company invests in long-term discoverability rather than focusing solely on launch campaigns. It’s why every title enters a backlist strategy designed to help it continue reaching new readers. And it’s why Pellerin deliberately publishes fewer authors than many publishers of a similar size.
Not because other publishers are doing things wrong, but because Laura and Jessie wanted to build a model centred around consistent support rather than concentrated attention. The goal isn’t simply to create successful launches. It’s to create successful author careers.
Perhaps the most interesting part of the LoveReading conversation was what it wasn’t. It wasn’t an argument for tearing publishing down. It wasn’t a declaration that traditional publishers have failed. And it wasn’t a claim that technology alone can solve the industry’s challenges.
Instead, it was a conversation about evolution.
Laura and Jessie believe deeply in the things publishing already does well: editorial expertise, creative collaboration, author development and long-term relationships. They believe publishers play a vital role in helping books reach readers. But they also believe the industry has an opportunity to adapt.
To embrace transparency more confidently. To make better use of data. To think beyond launch. And to recognise that many talented authors still have enormous untapped potential waiting to be unlocked.
Publishing isn’t broken.
But the world has changed.
Readers discover books differently. Authors have different expectations. New technologies have created opportunities that simply didn’t exist a decade ago. The question isn’t whether publishing should change. It’s how.
For Laura and Jessie, that’s the conversation at the heart of Pellerin Books – and one they explored in much greater depth in their recent LoveReading Industry Insights interview.
You can read Laura Palmer and Jessie Sullivan’s full LoveReading Industry Insights interview here.
