Community Highlights: Meet Dan Wright of Fitting Words

Today, we’d like to introduce you to Dan Wright.

Hi Dan, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Upon graduating college, I began management training with Walmart. I can’t say enough good things about all I learned until a year later when I managed two bookstores and did most of the merchandising and purchasing. The business grew quickly after I applied Walmart’s principles related to managing product mix, promoting related goods, seasonal buying, and special buys.

All this led to my sales role in a small but noteworthy publisher. My introduction to publishing was one in sales, primarily to bookstores, where I understood perfectly well the buyers’ challenges and deficiency in the knowledge of merchandising I brought to the relationship.

From there, I was hired by Thomas Nelson, the largest Christian publisher in the world at the time. I served in the international division for the next fifteen years and eventually led the department and other departments. This was a sales and distribution management role where the focus was on filling supply pipelines, growing and refining the roster of our global distribution partners, expanding our foreign language licensing function, and developing special products exclusively for international distribution.

The relationships formed during my tenure at Thomas Nelson have followed me and greatly helped me establish a business presence in the publishing industry. From all of this, I strongly believe that my business and client relationships should be marked by a high level of trust and mutual benefit. I’ve operated independently since 2007 but have been entirely focused on providing publishing services under the brand Fitting Words since 2016.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
My journey as an independent/hybrid publisher has mostly been smooth. Establishing a business in 2007, just before one of the most tumultuous economic times in recent memory, made for a rough ride. But I was blessed with a running start as many friends were laid off when publishers began reducing overheads in the next few years to follow. They didn’t have the benefit of preparing beforehand, and some went months between jobs.

Choppy waters came my way mainly from my lack of focus and discipline. I seized upon attractive opportunities that didn’t deliver long-term growth or leverage my core competencies. Establishing Fitting Words as a publishing imprint solved this, and the business has been rewarded with several repeat clients and the addition of public relations, marketing, and sales and distribution options for my authors and publishing clients.

COVID has been described as the “great accelerator.” Where book publishing is concerned, that was certainly my experience, but not in the way many might think. 2020 was a terrific year for Fitting Words, as people became inspired to write and finish a book and embark on getting it published.

We’ve been impressed with Fitting Words LLC, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share about what you do and what sets you apart?
Clients appreciate that Fitting Words can take a book from manuscript to bound book or step into a project at various stages of its development.

Often, writers intend to self-publish but soon realize that what was told to them by an “expert” becomes impossible to execute in the real world. We have to remediate cover designs, editing shortcomings, and design flaws. Providing solutions in less-than-ideal contexts is a point of pride. It requires time and relationships. I do love hearing the words, “What I’m really missing is ****.” Then saying, “I can deliver that.”

We consistently produce professional-grade outcomes because our service providers also serve major traditional publishers. They know, as do I, what is required of a product and its author to succeed in a peer group of traditionally published authors. A book has many facets that, when they aren’t taken into account, can be weak links that detract from marketing plans and content sampling activities or leave out potential influencing opportunities. All from a lack of publishing knowledge or detailed work.

Fitting Words attracts clients who need more services than they can get elsewhere. Our distribution options specialize in fulfilling orders coming through our authors’ websites and their books being made available “everywhere books are sold.” Today, this is critically important to communicators, business leaders, organizations, etc.

The urgency now is to build platforms that facilitate engagement with target markets, drive demand for products and services, and set the stage for more explosive product launches down the road. Simply selling books at Amazon limits the benefits that a book has to offer.

We can produce audiobooks, foreign language editions, and ancillary products of every kind and provide coaching (product specs, branding, pricing, pitching, and more) throughout the process. 38 years in the publishing industry bring many relationships and industry knowledge to the table and the benefit of our clients.

Lastly, I take great pride in the fact that Fitting Words’ clients return with their second, third, fourth, and fifth books. They know their books stand apart because we put in the work. Also, I get referrals from other publishing companies and industry insiders. They know we’ll deliver for their friends and key relationships.

How do you define success?
A success is each time Fitting Words exceeds a client’s expectations. I never get tired of hearing from our clients when they have never had the benefit of a professional editor or proofreader, see their manuscript beautifully designed, and hold the finished book in their hands with all the finishing touches that come from a long career in publishing.

They’re not entirely certain what to expect when the process starts. But when it’s all done and dusted, they greatly appreciate their editor and everyone who contributed to what is a beautifully crafted book that is ready to help accomplish the author’s objectives.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.fittingwords.com
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dan-wright-1833aa8/

Image Credits
Linda McNay and Allena Parramore, The Adventures of Phil An Thropy, Tricia Thornton, Blessing From Fear, Stephanie Mullowney, Hannah Grace, James Wilson Hill, and The Bear and the Cricket