How Employee Ownership Makes Better Books
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When you hold an author’s book in your hands, feel the texture of the cover, turn the crisp pages, smell the scent of ink and paper, you can sense you’re holding more than just a product.
Every book we help bring into the world carries something extra embedded in its pages: the pride, dedication, and personal investment of employee-owners.
At FriesenPress, employee ownership isn’t just a corporate structure or a buzz phrase. It’s a mindset and a commitment to treating every author’s book as if it’s our own. To paraphrase our company’s founder, D.W. Friesen: when our authors succeed, we succeed.
We spoke with some of our employee-owners to describe exactly what it is about employee ownership that helps us make better books:
Quality Becomes Personal
In other publishing environments, employees do their part of a task and pass the manuscript down an assembly line. But when the people guiding your book have ownership over the entire process, everything changes. Each book that carries our name is a direct reflection of our personal standard of work.
When an editor reviews your manuscript, a designer formats your interior, or a publishing consultant answers your call, they aren’t just doing a job, they’re representing the company they have personal investment in.
As FriesenPress employee-owner Braden Moulton puts it:
“Being part of an employee-owned company helps to establish a shared bond amongst colleagues. The success of the company directly benefits us as employees, which adds a level of responsibility and makes our team even stronger. It means that my daily efforts and contributions amass to something greater than myself. We’re not only working for all the wonderful authors under our care, but we’re also working for each other member of the staff and our livelihood.”
When quality becomes personal, detail-oriented care is no longer an extra effort; it’s the standard baseline and culture of operations.
A Human Approach in a Digital World
Self-publishing has grown rapidly over the last two decades, bringing incredible freedom to writers. However, with these changes came more impersonal, automated publishing platforms where authors often feel like just another number in a queue.
Employee ownership keeps human care at the absolute center of publishing. When you publish with FriesenPress, you work with people who are personally invested in the integrity of your book and the transparency of the process.
Employee-owner Astra Crompton highlights why this matters today:
“In this age of faceless corporate entities, I think it’s important that we be more conscientious of the people behind the brands we support... Being an employee-owner helps provide transparency in how the company operates and who makes it run on a day-to-day level. It’s a refreshingly human approach to labour that matters now more than ever.”
Authors have trusted us with over 12,000 of their books, including life stories, personal projects, and countless creative dreams. Knowing there is a human being on the other side who genuinely cares as much as you do about your book creates a trusted relationship.
Ground-Level Insight Drives Better Author Support
One of the biggest strengths of an employee-owned company is that decisions aren’t made in secluded, surreptitious boardrooms, but by leadership and ground-level teams working hand-in-hand.
Because employee-owners understand daily operational nuances, we are constantly providing feedback and tweaking our publishing services, resources, and workflows to better serve our authors.
Employee-owner Rebekah Caris explains the difference this creates:
“Many companies have stakeholders who may not understand the day-to-day nuances of the services provided. In those cases, they might set goals that don’t align with the reality of the employees on the ground. As employee-owners, we work much more closely with our leaders and are kept in the loop regarding upcoming changes or initiatives down the line.”
This ground-level connection ensures that when we update a process or introduce a new service, it’s designed from real author experience and practical publishing knowledge, not abstract corporate mandates.
Elevating the Reputation of Self-Publishing
Thousands of authors have trusted FriesenPress with their books. A major part of our mission as employee-owners is to push the self-publishing industry forward, proving that independently published books can match and exceed the quality, design, and care of traditional publishing houses.
Employee-owner Lucien Schraeder sees this commitment as both a privilege and a responsibility:
“I see it firstly as a responsibility, to make sure that the role we play in shaping the publishing industry is one we can be proud of... As an employee-owner, I’m focused on revolutionizing the reputation of self-publishing, which starts by providing excellence in my support of each and every author.”
When employee-owners strive to elevate the industry as a whole, every author who publishes with us benefits from that raised standard of excellence.
Stronger Teams and Shared Values
It’s no secret that happy, supported people produce better work. At FriesenPress, the employee-ownership model fosters a collaborative environment where people enjoy coming to work every day.
Instead of working to maximize profits for external shareholders, everyone works together for mutual success, benefiting authors, team members, and the community alike.
As Jodi Brown shares:
“It means everything. I see a big difference working for a company where we are employee-owners and there’s not someone at the top collecting the profits. Everyone that I’ve worked with genuinely seems to love their job... FriesenPress has great vibes.”
Jamie Ollivier echoes this sense of teamwork and community:
“It means that I’m part of a family with two goals: supporting and nurturing our authors and my colleagues at work. I love being a part of an organization that puts people first and does not push such a rigid hierarchy.”
This culture of mutual support extends to how we structure our workplace flexibility, balance, and decision-making. As Scott Donovan points out:
“I really appreciate the collectivism we enjoy here at FriesenPress, and as part of Friesens. We share in the responsibilities, and we share in the results... Flexibility and work-life balance counts to us!”
When team members feel valued and supported, that energy translates directly into the enthusiasm, patience, and care they bring to every author relationship.
Ready to share your story with the world? Let’s get started on your publishing journey.
Connect with one of our employee-owners today!
