Is Making Books Still Worth It? Reflections on a Small Publishing Services Business, One Year In
* This blog is human-generated. It was not written or edited with the help of AI.
One year ago, in September of 2025, Dirt Roads LLC was officially born.
Dirt Roads LLC Co-Founders Martha Cook (left) and Rebecca Didier (right). Photo by Jayson Benoit
Eight months before, it hadn’t even entered my mind that I might be forging a new company in the near future. In January, I, and my close friend and colleague (and now business partner) Martha Cook, had been wrestling with the practical and emotional challenges related to the acquisition of the independent publisher we had both been with for decades. At the time, we’d both imagined we would continue on under the new ownership, given our dedication to the brand we had built together over many years alongside the publisher and company founder.
When it became clear that wasn’t going to be possible, I’d thought I’d leave publishing and look elsewhere to further my career. But then, people began reaching out, asking for publishing help and guidance. It was gratifying, of course, to be considered a source of knowledge, but as I eagerly replied to contacts and accepted projects, it was also an indicator that my interest in the craft was, as famously stated in a favorite Monty Python film, “not dead.”
When Martha determined that she, too, would not be continuing in her role with our previous company, but that she was not ready to leave the industry altogether, we contemplated whether it might be finally time to do something we’d talked about for years: start our own business providing publishing services to the capable and ambitious independent authors we’d watched evolve as traditional publishing changed and the means of marketing and selling products became ever more accessible. We knew that just because self-publishing and social media is now universally available, making it indeed possible for anyone to have a book in print and tell people about it, didn’t mean that independent authors were making informed choices or ending up with a quality product they could be proud to share with the world. We thought we could help change that, giving those who wished to self-publish a source of action and information that wasn’t predatory in nature—one that aimed to advise based on our experience how best to bring their book vision to life and give them something beautiful to put on the shelf, when all was said and done.
Our goal at Dirt Roads LLC is to give clients a beautiful, quality result at the end of their book journey. Photo by Jayson Benoit
These factors formed the early impetus behind Dirt Roads LLC, and now, one year later, we have two finished books entering the market, two at the printer, and a full roster in various stages of production, scheduled through the middle of next year. We have clients from all genres writing about a number of subjects. We have had the opportunity to meet experts in their fields, adventurers, storytellers, and poets. We have helped individuals secure contracts with traditional publishers and hybrid publishers, and we’ve worked with others to find agent representation. We are doing the research and writing for a commissioned project of depth and complexity, and we have provided consultation and design and editorial services à la carte.
Most importantly, however, is we have continued to have human contact with individuals from all over the world—individuals with unique ideas and talents and tales to tell. We have heard their reasons for writing a book, and like them, we value what they wish to share. It is invigorating to learn of others’ lives, of the hills they’ve climbed, the horses they’ve fallen off, the skills they’ve learned. It gives me hope in an unhopeful world. It reminds me to broaden my view of what may be, and may not be, important in a human lifetime. And it reassures me that from its very beginnings, the creation of a book forms connections between us. Like the authors I worked with for many years in traditional publishing, by the time a book goes to print, our independent author clients feel like friends and family.
So, yes, to me, making books is still absolutely worth it.
And I totally look forward to repeating this proclamation next year.
—Rebecca