AFFLUENCE¢

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INFLUENCE

41 - Sunday, January 21, 1990 - North Shore News

IN HER OWN WORDS

As Self-Counsel Press

nears its 20th

anniversary, Dougias
refiects on life in
the book business

iana Douglas, owner of
Self-Counsel Press in
North Vancouver, is a

firm believer in people’s
ability to help themselves, often
without the aid of expensive pro-
fessionals. The popularity of her
inexpensive laymen’s ‘‘how-to”’
books shows that her vision is right
on the mark. Below, Douglas
shares some of the secrets of her
success with reporter Peggy
Trendell-Whittaker.

Did she always have an en-
trepreneurial spirit? “1 guess the
seeds were always there. I’m a
Taurus, and we can be pretty
stubborn and we know what we
want out of life, so | grabbed hold
of .the opportunity (to form the
company).”

How did she enjoy running her
own book store? ‘’! found it en-
joyable because | liked the people
contact, but it was a smali store

and $ quickly outgrew the
challenge.”
On her pricing philosophy:

“We've always philosophically
wanted to keep our prices down
as low as possible to reach the
widest market so that it is a viable
alternative for people. There’s no
sense in our titles getting so ex-
pensive that we’re not a viable
alternative.”

Janua

Her favorite aspects of the
business: ‘‘Working with the
people... It's an excellent team.
Some of the people we've been
working with have been here
practically from the beginning, so
watching the cohesion and wat-
ching everyone work towards a
common goal and the fact that
people are enthusiastic and
dedicated and believe in our pro-
duct, that’s really nice. They're
here because they believe in giv-
ing viable options to people. | also
really enjoy coming up with cost
efficiencies and getting it all to
mesh.”

On the divorce guide: ‘‘The
divorce guide is obviously some-
thing we're recognized for...
People say to me, ‘Oh, you're the
divorce queen — I’ve used your
book nuiny times,” and | never
know whether to ask any more or
not.”

How does she choose which
books to publish? ‘Pretty well al!
our titles are slow but sure. Our
attitude has always been ‘Will this
make a good backlist tithe? Will
there be a need for this 20 years
down the road?’... We'd rather be
the turtle than the hare — we're
not into the real risk publishing.
But that’s not to say that we won't
jump on a trend.”

“I've always used myself in some

i

wh.

ry Cle

fpegece

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ways as a sounding board, certain-
ly for the business books because }
come trom no formal business
education and | aiways figured,
here | am, i'm cunning a small de-
veloping company, so if | need the
information and if | can under-
stand it, then there must be a
market out there. That's seemed to
work so far. I'm kind of used as
the ftowest common
denominator!”

What quality would she most like
to change about herself? ‘‘I’d
like to be able to not be as cynical
(about new ideas). It’s the big joke
around here that I'm going to be
immediately negative.... Pat is the
opposite so we've got sort of the
old grouch on one side and
Pollyanna ov the other side, and
somehow that does good because
we come up with the best decision
somewhere in the middle. People
have fun watching us. And ! think
we're having a good impact on
each other ... !’m really striving to
become more positive.”

Diana Douglas’

fin’ international,

*f local, book and drug stores.

HBS.

$548

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3251 SWEDEN LUA, RICHMOND
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PH, 270-0045

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“self-help’’

as well

books are a well-known sight §

as aN