Orange Hat’s Next Chapter: How Did We Get Here?

Before it became a reality, we joked about it. “You know, when we own a publishing company,” I said to my wife Lauren, “we can finally publish that book we want to write on gift giving.” “And that book about Toby and Lewis [our cats]. ‘Toby, the little cat who thought he was a big cat, and Lewis, the big cat who thought he was a little cat.'” “Yes! With a cover image of Lewis sitting in a tiny box.” 

That was in the two weeks following a meeting over coffee to discuss me purchasing Orange Hat. Our founder Shannon Ishizaki proposed the transition to me after I emailed her to say I was looking for new opportunities and asking if she knew anyone who was hiring. “Seriously, how about taking over my publishing company?” 

My answer at first was “No” followed by several ellipses and question marks and at least one thinking face emoji. But of course, we needed to meet for coffee. I mean, this was Orange Hat we were talking about. Orange Hat, with whom I’d worked with to publish a couple of essay collections with content from a newsletter at the job I was looking to leave. Orange Hat, with whom I’d talked about support for more academic publishing. Orange Hat, whose office I’d visited multiple times, laughing and joking about books. Orange Hat, for whom I’d written the announcement sharing the news that that office was closing and that “work from home” was the new norm. 

So Shannon and I sat down for coffee on March 28, 2024. I said, “Tell me how you see this business, and then I’ll tell you how I see this business, and we’ll see if we have the same answer.” 

We did. 

It’s all about relationships. 

And that’s where my mind kept going when joking with Lauren about what things would be like when we owned a publishing company. For every silly idea we had, there were a dozen authors who had dreams come true when publishing with Orange Hat. It was those authors Shannon thought about when trying to figure out her best next step and realizing it was something outside of publishing. Outside of the company she had founded and grown into Wisconsin’s largest indie book publisher over 13 years in business. Those relationships could now be mine to treasure, nurture, and support. Those dreams could be what I got to build a professional life around. A life of work among books and authors. Now that’s a good life. 

In the two weeks following that coffee meeting, our jokes turned to serious conversation about what this opportunity would mean for my professional life and for our family. And in the end—though it seemed way outside of our comfort zone—the answer was clear: This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. “I’m all in,” I wrote to Shannon and our senior editor Lauren Blue. “Let’s do this.” 

We spent a lot of time strategizing how the transition would happen. Who needed to know? How did we want to tell them? How could we make sure no authors would feel they weren’t going to be cared for anymore? We navigated those waters, put a plan in place, and made July 1 our official transition date. 

In a lot of ways, I still can’t believe I’m here, the owner and editor-in-chief of Orange Hat Publishing! It’s like a dream coming true when you never knew you had the dream in the first place. So that’s how we got here. But what’s next for Orange Hat? What does this next chapter look like? I’ll explore that in the next post in this short series.