#CorporateCulture

Unbossers supports new book by unbossed writer Marnix Peeters

Komt een priester bij Beëlzebub

Marnix Peeters’ new novel was published on Sept. 22. The Belgian author is publishing “A priest meets Beëlzebub” with Pottwall Publishers, his own publishing initiative. Unbossers joins forces with Peeters because he is an unbossed role-model fighting bureaucracy in the publishing business.

We don’t usually associate literature with entrepreneurship, but author Marnix Peeters is living proof of the contrary. He is even publishing his latest book with a new business model. “Many writers still like to cherish that image of the pained, lonely genius in the attic room,” it sounds stern.

“A priest meets Beëlzebub” is Marnix Peeters’ twelfth novel. The author, known for his humorous and dashing style, is deliberately self-publishing the book and looking for partners who share his vision.

Bureaucracy in the writing business

Marnix is frustrated with the lack of entrepreneurship in ‘his’ industry: ‘The literary world is destroying itself’, he claims. The system of subsidies, the fact that prestige seems to be more important than value-creation, the cynicism for entrepreneurial people, etc. These are all symptoms of a bureaucratic model.

The publishing business is probably the only industry in which the main supplier of the product gets the smallest share (about 1.8 euros gross per book), while the other bureaucratic institutions in the process – publisher, bookstore, Central Bookstore – are cashing more or less smiling.

Unbossed Role Model

Nick Van Langendonck, driving force of Unbossers: “When Marnix Peeters contacted us with the question of working together, we were immediately enthusiastic. Unbossers’ mission is to stimulate entrepreneurship in teams and companies. As a writer who also self-publishes, Peeters is an illustration of someone who rolls up his sleeves, is entrepreneurial and innovative within his profession. That is consistent with the can-do mentality that everyone should adopt in the 21st century.”

Marnix takes personal responsibility for what he does. He shortens the value chain and closes the gap with the customer. He creates an ecosystem of partners and releases his book because there is a proven potential to be profitable. In short: he combines the pursuit for business success with care for the creative process. It doesn’t get more unbossed than that.

Marnix Peeters shares that conviction: “We are looking for partners who also look at the world in their own  idiosyncratic way, and Unbossers fits that picture perfectly. They bring a breath of fresh air to organizations that are open to change, just as Pottwal Publishers does in the publishing world.”

In ‘A priest meets Beëlzebub’, the insane priest Ambrosius Pelkmans goes to hell after a life of fornication and abuse. There he meets Beelzebub, the devil. Hell looks completely different than he expected.