Education

Virginia Tech

B.S., Finance

1992

Podcasts

27:13

192: What It’s Like to Start an Independent Book Publishing Company w/ Naren Aryal, Mascot Books [Main T4C episode]

Naren Aryal co-founded Mascot Books in 2003 with a single self-published book about a collegiate mascot and zero experience in the publishing industry. When that book took off he was more than happy to quit his job as a corporate attorney and dive headfirst into the dynamic world of books...

11:01

95: How to Break Into Independent Publishing w/ Naren Aryal, Mascot Books, CEO & Publisher [Espresso Shots]

Career Path

Interview Highlights

“I particularly enjoy working with authors that are meticulous when it comes to their content but also very mindful of the marketing end of things.”

Best Career Advice

“Show up to work every day, whether you had a good day yesterday or a bad day yesterday. It’s important that you show up every day and do the work.”

Career Challenge

“We had done great at Sam’s Club and Costco, and we got our inventory to those big boxes through a distributor. And that distributor ended up filing for bankruptcy. We had just exceeded $1 million in gross sales, and this distributor went under owing us $400,000. So it was devastating.”

Skills

Publishing, Illustrations, Public Relations, Graphic Design, Creative Writing, Ebooks, Character Animation, Storyboarding, Watercolor, Art, Blogging, InDesign, Adobe Creative Suite, Social Networking, Books

Professional Interests

Kara Goldin, Jane Fraser, Kat Cole, Harvard Business Review, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, The CFRS – Canadian Football Research Society, PMIWDC Chantilly Community, Amazon Vendor Central Group (AVCG), Virginia Tech