By Dr. John Elcik
In publishing, marketing fees are often certain—while outcomes remain vague.
Awareness is praised. Activity is celebrated. But readership is rarely measured.
A Modest Proposal is a short, reflective essay written by a retired business-to-business marketer and longtime independent author who has lived inside this contradiction for decades.
Drawing on more than 160 published works and years of professional marketing experience, the author asks a simple but uncomfortable question:
What would book marketing look like if risk, reward, and respect were shared more fairly between authors and marketers?
This is not a how-to guide. It is not a complaint. And it is not a pitch.
Instead, the book offers a calm examination of industry norms that are often accepted without scrutiny—particularly by self-published authors with limited resources.
Written to be read in a single sitting, A Modest Proposal invites readers to pause, reflect, and reconsider assumptions about value, compensation, and success in the modern publishing ecosystem.
A continuing conversation for readers is available at penodyssey.com/modest.