SPI Visits Dey Street Books, Where Culture Comes to Live

Stepping into HarperCollins’s Dey Street imprint offices on June 12th, every SPI student was struck with a powerful feeling of "this could be my life." As the elevator doors slid open, we were greeted with rows of books set behind shiny glass, representing generations of influential titles. We were immediately settled into a large conference room, where the publisher and editors sat close and leaned in, inviting us to feel comfortable in their space. This approach is one way that Publisher Carrie Thornton evokes powerful narratives from her authors, establishing the imprint’s reputation for publishing groundbreaking memoirs. The goal is for every Dey Street title to reflect their mission statement: “Dey Street, where culture comes to live.

So, how do they do it? Dey Street employs a unique approach to traditional publishing. With a smaller list of about twenty-five books per year, the imprint creates an intimate and trusting environment between the authors and the creative team. They embrace the individuality of the writer, aiming to publish not just a successful celebrity memoir, but a book that deserves to exist due to the value of its content. Of course, I didn’t know any of this when I signed up to visit Dey Street. All I knew was that Dey Street had published one of the best books I have read, Dave Grohl’s The Storyteller. Not only for superfans of Foo Fighters, The Storyteller is for parents, children, musicians, artists, those experiencing grief, and those who are simply living for the first time. It’s a collection of lessons, wrapped up in a neat little package and advertised as a singer’s memoir, but it offers so much more. After meeting the team at Dey Street, there was no doubt in my mind that they play an absolutely pivotal role in extracting stories like these from their authors, and that this sentiment isn’t simply a one-off found in Grohl’s memoir. Instead, Dey Street has crafted a formula to consistently publish meaningful memoirs, and they’re dominating the space.

In the conference room, we were all handed a copy of The House of Hidden Meanings by RuPaul, our case study for the session. Then, Carrie introduced us to her team–Senior Director of Marketing Allison Carney, Editor Anna Montague, and Assistant Editor Drew Henry–and dove right in, detailing the imprint’s goal: “turning amazing people into bestselling authors.”

For RuPaul, this process looked a little different. Having published two prior books, the team was challenged with not only the creation of his third, but also the task of evoking a powerful and fresh narrative. Carrie, Drew, and Anna realized they had to dive deeply into RuPaul’s as-yet-unshared past, stripping him bare through prose and never-before-seen pictures. In the end, RuPaul’s book was a success because he was “willing to go there.” The Dey Street team can tell, right off the bat, who will go there and who won’t– and they’re only interested in the ones who will.

Carrie attributes the imprint’s success to a collaborative environment and the ability to recognize when it is time to pivot and regroup or make choices that serve the greater good of the vision. The strength of the author combined with the strength of the team leads to memoirs that surprise, reveal vulnerabilities, and can change the public perception of their authors. Clearly, this strategy is working as Dey Street has already published five New York Times Bestsellers this year.

When asked, “why celebrity memoirs?” Carrie’s answer was simple: “It is incredible to be part of the cultural conversation.”

Jessica Braatz is a current senior at the University of Florida and former student of the NYU Summer Publishing Institute. She works as a columnist for The Canine Chronicle and is an avid reader, editor, and journal typesetter. She hopes to work in Young Adult editorial to ensure that teens of all backgrounds see themselves represented in literature.