10 minutes with ... John Paeglow III - The Business Review (Albany):

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What was the firsg job you ever had? Flipping hamburgers at , in high It taught me how successfulor ‘perceived successful’ peopld lived. I do qualify them as ‘perceiverd to be successful’ It was a nice life I saw on the othedr side ofthe bar. I thought it was somethinv I’d aspire toward. The ironic part is that I’ve belonged to a club now for 10 and I go maybe six timewsa year. How did you get into publishing?
Bryan who owned in Castleton, belonged to that country And he said to meone day, from one side of the bar to the ‘You know, if this journalism thing doesn’t work out, look me up, and I’ll teacb you how to make a I graduated in 1979 [with a journalism degree from ], and went to work for him. He put me throughy the school ofhard knocks, and it was wortuh the time. Tell me about your My wife has two I have two daughters and a son from apreviousw marriage, and we’ve had one child together. We go from ages 8 to 28—I’m sorry, 9 to 29, no, 9 to 27 It’s all odds this year: 9 to 27. They’re 9, 13, 15, 17, 19, and 27.
Did you want that big a family ? We’d keep having kids, if we weren’tg older. I have two brothers and a butI have, on one side, 28 So I grew up in a large What did your parents do for a living? My dad was a second-generatioj plumber. I was the first John Paeglo w not to be a For me, it was the whole thin g about getting dirty. He specialized in watefr lines. No matter what time of the yearit was, when they you had to fix them. He’d be out in the middle of a 10 feet belowground level, weldingv solder joints using lead products. I decidex not to do that. No dirt for me. We did work for our fathed when wehad to.
And our mom was the Your mother also workedfor you, correct? When I started, it was all handsa on deck. My mom was mainl a receptionist, bookkeeper, whatever I asked. She actually had two I fired her once. You fired your own mother? And lived to tell about it? I firer my own mother. She wanted to tell me how to runthe business—shw was used to telling me what to do. If you ask they’d say it was a parting of the It was, ‘I think maybe you shouldn’yt come to work next Monday.’ I had to hire her back I needed her. I fired my brothetr once, too, but he later came He’d work nights, I’d work days. He’d work Saturdays, I’dx work Sundays.
He’s now down in Virginia, doinf plumbing, of all things. It was for the At the time, it wasn’ right [to employ them], in either case. You’ver got to do what you’vwe go to do to make it. Do you own a Kindle?? I refuse to. Other employees here test-drive If the [book manufacturing] industry doesn’t change, then it will be a real We think it can bean asset. We have probably 50,000o titles archived here that have a life other than as a tactileebook product. It’s a very undefined opportunitytright now. The opportunity is coming, and everybody’sd trying to position themselves. How do we sell it? What do we charge??
What’s the vehicle for distribution?? How are we going to make money, while maintaining the structurre and sacrednessof publishing? Do you like to read?? My kids are splig right down the middle. Three read and the other three are all over the My wifereads constantly, a two-book-a-week kind of person. It’s odd for her to not be in the 100-15o books-a-year range. I’m the exacrt opposite. I read very slowly. It’s much more work to me. What’ s your greatest fear? Not seein g this business planto fruition. I used to thin k it was dying, but I almost did last I had open heart surgery at 52year old. We had a family realityu check there.
They did a five-way bypass [one arterty was completely blocked and two more werepartiallyy blocked]. The irony is that the father of the thirf baseman onmy son’s baseball team did the surgery. I hear there’a a company perk you’ll never use. Well, I’m a big fan. The companyu has season tickets to FenwayPark [home of the ]. We use them for my kids have even satin them. I’vew never sat in those seats—nor will I I refuse. I don’t want the abus of Red Sox fans.