Independent publisher The Experiment took its first bestseller, Forks Over Knives: The Plant-Based Way to Health, from concept to publication in four months. President and publisher of The Experiment, Matthew Lore, said the idea for the book, which is a companion to the new documentary Forks Over Knives and champions a plant-based diet, came when he met with Gene Stone, the book's eventual author in March, and the documentary itself was brought up. The film's executive producer had been in touch with Stone about self-publishing a companion book in time for the documentary's theatrical release. Instead, they licensed the worldwide book rights and Stone began writing the book, while a crew began assembling the book's 125 recipes.
"We fast-tracked everything," said Lore. "We had a complete manuscript by early May; it was copy-edited, designed and typset, proofread, indexed, and ultimately printed on accelerated schedules." Workman, The Experiment's distributor, began soliciting orders immediately after their Fall 2011 sales conference, heading into BEA, and the book was published on July 19. Since then, Forks Over Knives has gone back to press twice, and there are now 31,000 copies in print. With its succees in the U.S., Lore said he has been fielding licensing queries from publishers and subagents in numerous countries around the world.
Forks is The Experiment's 37th title. This October, look for other The Experiment titles like Vegetarian Entrees That Won't Leave You Hungry and The Whoopie Pie Book. And for a non-food--related title, The Experiment will publish The 2012 Moon Almanac, which will publish the Moon Calendar Card for its 30th year.
