Author’s foreword and acknowledgements

This book began in 1989, as a delegate handout for marketing courses being offered by the Publishing Training Centre at Book House in London, but quickly became a compendium of things I wished I had known when I began in the industry. I kept writing and soon had a contents list and several chapters of a book, which Kogan Page promptly agreed to publish. The deadline was provided by pregnancy and our daughter Harriet (named after Dorothy L. Sayers’ heroine) timed her arrival perfectly. I completed the manuscript 4 days before she was born. As she arrived on a Friday, I framed – and hung on her wall – the front cover of the edition of The Bookseller that carried her date of birth (and there it stayed until adolescence meant all parental choices were reconsidered).

My guiding principle from the start was to include everything I would like to have known when I began work as a publisher; to set down a checklist of possible types of marketing activity that should be considered whatever the format or subject area of the list being promoted. In those days marketing staff were relatively new arrivals at the boardroom table (publishing houses had long had departments of Publicity and Sales, but not Marketing), and having spent a lot of time reinventing the wheel, finding out how to do things for which it turned out there were already established processes – just not generally known ones – it was pleasing to see it all set down in print. Given the enormous output of the publishing industry, it’s been an ongoing irony that it has in general reflected so little on itself.

The launch of the book was timely, as it coincided with the wider establishment of Publishing Studies within universities. The book was quickly adopted by a range of such courses being offered within higher education, one of which I cofounded at Kingston University in 2006, with others now established throughout the world. Mind you, your work becoming a set book, and in the process achieving the status of a proper noun, means you are quoted in student essays and research projects – and therefore widely assumed to be dead.

The book went on to be widely translated – rights to 15 different language editions have been sold – and this new edition has been consciously written as an international guide. I am convinced that the same problems and issues face publishers wherever they are located.

I have updated the book at regular intervals (this is the fifth edition, sixth if you count a reprint with revisions in 1993) but probably more has happened in the past 5 years than in the previous 25, or some would say previous 250+. But at times of great change it’s worth slowing down, isolating the theory behind practice and looking back for guidance on how previous generations solved problems – rather than just focusing on the dazzling range of options ahead.

For example, just because social media makes it possible to communicate within seconds, does not mean that we routinely should; there is a big difference between gaining ‘attention’ and ‘approval’, and communicating without thinking risks undermining your overall brand. I maintain that the principles of direct marketing remain a really solid basis for thinking about effective communication with a market in general, whether online or in person (think about the market and the problems or needs they have before you do anything; consider the brand you are trying to communicate and what you want them to do as a result of hearing from you; test your hunches before you commit to widespread rollout). Along similar lines, self-publishing is not necessarily a shortcut to the effective communication of content – the processes that exist for making content instantly available do not automatically ensure that it is easy to read. Self-publishing needs all the same stages as those required in the more conventional management of materials. If these are well handled, the outputs can be indistinguishable from those of the traditional industry, but much of the enthusiasm expressed for an unmediated route to readers reveals how poorly the value traditional publishers add to the process of making content available has been understood. If the outputs are to be replicated, and the reader’s time valued, then similar systems need to be put in place, however they are resourced. An understanding of the value added by publishers, and how this is achieved, is vital if the industry is to avoid being sidelined as a useful, indeed admirable – but otherwise dispensable – process; managed by experts and studied in evening classes, perhaps like calligraphy.

Another interesting aspect of the publishing world today is the blurring of roles – the former distinct camps of agents, publishers, booksellers and authors, through whose sequential hands content travelled, are now variously combined. All are now actively involved in the publishing process; sometimes in combination, sometimes not. But whether or not a publishing journey is still mediated through all these stages, or takes place at its most direct (from author to reader), clear communication is vital. And when, as so often happens today, marketing copy is repeatedly forwarded from one group of stakeholders to the next, ensuring the words effectively represent the product or service at the centre of it all is of vital importance. Personally, when I have no other way of judging the accuracy of a claim that new content should have my attention, I generally rely on my speedy assessment of the literacy of the person writing the description – so long-established skills such as effective copywriting are still hugely important.

During my time in publishing, the industry has of course changed, and so has the significance of marketing – or perhaps the growing significance of marketing has been a key driver of change. Marketing has moved from being an area accepted slightly grudgingly, and definitely endowed with much less prestige than editorial, to becoming a central part of the publishing process – significantly today many chief executives of publishing companies come from a marketing background.

Along the way marketing has been variously redefined and reshaped, sometimes oversimplified and sometimes overcomplicated. It’s also regularly inspired, providing the dynamic language of publishing’s fast-developing future. As Charlie Redmayne, chief executive officer of HarperCollins UK, told the FutureBook Conference in November 2013:

In a world where content is only discovered in two ways (by people looking for it or people recommending it), the core marketing skills can be reduced to just two: knowing how to manipulate search and understanding how to use social media.

But this beguilingly simple statement turned out to be based on a well-built scaffold of marketing theory and extensive practice.

Of course the best way to get to grips with both search and social media is to look at the data: what do people search for? When? Which posts or tweets get the most likes or shares? What factors influence that?1

Redmayne, and the conference as a whole, placed a huge emphasis on collecting and using customer data, whether as part of what marketing activity to undertake, when to target people or how to set prices. The idea was posed that prices too should be based on data and that free could be a realistic permanent model for some books/content, as part of building a customer base to whom you can then sell other content.²

Peel back the radical language and a series of strong marketing principles emerge: the importance of identifying and segmenting markets; studying their operation; understanding the external and internal influencing factors and hence establishing which marketing strategies are most likely to be successful; which combination of the promotional mix is likely to work and which positioning statement has most effect. And then how to build on this growing understanding with future planned activity.

I hope to follow a similar pattern: to build a firm structure based on an appreciation of marketing theory and practice, within an exploration of both societal and industrial context, which can then support the development of subsequent creative and speculative deconstruction; in the same way that those learning a musical instrument must learn the basics before they improvise.

Publishing has traditionally been rather averse to marketing theory, but with an increasing stream of those who have taken up Publishing Studies at a university entering the industry, who have in the process been required to engage with the principles of marketing, analysis and critical thinking, it’s a sound place to begin. Innovation and radical thinking are not only firmly on the marketing agenda, they are also essential to the industry’s future. If all we teach the next generation is how to replicate what has been done in the past, we are making it more difficult for them to approach the issues we are grappling with right now – and they will go on to face on their own.

I am delighted this book continues to fill a need. Its updating has relied heavily on various friends and colleagues who have kindly commented on sections. In particular I would like to thank Ishfaq Ahmad, David Aldulaimi, Wendy Allen, Fiona Allison, Deborah Anderson, Veronica Angel, Florence Ascoli, Peter Ashman, Laura Austin, Oscar Balla, Alberto Barraclough, Michael Bartlett, Jacqui Bass, Sarah Baxter, John Beale, Kit Berry, Carole Blake, Johnnie Boden, Steve Bohme, Elaine Boorman, Susannah Bowen, Susan Brent, Hugh Bulford, Graham Bulpitt, James Carey, Rowena Carey, Steve Carey, Irene Chalmers, Tom Chalmers, Jill Chapman, John Cheshire, Jane Cholmeley, Sheila Christie, Chris Chrystal, Christian Ciullo, Lisa Ciullo, Desmond Clarke, Genevieve Clarke, Chris Cleave, Mark Coker, Mike Coleman, Tracey Cooke, Wendy Cope, Debbie Cox, Sarah Crawford, Robert Creffield, Bill Crofts, Gill Cronin, Justine Crowe, Susan Curran, Susan Curtis-Kogakovic, Cathy Dale, Claire Daly, John Davey, Roy Davey, John Davies, Simone Davies, Eela Devani, Michael de Souza, Anne Dolamore, Nigel Dollin, Cathy Douglas, Philip Downer, John Downham, Margaret Drabble, Richard Duguid, Nancy Dull, David Dutton, Linda Ellery, James Ellor, Mike Esplen, Anna Faherty, Lorraine Fanin, Anne Fanning, Sue Farmer, Tim Farmiloe, Jon Finch, Frank Fishwick, Lindsay Fraser, Clare Freda, Margaret French, Martha Fumagalli, Anna Ganley, Alex Gibson, Philip Giorgi, Tim Godfray, Dave Golding, Hattie Gordon, Gillian Green, Stephen Hancocks, Holly Hardy, Lizzie Harper, Brian Harper-Lewis, Helen Hart, Per Henningsgaard, Jo Henry, Alan Hill, Jean Hindmarch, Caroline Hird, Talitha Hitchcock, Clare Hodder, Heather Holden-Brown, Steve Holland, Barbara Horn, Alastair Horne, Jo Howard-Brown, Kelly Howe, Robert Howells, Jeanette Hull, Matthew Hunt, Matthew Huntley, John and Kate Hybert, Louis Ingram, Amy Irvine, Ian Jacobs, Jan Jacobs, Liz James, Felicity Jenkins, Ram Jeyaratnam, Paula Johnson, Robert Johnson, Emrys Jones, Nicholas Jones, Paul Jones, Sue Jones, Irene Jordan, Lucy Juckes, Sarah Juckes, Simon Juden, Kavitasagary Karunasaagarar, Elizabeth Katay, Louise Kaye, Barrie Kempthorne, Jo Kennedy, Ruth Killick, Rob Langley, Clive Leatherdale, Tom Lee, Helen Leech, Anna Lewis, David Lindley, June Lines, Simon Littlewood, Tammy Livermore, Catherine Lockerbie, Katy Loffman, Wendy Lomax, Gian Lombardo, Dot Lubianska, Tory Lyne-Purkis, Simon McArt, Christine McAuley, Finbarr McCabe, James McCall, Jo McCrum, Ben McDaniel, Hamish McGibbon, Sheila McGlassen, Peter McKay, Robert McKay, Miranda McKearney, Ursula Mackenzie, Sally McKinnel, Sarah McNally, Hilary Mantel, Nicholas Masucci, Jane Mays, Alice Meadows, David Meerman Scott, John Merriman, Peter and Jean Milford, Sue Miller, Roger Millington, Godfrey M’Kandawire, Richard Mollet, Craig Mollison, Carol Monyios, Tony Mulliken, Katherine Naish, Mary Lou Nash, Victoria Nash, Mary Nettlefold, Kingsley Norton, Alice Noyes, Orna O’Brien, Pamela Oldfield, Chris Oliver, Ayo Onatade, Bob Osborne, Stephen Page, Ben Palmer, Jessica Palmer, Keith Palmer, John Park, James Parker, Madeleine Parkyn, Dharm Patel, Janette Paterson, Jeremy Paxman, John Peacock, Jane Pembroke, Samantha Perkins, Brian Perman, Anton Pfeiler, Jerome Phalippou, Angus Phillips, Chris Phillips, Kate Pool, Jane Potter, Jenny Powell, Alison Price, Joanna Prior, John Purefoy, Nicholas Purser, Margaret Radbourne, Sue Ramin, Deborah Rea, Charlie Redmayne, Jon Reed, Sarah Rees Brennan, James Rennoldson, Kimberley Reynolds, Joel Rickett, Jennifer Rigby, Julian Rivers, David Roche, Dieter Roeschel, David Rogers, Joan Rutherford, Katie Sadler, Julia Sandford-Cooke, Helen Savill, Pippa Scoones, Gerald Scott, Allan Shanks, Mo Siewcharran, Zach Simmons, Barbara Singh, Susan Skipwith, Liz Small, Alan Smith, Dag Smith, Sarah Smyth, Nicola Solomon, Clare Somerville, Jane Spiers, Dominic Steinitz, Jackie Steinitz, Jillian Stewart, Andrew Sullivan, Laura Summers, Jane Tatam, Graham Taylor, Ian Taylor, David Teale, Mark Thwaite, Jonathan Tilston, Sara Tricker, Katherine Tozeland, Richard Tudor, Susan Turret, Jo van der Borgh, Sharan Wadhwani, Mark Waite, John Walsh, Philip Walters, David Walton, Hilary Wason, Judith Watts, Fay Weldon, Andrew Welham, Andrea Whiting, Laura Whitton, Louise Willder, Tom Williams, Howard Willows, Kate Wilson, John Winkler, Wendy Woodley, Mark Wray and Martin Wyn-Jones.

With this fifth edition the book moves to new publishers, joining the distinguished Publishing Studies list of Routledge, part of the Taylor & Francis Group, and particular thanks are due to Niall Kennedy, Eleanor Pike, Andrew Watts, Stacey Carter, Eric Rose, Michael King and Petra Bryce. I would, however, like to thank its previous guardians, Kogan Page, as well as my colleagues at Kingston University and my family who have been encouraging and patient throughout.

I would particularly like to thank Michael J. Baker, Professor Emeritus of Marketing at Strathclyde University who has written the foreword to this latest edition. Asking him to fulfil this role completed a very satisfying circle for me. The first edition of this book was written by a graduate of Mediaeval History and Fine Arts, whose understanding of marketing was based on extensive practice and (largely his) textbooks. As my alma mater at that time lacked a Department of Marketing, I boldly wrote to him at the University of Strathclyde, asking if he could recommend a colleague who might be willing to cast an eye over my material, to ensure I had not made any obvious errors. I can only admire the immense generosity with which he speedily wrote back, taking on the task himself and offering insightful feedback – and of course, in the process, affirmation. Given that I was not at the time working at a university, let alone his, this was unexpected – but entirely consistent with his determination to develop the discipline he has done so much to build. As you can imagine, I was delighted when he agreed to write the foreword to this edition.

Today the field of Publishing Studies is the new kid on the academic block, and I hope my approach to its development, as a valid way of enriching our understanding of processes and practice, can be similarly outward-looking and encouraging.

The final note of thanks should however go to my eldest son Alasdair for his proofreading and ironic commentary – along with a reminder that you really can start a sentence with ‘and’ (see Genesis chapter 2).

Notes

1  Charlie Redmayne, speaking at FutureBook Conference, 2013.

2  Anna Faherty, senior lecturer, MA Publishing, Kingston University, reporting on FutureBook Conference, 2013.