Event Information

Publishing for impact, or where readers and reach (not profit) are the point

Date: 28 April 2009   Drinks: 18:00   Talk Starts: 19:00 OPuS Event

Review - Post Event

“Publishing has a purpose beyond the making of money.” This was the phrase from veteran publisher Robert Molteno (ZED and SOAS) that summed up the contributions from all six speakers at the OPuS evening event on 28 April 2009. Ably chaired by Helen Moreno (Oxfam, and Brookes MA Publishing graduate) the meeting started at 6.00, with drinks and networking: the speakers started at 7.00, and the session closed exactly at 9.00.

Guy Bentham from The Commonwealth Secretariat spoke about the pleasures (and sometimes pain) of ‘doing publishing’ in an organisation that is not a publisher. “We set out to do what we do with quality and professionalism, and we [the publishing people] are probably the only people who really appreciate and understand what we do. I spend a lot of my time asking questions of colleagues in the Secretariat: ‘What are you trying to achieve? Who are you trying to reach? With what purpose? Why a book?’.” Through its publishing, the Secretariat is reinforcing a set of brand values in the wider world: books carry status and have very high cultural value. He also stated, in response to a general question, “There is a joy in being challenged by a market of ideas – of contributing to stimulating debate. And of being answerable to your readers.”

Anne Beech from Pluto Press sees professionalism as key to her view of publishing for impact. “Pluto is not a not-for-profit publisher. The profit we make is our investment in the next season’s list, so we have to be good at what we do. I want to be able to pay our staff properly, and to treat our authors as professionally as any multinational.” Anne sees Pluto as growing new voices, as “a greenhouse for new writers, new promotion approaches, new ways or reaching new readers”. She sees the electronic media offering direct access to a global audience – of course with no discount given on sales so it makes business sense as well as reaching new audiences. Pluto also undertakes publishing with partner organisations, for example civil society organisations and social change groups, to make sure that books that matter get to market. “We are interested in exploring new models for publishing, new authors, new distribution channels - with the new social and political universe to which we publish. But we know we will lose authors we have nurtured to the multinationals – but we try to stay friends with them.” In answer to a question from the audience, Ann explained how she sees Pluto’s working model, “We generate our own funds, and so we can maintain our integrity and purpose.”

Mary Jay the CEO of African Books Collective, described how ABC developed into an international distribution and sales operation for its 116 member publishers, handling a current live list of over 1500 titles. “ABC spent seventeen years in non-profit, but all the time there was the question hanging over the organisation: how can we make this a sustainable operation, not needing external donor funding.” As donor funding became more difficult to secure, because of a combination of focus on the Millennium Development Goals, and a general lack of interest by donors in cultural issues, the question became more and more pressing. ABC now has a commercial income flow, from a largely digital model, which is designed to be self-sustaining. One of the major markets for ABC publishers is in academic libraries worldwide, and it was through a partnership with Lightning Source that ABC was able to unleash the commercial power of its very eclectic backlist. By 2006 there were 400 ABC titles available through Print on Demand (PoD) and as a trial 50 were made available through the digital wholesale channels offered by Lightning Source. By the start of 2007, 1300 titles were digitised and available as PoD. ABC saw a 120% increase in sales demand through PoD, and a 15% increase in sales through the wholesale channels. Suddenly, those backlist titles that sat as dues until a viable print order could be accumulated could be turned into cash immediately. As PoD titles there are no returns, all sales are on a pro-forma basis, there is little stockholding and warehousing costs and, with the increased digital activity, internet rankings for titles increased. ABC also licensed titles to various Google programmes, which also increase visibility. ABC expects to be wholly self-sustaining by 2010, with its cultural mission (providing African publishers with a route to a global market) intact.

Robert Molteno, with many years experience in the world of mission driven publishing that has to pay its way, talked about publishing where the objective was “more than the bottom line”, but where the bottom line had a proper place in the universe. Robert Molteno’s “purpose beyond the making of money” is the same as Mary Jay’s “cultural mission”, as Anne Beech’s “fundraising for ideas”, and as Guy Bentham’s “brand values”. There are three dimensions to publishing: the technical; the financial; and the values and principles that underpin the activity. This last is about a commitment to the flow of ideas – something that is beyond the sale of the product (which comes from the first two dimensions). He argued that publishers should ask, “What arrangements do we need to make to facilitate this flow of ideas across boundaries – boundaries that are often more than just political, and include boundaries of language, of ideas, of culture, of history.” And he then went on to outline three principles that should inform such arrangements. The first: a commitment to the role of publishing in society, a commitment to change and to sharing ideas. Knowledge is more than a one-way transmission from the North to the South. It needs to be a two-way flow – as there is a responsibility to give space to disparate voices and experiences, to Southern voices and to the intellectual movements of the South. Fiction publishers are generally better at this than their academic counterparts. The second: a commitment to a real two-way flow – of ideas, of skills, of capacity, of books, or intellectual property. Sounds easy written like this: in practice it’s difficult and needs hard work, not least because Southern voices tend to be new voices, and publishing knows that new writers are much more difficult to sell. The third: sensitivity to the specific problems of southern partners in the arrangement: their need for local rootedness and authenticity, against the northern partner’s need for more general/universal/generic products. All will agree that inter-publisher co-operation is a good thing. The issue is to make sure that it is good for all co-operators, and to strive to make it better and better for all parties. It’s hard work, it’s often difficult, but it is very worthwhile.

Mohamed Umar spoke the issues around “selling into the South”, which can sound like a very one-way relationship. But the reality is much more complex. You have a complex pack of tools to work with: exchange; barter; local licensing; payment in copies; discounts; credit periods; currency variations and exchange fluctuations; and translation to reach specific markets. “Be very suspicious of big picture statements like ‘the Arab-world market does such and such’, when it is actually a jigsaw of small national markets which share a writing system. The same book will sell for US$15 in Saudi Arabia or Bahrain and US$3.00 in Egypt: the skill is in knowing as much as you can about each national market, and in selecting your partners for their local knowledge.

Finally Firoze Manji spoke passionately about means and ends. Fahamu has a mission to share information on human rights and civil society in Africa. The end is not to be a publisher, but it has ended up as a publisher of print materials. Fahamu has made a reverse journey from most of the rest of the publishing world: it has moved from the virtual, digital, online world to the physical, print world. Fahamu has learned that technology exacerbates and amplifies social divisions, and print is a (relatively) mature technology so has less negative impact (or at least has a more transparent and obvious impact) on social divisions. “Our aim is to distribute content, but to bias it – to make it focussed on the needs of activists and human rights people and organisations in Africa. And to give a platform and a voice to people in Africa, to give a voice to people trying to determine their own future, so they can use Fahamu output to achieve their own ends. My purpose is not to be a publisher. We publish content, but I am not a publisher.”

The session has stimulated a really big question on the OPuS website from a member of the audience. “Can the speakers tell us exactly how they measure and assess their impact beyond ‘the bottom line’?” This is maybe the subject for another session, and the question has been passed to the speakers for their replies, which we will include here.

Robert Cornford

Description

Speakers

Firoze Manji — Firoze Manji, a Kenyan, is founder director of Fahamu – Networks for Social Justice and editor of Pambazuka News. He has previously worked as Africa Programme Director for Amnesty International; Chief Executive of the Aga Khan Foundation (UK); and Regional Representative for Health Sciences in Eastern and Southern Africa for the Canadian International Development Research Centre (IDRC) based in Nairobi. He has published widely on health, social policy, human rights and political sciences, and authored a wide range of books on social justice in Africa, including on women’s rights, trade and on China’s role in Africa.

Fahamu – Networks for Social Justice is a pan African organisation with bases in Kenya, Senegal, South Africa and the UK. Fahamu seeks to support the building of progressive pan-African social movements by stimulating debate, discussion and analysis, building a culture of respect for human rights and human dignity, supporting social justice advocacy and publishing and disseminating information using both new and conventional media.

Fahamu publishes Pambazuka News, a weekly newsletter with a readership of 500,000, which is produced by a pan-African community of over 1400 citizens – academics, social activists, women's organizations, writers, artists, poets, bloggers, and commentators who together produce insightful and thoughtful analyses that make it the most innovative and influential site for social justice in Africa. Be it the recent Kenya electoral crisis, the xenophobic killings in South Africa, the electoral violence in Zimbabwe, or the growing influence of China in Africa, Pambazuka News has become the source of authentic voices of Africa's social analysts and activists. Fahamu has developed an extensive range of radio programmes in Africa. Fahamu Books (www.fahamubooks.org) was launched in 2008 as a progressive pan African publisher of analyses on critical contemporary issues facing the continent. More about the presentation Technology is an expression of social relations, and it is the powerful that decide how and for what purpose it is used. One of the central features of all technologies, including the internet and other publishing technologies, is its inherent tendency to amplify and exacerbate social differentiation. With only 4% of Africa's people having access to the internet, how do we ensure that the voice of the disenfrancised majority gets heard? How can they exert their influence so that technology serves the needs of citizens? These issues (with others) will be discussed, in the context of Fahamu's experiences in Africa.

Mohammed Umar — novelist (author of Amina)

Robert Molteno — formerly Managing Editor at Zed Publishing until he retired (after 30 years)

Mary Jay — Biographical details Mary Jay is the Chief Executive Officer of African Books Collective. She has worked for ABC since its inception in 1989; and became CEO in 1995. She is also the Secretary to the Managing Committee and Jury member of the Noma Award for Publishing in Africa, for which she has worked since 1984. She formerly worked in an African Studies publishing house, and was Deputy Editor of The African Book Publishing Record. Organisation details African Books Collective (www.africanbookscollective.com) is a social entrepreneur; its mission is inherently cultural, whilst its strategy is largely commercial. The mission is: African Books Collective, founded, owned and governed by African publishers, seeks to strengthen indigenous African publishing through collective action and to increase the visibility and accessibility of the wealth of African scholarship and culture. The strategy is to: • Work in partnership with publisher, donor and other cultural organisations in Africa and elsewhere to disseminate information and promote African publishing and book interests. • Promote, market and distribute African-published materials worldwide outside publishers’ domestic markets; and through a full range of marketing activities to increase sales of African-published books. • Draw on new technologies and evolving marketing developments, to develop existing markets and establish new markets. 116 independent African publishers from 19 African countries participate, and some 1,500 titles are marketed worldwide. Titles are largely in the English language. Michigan State University Press is ABC’s distributor in North America. In 2007, ABC restructured and moved to a largely digital model: books are produced by print-on-demand. Marketing is predominantly e-marketing, and through digital wholesale channels. The new model is designed for ABC to be self-sustaining, without donor funding. Links www.africanbookscollective.com

Anne Beech — Biographical details AB started in publishing in the early 1970s, working first for Gordon and Breach and then Penguin. Started an ill-starred (and seriously ill-advised) new publishing company called Junction Books that hit the buffers, despite some spectacular successes, a few short years later: inexperience, lack of business acumen and a dodgy financial adviser who absconded with the company’s money put paid to the venture. She then freelanced, began working with Roger van Zwanenberg in 1986 and was handily on the spot when Roger had the opportunity to acquire Pluto Press in 1987. She has been there ever since, now as Managing Director. Organisation details Pluto Press has a proud history of publishing the very best in progressive, critical thinking across politics and the social sciences. It is an independent company based in London, with a sales and marketing office in the United States and distribution throughout the world. Pluto Press has always had a radical political agenda. It was founded in 1969 as a publishing arm of International Socialism, the forerunner of the Socialist Workers Party in the UK. In 1979 it broke with this political affiliation and became truly independent. Today it publishes authors from a wide range of progressive political viewpoints. With over 550 titles in print, Pluto Press is one of the world's leading radical book publishers with more than 70 new titles produced each year. Pluto’s strengths are in the fields of politics, current affairs, international studies, Middle East studies, political theory, media studies, anthropology and development, and its list of authors is a roll call of progressive thinking and writing from Marx, Engels, Trotsky and Fanon to John Pilger, Vandana Shiva, Sheila Rowbotham and Susan George. Links www.plutobooks.com

Guy Bentham — Publications Manager in the Communications & Public Affairs Division at the Commonwealth Secretariat