Sunday, November 05, 2006
Bears and things

I came across this wonderful photo yesterday in a newspaper. It is a picture of the Canadian naturalist, Charlie Russell with a brown bear from Kamchatka.There's much more about bears at his website and the pictures are terrific.

While looking for the photo on the web I tried to remember the Edward Lear limerick about Kamchatka - and as is the way took a detour into Edward Lear sites and found this marvellously comprehensive one. It's corny I know but ain't the web wonderful for rediscovering forgotten treasues? Here's the limerick in question.

There was an Old Man of Kamschatka,
Who possessed a remarkable fat cur;
His gait and his waddle
Were held as a model
To all the fat dogs in Kamschatka.

Just in case I might be considered too frivolous for a Sunday here are some sobering statistics about public libraries in England between 1995/6 and 2004/5 (the latest audited year). Total gross expenditure on libraries rose from £603 million to £1021 million. The proportion spent on books fell from a miserable 11.56% to a disastrous and reprehensible 7.37%. You can find more, much more, on this issue at the Good Library Blog.

While this blog has been in existence one of the most opinionated commenters has been an independent (in business and in spirit) retailer, Clive Keeble. Essentially he gruntles on about Amazon, supermarkets, publishers' terms, unfairness, stupidity of publishers, despicability of corporates etc. It is with immense pleasure therefore that he made the following positive comment about one of our books a couple of days ago. This means more to me than any review in the Times Literary Supplement in spite of the predictable sting in the tail.

'The book is very well designed and hopefully will succeed in helping to make science an appealing subject to the younger generation : hopefully - speaking as an indie shopkeeper - the corporates will resist the temptation to heavily discount the title.'
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 Saturday, November 04, 2006
Quotes, Misquotes and Sex

I owe Philip Jones at The Bookseller Online an apology. In my blog of 31 October I joked about his piece describing Penguin's sales increase of 2% as 'outstanding'. He quite rightly corrects me:

Richard, you neglected to put quotation marks around the word 'outstanding' in the headline you reference from The Bookseller. It was Pearson's interpretation of Penguin's 2% growth, not The Bookseller's.
Still, I expect I've misquoted you in the past.
Philip
 
You could say he was being oversensitive but I know how he feels. I recently wrote the following light-hearted piece about a conversation at the Booker Prize dinner referring to Kiran Desai's Inheritance of Loss:
 
I should have known that this particular title would win when, earlier in the evening, I was asked whether Macmillan was committed to publishing literary books. I asked what is meant by a literary book. Apparently it is a work of fiction which loses money. It seemed rather an odd definition and I tried to argue that publishing companies tend to do a better job when they are solvent. In addition I'm not quite sure why literary publishing should deserve more support than, say, educational publishing in Zimbabwe. That said, of course we are committed to literary publishing and to the continued growth of Picador in all its markets - UK, USA, Australia, South Africa, India and most recently Asia. But I should not want to leave future publishers at Macmillan with an inheritance of loss whatever the definition of literature.

This was reprinted in the excellent US newsletter Publishers Lunch. Unfortunately this is what they reprinted - spot the difference:

I should have known that this particular title would win when, earlier in the evening, I was asked whether Macmillan was committed to publishing literary books. I asked what is meant by a literary book. Apparently it is a work of fiction which loses money. It seemed rather an odd definition and I tried to argue that publishing companies tend to do a better job when they are solvent. In addition I'm not quite sure why literary publishing should deserve more support than, say, educational publishing in Zimbabwe...But I should not want to leave future publishers at Macmillan with an inheritance of loss whatever the definition of literature.

I was alerted to this 'minor' piece of editing by complaints from US friends and colleagues that the piece showed my disdain for literary publishing and that this could damage our reputation with literary authors and agents. This was quite a blow given our huge commitment to publishing the best in literature and my best efforts to support these activities in deed and in word. Michael Cader, the editor of Publishers Lunch was unrepentant. I can understand his position on his freedom to edit and he pointed out that the dots showing that something had been edited out might not have shown up properly. I felt misrepresented and I still do. Boohoo. I'll get over it but hence my genuine apology to Philip.

On a more cheerful note I was reminded by this morning's Book section of The Times that this day in 1992 saw the publication of one of my better commercial decisions, Madonna's Sex. We paid an advance of $750k for UK and Commonwealth (Warner published in USA) for this book and another untitled (and still unpublished). It was essentially in print for only two days - publication day and the day we released the only reprint. The combined sales of the two printings were 360,000 at £25 and we were really tight with discounts. We launched at Books Etc in Charing Cross Road. I was scared out of my mind at the shenanigans at the New York launch where the scenes from the book were (practically) re-enacted. MPs tried to have it banned. The printer in the USA nearly lost a contract to print Bibles. My mum thought I'd have to go to jail. Paul Hamlyn thought it was all okay except the picture with the dog. What interests me is whether the second book will ever come and whether (as I jokingly predicted at the time) it will be about Madonna discovering God...

 

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 Friday, November 03, 2006
Macmillan hires new marketing director

Many years ago (July 1987 to be precise) Heinemann were all set to publish another ho-hum spy memoir by a not-very-famous spy, Peter Wright. The history of what happened next is best described in The Spycatcher Trial by the distinguished Australian lawyer (and now politician) Malcolm Turnbull. At some point (and I'm really not sure when or why) the British Prime Minister of the time, Margaret Thatcher, decided she'd like a bit of publishing limelight and appointed herself marketing director for Heinemann by trying to have the book banned.

She was a spectacular success and within weeks Spycatcher was an international bestseller. Overall I think about 4 million copies were sold. I imagine the initial estimate was for 5000 copies. It showed the power of prime ministers in marketing roles.

I was therefore particularly pleased to see that Tony Blair has decided to follow Thatcher's lead not just in economic and social policies but in supporting the book trade. He has been appointed marketing director for our latest title from Boxtree and here is a link to his first effort in the new role - about 12 minutes into the speech.

Today is the publication day of Giant Leaps, a collaboration between The Sun newspaper (this morning's typically glorious headline - 'PC gone mad - racist jelly baby farce - £1/4m black sweets trial'), the Science Museum and Boxtree. The idea is to attract more people to understand science through the use of catchy headlines supported by impeccable educational and scientific text. The book is being backed by the great and the good of science (see below) and politics as part of Britain's desire (and need?) to become the global hub for research and development and the prior requirement for a scientifically literate population.

Go for it, Tony.

 

What the
experts say

BARONESS GREENFIELD

HEAD of the Royal Institution of top scientists says: “It teaches people about science without being pious. It is highly readable – and highly look-at-able.”

SIR DAVID ATTENBOROUGH

THE broadcaster, author and naturalist says: “I read Giant Leaps from cover to cover. I found it a very innovative and exciting book.”

SIR PATRICK MOORE

THE astronomer says: “I enjoyed it immensely. It is beautifully put together and imparts a lot of knowledge in an attractive way. Above all, it is FUN.”

JON SNOW

THE newscaster says: “If only I’d had a book like this – compelling. It’s a genuine come-on to kids to log-in to science. Well done The Sun. Go to the top of the class!”

ROBERT WINSTON

THE science presenter says: “An inventive, appealing, really riveting way to depict science and technology. It will excite young people . . . and oldies like myself.”

PROF COLIN BLAKEMORE

THE Chief Exec of the Medical Research Council says: “It captures the magic of science. I hope it also captures the imagination of young people.”


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 Thursday, November 02, 2006
John Wisden and Co Ltd

The last time I wrote about the Wisden Group there were lots of negative comments from independent booksellers about the fact that Amazon was promoting and selling the Almanack at a huge discount thus making it impossible for them to compete. Of course, in the UK every retailer is able to decide what level to price at and what customer benefits it wishes to offer. The job of the publisher is to maximise sales and this year has been an absolutely outstanding year for Wisden through Amazon and through just about every retail outlet and chain we supply. Obviously winning The Ashes in 2005 helped but so did the launch of the large format edition and the brilliance of the editorial content. All parts of the book trade benefited if they wished to participate.

The company was founded by John Wisden in 1864 and I'm certain he wouldn't recognise it today. Apart from the Almanack there is a magazine (in fact several in different countries including South Africa), the most popular sports website in the world, the leading sports technology organisation, Hawk-eye, and any number of books.

Three recent books have caught my eye for different reasons. The first is the Wisden Dictionary of Cricket by Michael Rundell who is also (thank goodness) the brains and lexicographic brawn behind the best-selling Macmillan English Dictionary range.

And then a grave turner for the blessed JW, The Cricinfo Guide to International Cricket 2007 which is the only book to contain biographies and statistics about every international cricketer likely to be playing in the forthcoming World Cup in the West Indies - book your flights and hotels now and coloured pyjamas too, just in case...

Finally, the blockbuster - not in unit sales but in size, price, scholarship and insight - Wisden Anthology 1978-2006, a truly boring title but with a glimpse of what's within in the sub-title, Cricket's Age of Revolution. It is 1300 plus pages of meticulously edited nostalgia, fascination, social history and global economics. I think it's underpriced at £40 let alone whatever some booksellers choose to discount it to. Here's the press release for anyone interested:

'The last three decades of cricket have produced more tumult and controversy, heroism and villainy, thrills and scandal than anything seen since shepherd boys on the downs first turned their crooks into cricket bats.

First the game´s genteel world was convulsed by the intervention of the Australian tycoon Kerry Packer, who bought up nearly all the top players. Suddenly, cricket was played at night in pyjamas, with searingly fast bowlers aiming at the heads of helmeted batsmen.

From that, a new world emerged - one that produced England´s amazing Ashes triumphs of 1981 and 2005 (and much misery in between), the heyday of Caribbean pace, the rise of Indian influence, the match-fixing scandals... and extraordinary players such as Ian Botham, Viv Richards, Imran Khan, Brian Lara, Shane Warne, Steve Waugh, Sachin Tendulkar and Andrew Flintoff.

Through it all, Wisden Cricketers' Almanack has been there. Just as it has since 1864, this unique sporting institution has tried each year to make sense of a fast-changing global sport.

Now this anthology does the same, but for an entire generation of change.

Nearly a quarter of a century ago Wisden published four popular anthologies that celebrated the best of Wisden stretching back to its first edition. They were edited by the late Benny Green, who saw the almanack partly as "a social history of England".

Now the Wisden Anthology 1978-2006 brings the story up to date, painting a coherent, compelling picture of cricket´s evolution - and revolution. A story that was charted in more than 40,000 Wisden pages is distilled into this 1,328-page anthology. It is a portrait of the age - and of the great players and contests that ushered the game into a brave new century, and beyond. It offers a chance to replay the greatest moments of the era, from Headingley 1981 to The Oval 2005 - and assess what they all add up to.

But Wisden is not just days like that. The book tells the stories of Merv the mongrel and Hansie the rabbit, of Bill Wyman´s one-handed catch, of the sale of No.10 Dulka Road, and of the marijuana-laced cup cakes.

The obituary section includes not just Don Bradman, Herbert Sutcliffe and Jim Laker -but also "The Master", Anthony Ainley, "who despised cheeses of all kinds", the fantasist Donald Weekes, and the cricket-mad fireman, Jeff Wornham, who died trying to save a woman in a burning tower block.Wisden itself has changed in that time. In 1981 John Woodcock became editor. He ensured the book became far more than a conscientious record of facts, and made it a volume of unprecedented literary quality and cricketing authority.

Now, under Matthew Engel, it has evolved into an almanack for the internet age, with a sense of fun and a hint of subversion - without losing its reputation for accuracy, robust comment and flinty integrity.

Stephen Moss, who loves and understands both the game and the book, has synthesised the best of 29 Wisdens into one outstanding volume.

The editor

Stephen Moss has been in love with cricket for 40 years, ever since a chance sighting of a game in Barry, South Wales, cured a sun-induced headache as a child. It has been balm for the soul ever since. He has played for many teams, always ineptly, and still turns out for an Observer newspaper XI. He has scored three fifties in a 30-year career, and has occasionally propelled the perfect leg-break. When he is not sneaking off to The Oval, watching his beloved (though ever-challenging) Glamorgan or poring over battered copies of Wisden, he is a feature writer for The Guardian.'

Stephen Moss is available for media interviews by contacting Christopher Lane on 01420 83415 or email chris.lane@wisdengroup.com
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 Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Innovation and size

My talk to the MA students of Oxford Brookes which I mentioned recently passed without anyone throwing bad eggs or rotten tomatoes at me - which is always a relief. Apart from the students there was a generous sprinkling of old friends which is reassuring in one sense but worrying in another - their memories of my anecdotes from the olden days might differ from mine. Various journalists from the trade press asked me to send them my notes of the talk or to write it up. The combination of a very full schedule and natural indolence meant that my notes were very sketchy but they were the only facts in the talk! Here they are. The numbers relate to headcount. The companies are all mainly English language except one.

Albatros 4; Profile 16; Faber 82; Bloomsbury 271; Informa 7000; McGraw-Hill 18,000; News Corporation 30,000; Pearson 32,000; Reed Elsevier 37,000; Thomson  40,000, Bertelsmann 93,000.

The conclusion was that size is not in itself an inhibitor nor a catalyst for innovation in publishing although the larger (and more publicly owned) the company the harder it is (obviously) to remain nimble and innovative. At Macmillan we try to encourage innovation by devolving responsibility to small creative units. For instance Palgrave Macmillan has set up a three-person team to help us identify new opportunities in academic and textbook publishing and then take them to market. Here is their latest success described by Alison Jones.

The Study Stick leads, the rest follow

 

Nice to see publishing leading the music industry for a change. The recent ‘ground-breaking’ announcement that Keane are to release a limited run of 1,500 USB memory sticks pre-loaded with their latest single has generated lots of chat in the blogosphere, sadly none of it commenting on the fact that Keane were simply following the trail blazed by Palgrave Macmillan last month. 

The Study Stick is a 512MB memory stick preloaded with an ebook of the best-selling The Study Skills Handbook, with a link to a protected online site with more resources, community areas, competitions and special offers. We spent a lot of time gently introducing dazed booksellers to the idea and meeting their concerns – for example by supplying dummy packs for display, and by reclassifying part of the stock to make it amenable to Amazon’s overloaded systems. The site currently has over 50 registered users and the number is growing quickly – the challenge now is to capitalize on this innovative move by creating a community in which the students benefit from our authors’ expertise and we learn more about our market and the possibilities for reaching it.

Finally, an update on this blog's visitor statistics. After no growth in September we had 54793 visitors in October, a 31% increase. Total visitors since January are now 276172.

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 Tuesday, October 31, 2006
News and spin, spin and news

A short quiz. The  Bookseller headline announces 'Outstanding Penguin pushes Pearson to record'. Sales at Penguin are up 2%, 10% or 20%? The answer can be found here.

There is so much corporate activity going on right now that I thought the best thing I could do for those interested would be to reprint here the latest issue of EPS Headlines from Electronic Publishing Services which is my weekly Bible. Like the law-abiding citizen I try to be I called them for permission to reproduce They graciously granted it on the grounds, I suppose, that they may pick up some new subscribers from this promotion. They deserve to. It is the best news service around. I strongly recommend you go the final item if nowhere else.

EPS HEADLINES DIGEST :: 30/10/2006

-------------------------------------

** Pearson on course to produce record full-year profits **

** Riverdeep plans to buy Houghton Mifflin **

** Microsoft reported better than expected Q3 results **

** Google launches customisable search engine service **

** Scirus partners with CrossRef **

-------------------------------------

Company News

-------------------------------------

23/10/2006

Non-profit copyright licensing solution provider Copyright Clearance Center (CCC) has announced that medical publisher BMJ Publishing Group, Ltd has selected Rightslink as its automated, online permissions licensing solution. BMJ Publishing is the fifth STM publisher to have implemented Rightslink for online permissions or reprint ordering.

KnowledgeSpeak ::

http://www.knowledgespeak.com/newsArchieveviewdtl.asp?pickUpID=2967&pickUpBatch=490#2967

24/10/2006

The entire editorial board of the Elsevier journal Topology resigned in August in protest at Elsevier's refusal to lower the journal's subscription price. The editors' letter to Elsevier talks of their concerns with the price of Topology since Elsevier gained control of the journal in 1994, and their belief that the price has had a significant and damaging effect on Topology's reputation in the mathematical research community, which they say is likely to become increasingly serious in the future.

SPARC e-News :: http://www.arl.org/sparc/pubs/enews/aug06.html#partner

24/10/2006

Wolters Kluwer is planning to move many of its pre-press and data conversion jobs from the US to India. The move is projected to make the Indian subsidiary play a key role in the company’s global operations. The company will also start selling tax, accounting and law books in India early in 2007.

Knowledgespeak ::

http://www.knowledgespeak.com/newsArchieveviewdtl.asp?pickUpID=2975&pickUpBatch=491#2975

25/10/2006

Pearson is planning to combine the Financial Times Group's newspaper and magazines businesses, in an attempt to both sharpen the FT's focus on niche audiences and to expand the magazines' international and online presence. The proposal will involve no redundancies but will see FT Business titles such as The Banker and Investors Chronicle move into the same offices as the FT newspaper and FT.com. The combined businesses are expected to look for shared opportunities in the events market.

FT.com (subscription required) ::

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/149f02ac-63c6-11db-bc82-0000779e2340.html

27/10/2006

Factiva has announced that it has enhanced its Taxonomy Warehouse, a community directory and information source for taxonomies, thesauri, and classification schemes. The service provides enterprises and academic and government organizations with information to categorize internal and external data collections, listing more than 650 taxonomies arranged in 73 subject domains.

E-Content Mag ::

http://www.econtentmag.com/Articles/ArticleReader.aspx?ArticleID=18511

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Financials

-------------------------------------

26/10/2006

The publisher of Yellow Pages directories, R.H. Donnelley, has reported a third-quarter loss, compared with profits in 2005, even as revenue more than doubled. The company posted a loss of USD35.4 million, or 51 cents a share, compared with year-earlier net income of USD27.1 million, or 62 cents a share. The company reported revenue of USD524 million, up from USD255 million a year earlier.

Reuters ::

http://today.reuters.com/news/articleinvesting.aspx?view=CN&storyID=2006-10-26T121847Z_01_WEN8096_RTRIDST_0_MEDIA-RHDONNELLEY-EARNS-URGENT.XML&rpc=66&type=qcna

27/10/2006

Microsoft reported Q3 results that were better than expected, with overall revenues climbing 11 per cent to USD10.8bn. Net income also rose 11 per cent to USD3.5bn. The strong results were boosted by solid sales in two of its newer businesses, servers and video games. The company reported that USD136 million losses in Q3 within its online-services group were due to its investment in a product aimed at competing with Google.

SearchEngineWatch :: http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/061027-085703

30/10/2006

Pearson is on course to produce record full-year profits, and has announced a 15 per cent rise in underlying operating profits for the first nine months of the year. The company is entering its busiest selling period "confident" of increasing margins and growing faster than its markets. Headline sales growth was 11 per cent across the group in the first nine months, and reported operating profits rose 26 per cent.

FT.com (subscription required) ::

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/d5390b04-67f2-11db-90ac-0000779e2340,_i_rssPage=cbad994c-3017-11da-ba9f-00000e2511c8.html

-------------------------------------

M&A

-------------------------------------

23/10/2006

ProQuest, the publisher of information and education solutions, reported that it has signed an agreement to sell its ProQuest Business Solutions segment to Snap-on Incorporated for approximately USD500 million. ProQuest Company will use most of the proceeds from the sale to pay down outstanding debt. Snap-on Incorporated is a manufacturer and marketer of tools, diagnostics and equipment solutions for professional users in industry, government, agriculture and construction.

Press Release (Proquest) ::

http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=93447&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=919430&highlight

 

24/10/2006

Dublin-based education and consumer software company Riverdeep is planning to buy Houghton Mifflin, the US-based educational publisher. Houghton Mifflin is currently owned by Thomas H. Lee Partners, Bain Capital and Blackstone. Its Promissor division was sold to Pearson PLC for USD42 million in January 2006.

BostonHerald.com ::

http://business.bostonherald.com/businessNews/view.bg?articleid=163852

24/10/2006

Digg, the user-submitted and reviewed news site, is reported to have been in acquisition discussions with a number of companies, including News Corp. It is suggested that the company is looking for at least USD150 million, and that that price has resulted in no formal written offers for Digg. One point of controversy is around Digg’s claim of 20 million unique monthly visitors.

TechCrunch ::

http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/10/24/digg-does-the-acquisition-dance-with-news-corp/

24/10/2006

Apax Partners and Veronis Suhler Stevenson are reported to be considering bids for VNU's European business magazines division. A deadline of the end of October has been set for first-round bids, which are expected to be in the region of UKP335 million. Apax is backing a UKP199 million management buyout of Incisive, the publisher of Legal Week and Investment Week.

The Times Online ::

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,13130-2418228,00.html

-------------------------------------

New Products & Services

-------------------------------------

23/10/2006

Yell.com and Thomasglobal.com have formed a partnership to offer global industrial search results. Yell.com will now be able to offer business-to-business search results from outside the UK for the first time, while New York-based Thomasglobal.com will now be able to offer its business-to-business search and industrial classifications to Yell.com's customers.<br>

European Association of Directory and Database Publishers ::

http://www.eadp.org/index.php?q=node/14984

23/10/2006

Google has launched a customisable search engine service for users to integrate with their own blogs and web sites. Users of Google Custom Search Engine will be able to select the web sites they want to be included in their searches, and add to this list in future by "tagging" web sites they visit. Any searches will then return results just from that slice of the Google search index, which will carry context-relevant advertising from Google’s AdSense network.

FT.com (subscription required) ::

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/a53ea278-62e9-11db-8faa-0000779e2340.html

24/10/2006

Elsevier's science-specific search engine, Scirus, has signed an agreement with publisher linking services provider CrossRef which allows Scirus to collect metadata from hundreds of participating publishers via CrossRef’s new Web Services protocol. The partnership is expected to improve how researchers, academics, students and librarians search authoritative, scientific published content.

Press Release (Elsevier) ::

http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/authored_newsitem.cws_home/companynews05_00551

24/10/2006

Adobe has released a beta edition of Adobe Digital Editions, an application for digital publishing and reading. The product enables users to acquire, read, and manage content such as eBooks and other digital publications. The final version of the new software will be out early in 2007 and will run on Windows, Mac and Linux machines, as well as various mobile devices.

Adobe :: http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/digitaleditions/

-------------------------------------

Legal

-------------------------------------

23/10/2006

IBM has filed two infringement lawsuits for five patent violations against Amazon, which relate to Amazon's online product recommendation systems and other features Amazon uses at the foundation of its business. IBM says it developed similar systems as early as the 1980s, and has been speaking with Amazon since 2002 on reconciling the alleged infringement through licensing.

Wall Street Journal Online ::

http://online.wsj.com/google_login.html?url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB116161475467500836.html%3Fmod%3Dgooglenews_wsj

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Wireless and Telecoms

-------------------------------------

26/10/2006

Spending on mobile marketing is expected to reach USD2.90 billion by 2011 according to a report released this week by JupiterResearch. The report also said that by the end of 2006, 22% of online advertisers and 29% of online agencies will be using mobile marketing campaigns. Mobile phone penetration in the U.S. was found to have reached 76%, with 11% of mobile phones having video capabilities.

BtoB online ::

http://www.btobonline.com/toc.cms?productId=6&issueDate=2006-10-26

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China STM

-------------------------------------

24/10/2006

China's minister of Science and Technology, Xu Guanhua, has announced a data-sharing plan which will cover the entire country. He said that over 80 per cent of data relating to China's research into pure science will be freely available on the Internet, via 40 openly accessible scientific data centres that will be established by 2010.

SciDev.net ::

http://www.scidev.net/content/news/eng/china-unveils-plans-to-boost-scientific-data-sharing.cfm

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And Finally..

-------------------------------------

27/10/2006

The record-holder for fast thumb text messaging has lost his first ever head-to-head contest, against a new piece of voice-recognition software. Ben Cook took on a program from Nuance Communications, and his first message -- "I'm on my way. I'll be there in 30 minutes" -- took him 16 seconds to send by text. However, the voice recognition software finished it in under 8 seconds. The final round in the competition was the phrase on which Cook had previously won his title: "The razor toothed piranhas of the genera Serrasalmus and Pygo centrus are the most ferocious freshwater fish in the world. In reality they seldom attack a human." The Nuance program finished 32 seconds ahead of its human rival - but then, it had already been programmed to recognise the Latin.

Physorg.com :: http://www.physorg.com/news80933892.html

 

 

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 Monday, October 30, 2006
Climate change

This morning's headlines in the UK are all about the publication of a Treasury-commissioned report on the economic aspects of climate change. It's pretty hairy stuff and particularly so as it comes from Nick Stern who has held a number of very influential posts including Chief Economist at The World Bank. The conclusions are stark and require politicians to sacrifice votes in some instances - an almost impossible act for most of them.

I fear we'll have to wait a long time (perhaps too long) for governments to get their acts together. Meanwhile, we can do things as individuals. Get your hands on a copy of Climate change begins at home by Dave Reay. This quote from Popular Science says it all:

"This is one of the most easily readable popular science books I've seen in several years, it's practical rather than ridiculous, it puts the case without being preachy - it really is a wonderfully effective description of the realities of climate change, how it will affect us and our families, and what we as individuals can do about it. So go out and buy one. In fact, buy two and send one to the world leader or large company CEO of your choice."

While on matters environmental, you might care to look at Landmine Action campaign to prohibit the manufacture, sale and use of cluster munitions whose effects impact decades after a war has been resolved. The main sufferers are children. I delivered a signed petition by hand yesterday to the House of Commons - it was very difficult as they don't have a letterbox.

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 Sunday, October 29, 2006
The elephant and the rat and Pergamon Press

On Tuesday I am giving a talk at Oxford Brookes University in their International Centre for Publishing Studies. The subject is Innovation in Publishing and the title is an allusion to the R and K strategies for the survival of species which is an excuse for a nice picture of a typical K strategy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The typical R isn't as cuddly but might very well be more successful in the long run. For more on reproductive strategies try this site.

Apart from being happy to discuss innovation with some of the brightest publishing students the other reason for going is nostalgia. This grand building is now part of Oxford Brookes University but it was where I worked in 1974.

It was the home of Robert Maxwell and the headquarters of Pergamon Press.

Robert Maxwell, photo: www.the7thfire.comI was called senior publishing executive, life sciences and my job was to commission and publish about 200 books a year, look after 100 journals and launch as many new journals as possible. Maxwell's (correct) theory was that the fastest areas of research paper growth would be in the biological (rather than physical) sciences because each experiment was cheaper to fund and therefore there would be more literature per funding dollar.

They were exciting times. Every morning we editors and marketing people were summonsed to open the post under Maxwell's tutelage. 'Every piece of paper is a publishing opportunity.' 'Every letter contains a lesson.' 'Don't assume anything except that you will die.' Every morning new edicts would be issued. 'No green covers'. 'Henceforward all textbooks will be designated paperback even if they are hardback.'No more billing in pounds. Tell Blackwell's they have to pay in dollars.' 'All books are journals. Reduce the discounts from 30% to 10%.' 'You're sacked.'

The amazing thing is that Maxwell transformed the company from a rather staid and sleepy business (he'd been away fromt the company for a few years) into an innovative and successful scientific information provider. It was only his disastrous forays into newspaper publishing and his absurd war with Rupert Murdoch which forced him to sell what was the real jewel in his corporate crown. His demise was Reed Elsevier's gain. And somehow his death was inevitable.

'Robert Maxwell drowns' - 6th November 1991

Of course Bob Maxwell was a terrible guy in many ways but he did build a great publishing company and working in Headington was a great (albeit not always fun) experience.

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