MY BACK PAGES (MY BACK PAGES: An undeniably personal history of publishing 1972-2022)

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My earlier mention of Netflix has triggered a thought. I’ve been loving their series called in English Call My Agent. So much of it reminds me of the trade book publishing industry, not least the jealousies and egos.

Richard Charkin: Notes From a Small London Publisher Richard Charkin: Notes From a Small London Publisher

Print in the new world is akin to the old French tradition of delivering the mail by postmen on stilts—charming but ridiculous. I’ve railed against the over-complication of the publishing industry and have tried to eliminate unnecessary noise. I have failed. Join us monthly for Richard Charkin’s latest column. More coverage of his work from Publishing Perspectives is here and more from us on industry statistics is here.In spite of the media coverage of growth in the audiobook market it turns out that only a very few audio titles really perform well and even then the financial return after the digital retail distributors have taken their cut is disappointingly small. There are, of course, exceptions but I have to admit failure, really, in this field, although that could change significantly with the release of audio publisher Bolinda‘s audiobook edition of Delia Smith’s You Matter: The Human Solution (coming march 3). Cons and Pros But I think probably everyone would have gulped today at just that title. It probably would have got through anyway, but maybe by the skin of its teeth. I’m sure there are other ones that we would think twice or three times or 20 times before doing.” My resolution for 2022 is to get out my tape measure and use it on an as many variables as I can. The idea will be to measure everything possible and to interpret and implement the results. It would be good if others in the book business—particularly the larger firms where the size of data makes results more reliable—did the same. Scientific journal publishers have been doing much of this for decades and I wouldn’t mind enjoying their margins. I’m not a complete illiterate, but I do find handling pictures, PDFs, and spreadsheets harder than I should, and I have nobody to turn to apart from the occasional good Samaritan

Richard Charkin - Wikipedia Richard Charkin - Wikipedia

Charkin, R. (2022, January 28). Richard Charkin: A 2022 Publishing Resolution. Publishing Perspectives. Retrieved January 29, 2023, from https://publishingperspectives.com/2022/01/richard-charkin-a-2022-publishing-resolution-covid19/ Editorial tastes differed across countries, as did sometimes spelling and grammar. Thus a separate edition was deemed important. In Yoddish ‘Mensch’ means a decent and upstanding person. I wanted my business operations to reflect that ethos. A postman in the early-20th-century Pays de Buch area of France’s Landes de Gascogne delivers mail on stilts. Both mail carriers and shepherds used stilts in the region to navigate boggy tidal-plain terrain. Richard Charkin likens this tradition to ‘print in the new world—charming but ridiculous.’ Image: Public domain

My Back Pages: an undeniably personal history of publishing 1972-2022

I read this last week and couldn’t put it down! It so mirrors what was happening in libraries and publishing in the 70s, 80s. 90s, my lifetime, etc! In fact I am going to read it again! A wonderfully personal history! Katina Strauch His experiences of phenomena such as Harry Potter will no doubt be of great interest, but his knowledge of the social and technological shifts in the industry also make this one for writers, insiders and anyone considering a career in publishing. The publishing world will continue and thrive, as it always has, by creatively pushing water uphill. And then there’s the marketing. Scientific and academic publishing has always viewed its marketplace as global. The very idea of territorial separation is alien. Trade books do have separate markets with different tastes but those differences are diminishing.

Title Detail: My Back Pages by Richard Charkin

And the United Kingdom’s Publishers Association kindly lent me their offices for a place to thank friends and family for all their support.

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Richard Charkin is a professional’s professional, and no-one knows the book trade better." Jeffrey Archer Child facing expulsion from football club after parent 'refused to let him play against Jewish team'

MY BACK PAGES: An undeniably personal history of publishing

As you can see, I’ve resisted the temptation to grow a beard, although I must own up to laxity in the matter of daily shaving.In parallel, book production has become global and will become more so as our industry tries to reduce its carbon footprint and thus print closer to market rather than closer to publishing headquarters. This has been happening in Australia for quite a while but there’s logic to applying the same logistics around the world. Print on demand technology, availability, and price will accelerate this, too. I can’t claim to have proved definitively that you can do it. But we’re still in business. And there’s slightly more cash in the bank than when we started.” A fascinating and hugely entertaining personal history of the last half century of British publishing. A must-read for anyone who cares about books and their unique and fundamental role in our lives.” William Boyd