28/09/07
Interesting Times
What is it about smart, entrepreneurial and successful managers that is suddenly drawing them to the book business?
In a week not short of dramas - one that has seen the whole PFD drama and the defection of Richard Charkin to Bloomsbury - the gossipers (i.e. us) have had a hard time keeping up and knowing which is the juicier topic to whisper knowingly about at parties.
Of course, both of these events are very exciting, worthy of (and of course, getting) lots of attention, speculation and and intrigue. (And in my opinion, they’re not unlinked, but that’s a more abstract idea and one for another post.)
Personally, however, I’m much more interested in what - in the canape circuit anyway - is the lesser-discussed topic: what is it about bookselling that has, in the space of the past 2 months attracted serial entrepreneurs Luke Johnson and Charles Denton to buying “beleaguered” retailing operations Borders and SameDayBooks respectively?
Johnson and Denton are clearly smart guys, with excellent business track records that there’s no need to repeat here. But the interesting question is- What is it about an industry generally seen to be decline and under threat that appeals to these guys? What are they planning to do - what is the stratagem they have each identified which is going to make it work for them?
And that’s the interesting thing. One of the things about publishing is that it’s quite bad at recruiting talent from outside the industry. Brains like these coming into bookselling is another piece of evidence that the book trade is going through change, and positive change at that.
I would imagine - given my bent - that part of their interests lie in web-based retailing; indeed, both have said so in the media. But more abstractly, I think it’s an example of how, despite all of our gloom at the state of bookselling, some people can see the wood for the trees.
…
On a similar note. Sir Christopher Bland has just stepped down from his position as chairman of BT, where he is credited with turning the business around dramatically - and hauling at the beginning of the 21st century into a position closer to that of a content provider / broadcaster than a telecommunications infrastructure.
Of course, Bland is also Chairman of Canongate, and an incredibly smart man. He was chairman of the BBC for five years to 2001 and also ran Hutchinson publishers and LWT. My personal view - expressed on this blog a long time ago - is that it would be very interesting to see Bland take a more involved position at Canongate.
Whether or not that will happen is another matter - but with experienced players like these circling the book business, probably for more than just bibliophilic reasons, it’s a good indication of interesting and dynamic times ahead.
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# Comment by Danuta @ 2:45 pm, September 28, 2007:
Interesting point, Peter. New blood is always a good thing as it brings an alternative perspective to a market that is harder to separate from tradition than Jordan from her implants. That said, I am always a bit sus of VC money. In the past it hasn’t done the book trade that much good, and I wonder how radical the new owner of Borders will be: especially when it comes to negotiating terms…. Of the two the Borders deal is most intriguing. Because while all agree that there is a future in the web, not everyone is convinced that high street chains have a healthy future ahead of them.
As for Christopher Bland, he would be a brilliant active addition to an industry that too often forget that the customer is the reader, not the person sat in W H Smith’s or Tesco’s head office choosing stock. (and isn’t it about time we changed the name of buyers to borrowers, as they return so much stock?)