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Why small is good: Keiran Rogers on sales by small publishers

Affirm Press sales and marketing manager Keiran Rogers finds that small publishers are having a bigger impact on book sales.

Forget the year of the horse; 2014 was the year of the small publisher. While the internationalisation of book sales and content has caused headaches for some of Australia’s big multinational publishers, a closer focus on the Australian market is benefiting our small independent houses. 

Nielsen BookScan reported total Australian book market growth for 2014 of 2% in value, yet many smaller publishers eclipsed that rate: Melbourne University Press grew 44%; Black Inc., with its hugely successful Nero imprint, grew 31%; UNSW Press grew 30%; Text Publishing grew 29%; and the University of Queensland Press grew 5%—still above the 2% average. Affirm Press made a well-publicised expansion in 2014 and had incredible growth of 392%, although, of course, off a very small base in 2013.

Growth across the board isn’t the only evidence of small-publisher success. A look at the 200 bestselling books for 2014 (in value) from Nielsen BookScan figures shows a solid sprinkling of titles from smaller players. Text sold 67,000 copies of The Rosie Project and 64,700 of The Rosie Effect, taking spots 14 and 22 on the bestseller charts. Black Inc.’s Ray Warren autobiography The Voice sold a very impressive 27,100 copies and was the 77th bestseller in the country. Text appeared again with This House of Grief by Helen Garner at 98, while Sydney-based indie Xoum had great success with Adam Spencer’s Big Book of Numbers, which sold 20,000 copies and finished at 105. NewSouth’s Diary of a Foreign Minister (Bob Carr) was the 121st bestseller, MUP got in with Triumph and Demise (Paul Kelly) at 164, and Affirm squeezed in at 198, selling 10,200 copies of Adam Gilchrist.

While Affirm’s growth is somewhat explained by an expansion in the number of titles published, neither Text nor Xoum significantly increased their output in 2014. So what is driving this growth? The rise of third-party distribution is one possible factor. Many smaller publishers are distributed nowadays by UBD, HarperCollins or Hachette, and as such their reach is as wide as the big publishers who own these distribution houses. This isn’t the case for all, with Xoum proving very successful at using TL Distribution via NewSouth. It’s attractive to authors to know that if publishing with a smaller press, their books will still be distributed by quality distribution houses.

Another strong factor is the shifting Australian retail focus. Almost all of our book retailers have felt the effect of the fierce price competition from mega online retailers such as Amazon and the Book Depository—their aggressive pricing has stripped margin out of the big international bestsellers. Savvy bookshops are naturally fighting back by focusing on Australian authors and Australian books. Independent and smaller Australian publishers are generally focusing on publishing Australian authors and Australian titles, so the synergy is obvious. Text sales and marketing director Kirsty Wilson supports this view, reflecting, ‘We have such a strong relationship with the trade. We know a lot of booksellers well and are very fortunate that they’ll offer Text speedy, insightful feedback on cover design, titles, etc. There’s immediacy to the bookshop-publisher relationship that I suspect larger publishing houses don’t enjoy to the same degree.’

Rod Morrison, publisher at Xoum, previously publisher at Picador and Hardie Grant, talks of the agility and flexibility of smaller houses in terms of both publishing and workplace practices. Such factors allow freedom from ‘the factory mentality’ and ‘relentless expansion’ of larger companies, and mean that smaller companies can attract and keep talented and experienced publishers such as Morrison and Affirm’s Aviva Tuffield. Quality staff attract quality authors, which leads to quality books. 

Wilson touches on the quality coming from indie companies, noting the incredible success Text had with awards in 2014: Clare Wright’s The Forgotten Rebels of Eureka won the Stella Prize, Eimear McBride’s A Girl Is a Half-Formed Thing, for which Text bought the rights, won the Baileys Women’s Prize, and The Rosie Project was awarded ABIAs for General Fiction and Book of the Year.

This sense of buoyancy from smaller publishers is extending into 2015. When asked if he expected Xoum to grow again this year, Morrison responded, ‘Of course! While we’d love it to be exponential, it’ll be steady.’ Regarding Text’s plans for growth in 2015, Wilson said, ‘We’re publishing more books in 2015 than any other year in Text’s 21-year history—so let’s hope so!’ Affirm Press has contracted 34 titles for 2015, up from 16 in 2014 and seven in 2013. 

Of course, it isn’t all ‘rosie’ when you’re small. Lack of working capital, limited staff resources and small promotional budgets cause headaches, but as Morrison notes, one of the biggest challenges is the ‘lack of clout with retailers and lack of brand recognition’. Wilson supports this view, reflecting on the difficulty of ‘keeping our books visible in a crowded, major-publisher-dominated market’. 

There is an assumption from a lot of people in the industry—booksellers, authors and even the big publishers themselves—that bigger is better. They command the best shelf space, the biggest opening orders and key promotional opportunities by fuelling the perception that everything they do is better.

Still, if the sales for smaller publishers continue to grow at current trends, there is no doubt that all Australian booksellers will sit up and notice. 

Small publishers recommend …
Kirsty Wilson at Text: My head’s been turned by The Underwriting by Michelle Miller (June). It’s the debut novel of a former J P Morgan employee, about the float of a dating app on the US stockmarket. It’s clever, addictive and fun—its strapline is ‘Get Rich. Get Laid.
Get Even’.

Rod Morrison at Xoum: Parenting guru Robin Barker’s debut work of fiction Close to Home (May) is very special.

Keiran Rogers at Affirm Press: Wild Man by Alecia Simmonds (September) is a brilliant work of crime investigative journalism in the mould of Helen Garner or Chloe Hooper.

Share your thoughts. Email books.publishing@thorpe.com.au.

 

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Category: Features