David and Goliath: Jane Curry on distribution challenges for small publishers

Jane Curry Publishing recently rebranded as Ventura Press and partnered with Simon & Schuster Australia for sales and distribution. Managing director Jane Curry explains how small publishers can benefit from an alliance with a big house.

As Malcolm Gladwell details in his recent book David and Goliath, in the battle of the small company against the large conglomerate, the small venture can often have the advantage. They are nimble, decisive and can achieve impressive market growth from a low overhead structure.

I have been an indie book publisher since 2002 and after 12 years in business, we here at Ventura Press (formerly Jane Curry Publishing) were not achieving the market share of our comrades at Text, Scribe, Black Inc. and Affirm, to name a few.

The pivotal difference is brand name and distribution. All of the above successful indies have forged alliances with big houses such as Penguin and Random House. As I have found, it is vital to have a seat at the big table—grass roots organic growth is not possible in a world driven by head office accounts. In essence, it is fine to be David, so long as David is a brand name and bolted on to a distribution Goliath.

So Jane Curry Publishing became Ventura Press—unless you are William Collins or Harold Macmillan, a family name is not going to cut through—and I moved to Simon & Schuster Australia. The new managing director Dan Ruffino and I were colleagues at Pan Macmillan in the 1990s. As with most success, it was strategy and serendipity combined.

Of course there are other options for small publishers, including working with an independent distributor such as Woodslane, Dennis Jones or Peribo, which cover the logistics of sale and supply with great professionalism. Titles are on offer to all accounts and books are shipped and invoiced from their own warehouses.

Given that big houses want lists that are established, with a sizeable backlist and good market reputation, the independent distribution model is often the only option open to small and emerging publishers. However, the problem with this model is that it is often hard to get the attention of the top levels of retail given the fragmented nature and size of indie lists.

The advantages of aligning with a ‘Goliath’ are many and varied: they have more reps, the sales budget per call is bigger, the call cycle more frequent, the rep sees the main buyer, they have better sales kits, the bookseller knows the logistics of supply are covered and they know the sales support will be top notch. And in these difficult times, the large publishers’ accounts are kept active, as they cannot afford to be on stop. These are the tangibles. The intangibles are the kudos, prestige and market power that the larger houses bring to the mix.

But I can tell you from experience, I had to get my business to a critical mass before I could attract the attention of the big companies. As they say, overnight success takes 25 years. In my case, it took 12.

The symbiotic relationship between retailers and the big publishers can seem like a closed shop to those outside. It is not, but the brutal reality of the business means that the key buyers want to see the key books. Time is money.

Demand pull supply push
The marketing jargon ‘demand pull supply push’ illustrates the essential truth of successful publishing. Create demand that pulls your book through the cash registers while simultaneously pushing the supply side with a pile of your books (with an eye-catching cover) at the front of the shop. To make sure that our books cut through the larger lists, it is our responsibility to drive that demand. Strong authors, strong covers, strong marketing, excellent publicity and publishing the right title at the right time.

I love to witness a classic launch campaign in full glory. Best practice is to start with the author addressing the Australian Booksellers Association conference to create early industry buzz, free reading copies for booksellers, then moving to the national sell-in by well-briefed and motivated sales reps, fabulous marketing materials, then the launch (pause for champagne) before the hard yakka of an author tour, store signings, lit lunches and library events. Gold stars for Life Matters on Radio National, Jon Faine, Books and Arts Daily, a profile in Good Weekend and an Australian Story. And to that list now we can add a gig with the fabulous Cheryl Akle’s Better Reading.

At which point we publishers hand over to the booksellers to close the deal.

You can create all the demand you like, but if the books are not displayed in volume on release then the alchemy of demand turning into a sale is lost. And once a customer leaves a bookshop empty-handed then the sale is often lost forever.

And to get space in retail you need clout. It is a tough gig out there and the big publishers extract the bigger budgets and key positions from retail.

As my colleagues at Text, Scribe, Black Inc. and Affirm have shown, the combination of the energy and dynamism of a small publisher with the market strength of a multinational publisher can be a very successful one.

Category: Features