| Judy Piatkus |
|
I recently heard Judy Piatkus, founder of publishing company Piatkus Books, speak at an Inspired Entrepreneurs evening. I took the opportunity to ask Judy some additional questions about future trends in the publishing industry, self-publishing and mind body spirit books. Her story demonstrates how keeping ahead of trends and reinventing yourself can be the keys to success. The Making of Piatkus Books Judy started the company in her back bedroom in 1979 and grew the business to become one of the UK’s top 25 publishing companies with a turnover of £10 million. It published titles in the areas of complementary health, mind, body and spirit, business, popular psychology and personal development. Ahead of its time, it took risks to introduce new authors and leading edge subjects to the marketplace. Non-fiction authors, who Judy published, included Brian L Weiss, Patrick Holford, Gillian Mckeith, Seth Godin, Jon Kabat- Zinn, Gill Edwards, William Bloom, Marilyn Glenville, Diana Cooper and many more. Judy built the company against the backdrop of the 1980s recession. At the same time, the fitness and exercise boom spread from America to Europe and the UK, and complementary health and therapies began to appear; not many people knew what aromatherapy was in the mid-1980s! At the start of the 1990s there was another recession, which led to an interest in personal development. Many people felt that if they acquired new skills they would have a better chance of holding on to their jobs. Some of the people Piatkus published around this time were the life coach Eileen Mulligan and Fiona Harrold. By the end of the decade genres such as self-help and mind, body, and spirit had become mainstream and Piatkus found itself in competition with some of the bigger publishers, who could offer authors larger advances. The company reinvented itself once again and introduced a fiction imprint, Portrait. Judy went to US publishers to discover authors, who weren’t being sold in the UK. At the time, UK publishers were more interested in upmarket literary fiction, so they deliberately chose to publish popular mass-market romantic fiction such as author Nora Roberts. These sold well because Waterstone’s broadened its range and Borders appeared on the UK high-street. Being Ahead of the Curve I asked Judy how she had managed to market the books and get them into bookshops if they were so ahead of general publishing trends. She told me that they would bring out books where there gaps on the shelf, literally. The Piatkus sales team would look for that niche and then use this as a reason why booksellers should stock their titles. For example, in the 1980s many women were returning to the workplace, but there were very few books available giving advice on this. Since lifestyle publishers are always asking themselves what people might want to read about in a year’s time, Judy found newspapers a good source of information about the ‘latest thing’ and she would often ask staff what they and their friends were talking about and what kind of things they were doing at weekends. She also had to take risks! Where Are We Going? Judy believes that mind, body and spirit books will continue to become more popular, despite the fact that the number of publishers, who are publishing them, has decreased. There is a need for new writing on the new ideas which are coming through. However, authors in the mind, body and spirit area must also build a platform for themselves or publishers won’t be convinced that they will be able to sell sufficient copies to justify publication. Whilst books can reflect changes in society and how we are living our lives, they also need to offer additional content which is not readily available on the internet and in the media. Judy quoted the example of The Thrift Book: Live Well and Spend Less by India Knight, which was published last year and reflected the mood of the country. It was produced in a very attractive package which appealed to buyers. Considering the environment is always in the news, you would think that books on this subject would be popular and there are many currently available on green issues. However, Judy added that they remain hard to sell, as the debate and the information on climate change and the environment is changing daily. She thinks that book buyers are wary of purchasing books on this subject as they date so quickly. It was a relief to hear her say that fewer celebrity books will be published featuring people who are really D or even Z list and haven’t really done anything worthwhile to justify their fame. On the other hand books about people who the public admire – or find fascinating – will continue to be published and will attract the larger advances. That said television and media branded tie-ins will continue to be popular gifts. In general, Judy feels there will be a return to more serious issues. People want to weigh up all the arguments for themselves. History books have been out of fashion for a few years but are gradually making a comeback. She quoted the example of the Booker prizewinner, Hilary Mantel, who has written a historical novel. Judy said that “People want to read about the past to make sense of the future.” The Publishing Landscape There are a number of developments taking place which affect the publishing industry, not least technological ones. As Judy aptly put it “The future lies in the hands of those people who are willing and able to contemplate a different publishing world, one which brings together the content from the past and aligns it with the technologies of the future.” A Bespoke Approach Technology means that books now appear in many different formats, which means you can purchase part of a book such as one chapter of an audio or e-book to see if you like it. Judy believes that e-books will be driven by price, readers and availability of titles and that there is likely to be more impulse purchasing of e-books in five to six years time. In the future she feels that readers will want to receive their content in the form of downloads to hand-held entertainment systems – this may include music and other information as well as reading matter. She added that customers will be listening to books being read and discussed in podcasts or on audiotapes and they may want new forms of videos which complement their reading material. Hard copy books will continue to be in demand, but having experienced mass-market availability Judy thinks that people will want more variety and a bespoke offering. For example, we may see an increase in expensive editions with high-quality paper and beautiful bindings. Routes to Market Judy believes that this is a good time for independent publishers who have the courage of their convictions. However, they must also be able to sell their books into the high street bookstores and supermarkets, where appropriate, and there is huge competition for shelf space. In terms of self-publishing, she thinks that more companies will develop which help authors to self-publish by offering them quality design, editorial and sales support. In addition, she feels that authors and publishers will create a new model for shared revenue. In future readers will continue to visit high street bookshops as well as searching online retailers for information about books they want to read. Afterword In the summer of 2007 Judy sold Piatkus to Little Brown, who is continuing to develop the imprint and the brand. She is now a motivational speaker, telling audiences about the changes that we are going to see in our society over the next few years. Some time after she had sold the company, Judy was in a bookshop and saw a book that she had published some time previously, all about the potential economic downturn; a little reminder about being ahead of the curve!
|