 "It's the golden age of book publishing: Charlie Redmayne")
Charlie Redmayne headed BskyB's online unit before joining HarperCollins UK in 2008 as group digital director. Later he played the same role for the firm, globally. Vanita Kohli-Khandekar spoke to him about the impact of digital on book publishing. Edited excerpts:
Where is HarperCollins UK on digital?
When I joined (in 2008), the fear was digital will take away our business. But publishing is also about books. If you do not have great books by great authors, you can't survive. The typical chain is the publisher to retailer to consumer. Then suddenly retailers, such as Amazon, became publishers and authors also became publishers and retailers. The value chain had started changing. It is therefore incumbent on publishers to look at the value chain and ask how they are adding value - by doing all the things they do as a publisher and doing them better.
At HarperCollins UK we are trying to mix our editorial instinct with smart marketing insights. This has increased digital's contribution to the UK business. In fiction 60 per cent of our revenues now come from e-books. In non-fiction it is 20 per cent.
What is the India business like? Any consumption patterns you notice?
The sort of books that are read here are very different from the UK and US markets. Non-fiction has a bigger share of the market and there is a real interest in political books, business books, mind, body, spirit books. India is important because of the trade and education part of our business. And, the English language piece is enormous. On education, our growth curve (in India) has been impressive. It is the fastest growing smartphone market. But am surprised by the lack of promotion (in bookshops) of categories such as chicklit. A lot of those things will be read by young people on their phones.
Both music and films have suffered long because of digital, how has the book industry fared?
What we learnt from the music industry is that in order to maintain the value of your product you need to make it available on the platforms where people want it. The music industry did not do it, instead it sued customers. The film industry had similar challenges. The book industry has been smarter - we work with platforms for a slick experience. Therefore we haven't seen rampant piracy in books and have created a market. eBooks are cheaper but there are no shipping costs and no returns, so there is more value. And our authors get read by more people.
What are the challenges as digital spreads?
Our big challenge is how to aid the discovery of emerging authors, how to turn them into (John) Grisham and (J K) Rowling. This can only be done through good editorial instincts and consumer insights. And then investing in those insights using the entertainment industry's ability to market.
Why then is this air of 'books are dying' all around?
More people are reading books than ever before. It is the golden age of book publishing. The last two years have been fantastic for us, our profits have gone up. I don't understand why everyone is so down and out.
Where is HarperCollins UK on digital?
When I joined (in 2008), the fear was digital will take away our business. But publishing is also about books. If you do not have great books by great authors, you can't survive. The typical chain is the publisher to retailer to consumer. Then suddenly retailers, such as Amazon, became publishers and authors also became publishers and retailers. The value chain had started changing. It is therefore incumbent on publishers to look at the value chain and ask how they are adding value - by doing all the things they do as a publisher and doing them better.
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This means finding great authors, books, editing them, sales and production. But they also need new skill sets. For example on marketing. More books are now sold online. Therefore CRM (customer relationship management) and data analytics, become very important. You need to understand the consumer and do all the things that publishers did not do. Plus there are devices and platforms and news tools, like video. You could be telling stories through video. So publishing just got more complex.
At HarperCollins UK we are trying to mix our editorial instinct with smart marketing insights. This has increased digital's contribution to the UK business. In fiction 60 per cent of our revenues now come from e-books. In non-fiction it is 20 per cent.
What is the India business like? Any consumption patterns you notice?
The sort of books that are read here are very different from the UK and US markets. Non-fiction has a bigger share of the market and there is a real interest in political books, business books, mind, body, spirit books. India is important because of the trade and education part of our business. And, the English language piece is enormous. On education, our growth curve (in India) has been impressive. It is the fastest growing smartphone market. But am surprised by the lack of promotion (in bookshops) of categories such as chicklit. A lot of those things will be read by young people on their phones.
Both music and films have suffered long because of digital, how has the book industry fared?
What we learnt from the music industry is that in order to maintain the value of your product you need to make it available on the platforms where people want it. The music industry did not do it, instead it sued customers. The film industry had similar challenges. The book industry has been smarter - we work with platforms for a slick experience. Therefore we haven't seen rampant piracy in books and have created a market. eBooks are cheaper but there are no shipping costs and no returns, so there is more value. And our authors get read by more people.
What are the challenges as digital spreads?
Our big challenge is how to aid the discovery of emerging authors, how to turn them into (John) Grisham and (J K) Rowling. This can only be done through good editorial instincts and consumer insights. And then investing in those insights using the entertainment industry's ability to market.
Why then is this air of 'books are dying' all around?
More people are reading books than ever before. It is the golden age of book publishing. The last two years have been fantastic for us, our profits have gone up. I don't understand why everyone is so down and out.