Report 2013 - Kelly Fagan HERE - Australian Publishers Association

Conclusion
jThis report led me down many varied lines of enquiry. As I conducted interviews, and asked questions, and attended
events, festivals, conferences, I kept arriving at the same notion.
We are in ‘the uncomfortable middle’, as Kevin Shockey says. To succeed in the climate as it is right now we as
publishers need to stretch further, to do everything, to be online, offline, above the line, below the line. We need to
face consumers without turning our backs on retailers. As an industry, we are no longer just competing with each
other. We all have enemies in common. It is undoubtedly a challenging time. But who doesn’t love a challenge
If my time in the UK assured me of anything, it is of the fact that books are not going anywhere. Writers will write.
Readers will read. It’s up to us to work out how we as individuals, and as an industry, connect the two and create a
meaningful role for publishers in that mix. I asked Andrew Franklin, the owner of Profile Books, about his strategy for
his company’s future. I asked him about branding and marketing and data. His answer to every question ‘Publish
good books’. Indeed.
Author: Kelly Fagan
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