Publishing Services Overview
Publishing Services offers marketing services for smaller publishers as well as the whole range of publishing services for media-friendly authors. Our main areas are general non-fiction/fiction and trade niche areas (eg green topics).
Our extensive database of booktrade and media contacts includes over 1,000 bookshops, over 1,000 bookgroups and festivals, and several thousand general media contacts, across print, radio, television and the internet.
Other categories include scouts, subagents, overseas publishers, freelancers and suppliers.
All lists include email addresses and are not bought in.
We work in association with Signature Books Services and Central Books for UK sales and distribution respectively, unless agreed otherwise.
Core sales & marketing services
These include:
- Preparing sales & marketing material in association with the author and/or publisher (AIs, press releases, ‘About the Author' etc)
- Preparing individual title marketing plans
- Implementing publicity campaigns (radio, television, press, internet, events, promotions)
- Liaising with the repforce about dues, sales and publicity
Other services
These vary according to the needs of the publisher and include:
- Rights submissions
- Website advice
- Feedback on cover and inside-page design, editing, format, price and timing
- Setting up systems – eg costings, production schedules, contracts
- Mail-order sales
Publishing Services maintains a ‘virtual' office of virtual assistants and third-party suppliers, whose services are available to clients at cost.
Our guiding principle is that marketing is not bolt-on – ie editing, production, timing all feed into the process. Finally, our aim is to increase clients' turnover rather than take on more and more lists. The Publishing Services Team Click on the relevant line for more information about Publishing Services and associates.
Susanne McDadd (founder Publishing Services)
Signature Books
Christine Edgeler (Lucas Publications)
Central Books (distribution)
Charles Lumsden (finance/strategy)
Third-party suppliers
About Susanne McDadd
Founder Susanne McDadd is a former non-fiction Director of Faber and Faber and Managing Director of Metro Publishing (now owned by John Blake).
Publishing background
‘My background is in trade publishing – Michael Joseph, Harrap (bought by W. H. Allen, part of Virgin), Faber and Faber and Metro.
I started as Editorial Assistant in Michael Joseph's school of 1985. This involved the usual stint with the slush pile, then proofreading, copyediting and writing blurbs. Later, at Harrap, I found my niche in commissioning and editing. Eric Dobby was the then MD, whose independent approach to publishing was an important influence.
After Harrap was acquired by W.H. Allen we had a brief honeymoon period with MD Tim Hailstone, until corporate policies resulted in imprints being cut or merged and over half of us made redundant. Robert McCrum offered me a commissioning lifeline at Faber. This was an exciting period, although – in the gladiatorial atmosphere of the Matthew Evans/ Robert McCrum/Joanna Mackle days – frustration and stimulation were sometimes present in equal measure!
A position on the Board at Faber led to an interest in publishing as a business. I undertook a part-time MBA at London Business School where by careful selection of marketing options I scraped a distinction, then became a founder/minority shareholder of the start-up publisher Metro.
Metro established a reputation for innovative marketing and built turnover to £1 million within a few years. After its distributor Biblios went into receivership, Metro undertook a CVA and was sold as a going concern to John Blake. The underlying strength of the business is reflected by the fact that it is now a profitable company.
Although interesting in the Chinese sense, the Metro experience was useful in reinforcing the importance of culture, financial structure and of getting the various publishing strands to mesh together. These have informed the way I operate Publishing Services.
After the sale of Metro in 2001, I set up Publishing Services in 2002, initially as the provider of add-on publicity and marketing services and then, in summer 2004, as the provider of a publishing ‘umbrella'.
Chronological CV
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2002 – present |
Founder, Publishing Services.
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1995 – 2001 |
Founder, Metro Publishing Ltd
(sold to John Blake in October 2001 ) |
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1990 – 94 |
Head of Non-fiction, promoted to Board Director, Faber and Faber. |
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1985 – 90 |
Various editorial positions: Editorial Assistant at Michael Joseph, Commissioning Editor at Harrap, promoted to Editorial Director at WH Allen. |
I am a member of the Independent Publishers’ Guild (IPG), the Publishers’ Publicity Circle (PPC) and the Institute of Directors (IOD).
Professional Development
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April 2006 |
Talk to The Society of Authors (topic: how to work with your publisher to sell more books)
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March 2006 |
Publishing Training Centre – Internet Marketing |
I started my working life after university in 1980 as a bookseller in Dillons University Bookshop (now Waterstones Gower St). In 1985 I joined Alan Sutton Publishing, first as London rep and then as assistant to the Sales Director.
In 1988 I joined Sphere Books (part of the Penguin Group) and then moved to William Heinemann. I stayed through many mergers and acquisitions as Heinemann became part of Octopus Publishing and then Reed Books, first as rep for South East England and then as rep for London. I worked in both the trade publishing and illustrated books divisions. In 1993 I was promoted to Key Accounts and Special Sales manager for Hamlyn, Conran Octopus, Mitchell Beazley, George Phillip and Osprey.
In 1997 the imminent closure of the group sales department within Reed coincided with my first pregnancy and I took redundancy. In 1998 I set up my own sales agency, Edgeler Book Services, covering the general book trade and specialist outlets in the London area for Illustrated, general non-fiction and children’s publishers. With a break for my second child I have been developing the business ever since. Other publishing clients include Michael O’Mara and Grub Street as well as The Evans Publishing Group, a specialist children’s publisher.
In 2000 I added the specialist wholesaler Virtue Books to my portfolio. This supplies non-traditional outlets, (cookshops, department stores, farmshops etc.) with a range of lifestyle books sourced from most UK publishers as well as specialist overseas publishers.
In my spare time I am a keen cook, and sing with the English Arts Chorale and the local church choir. Central Books was set up in 1939 and currently works with around 200 publishers worldwide. The core service offered is full distribution, which includes warehousing, invoicing, delivery, returns processing and credit control.
Central's managing director Bill Norris says: ‘Our publishing clients include general trade publishers, the not-for-profit sector and independent publishing houses dealing with specialist areas (eg film, drama, food and chess).
‘The threshold for taking new clients on is £100,000 (with the exception of the Publishing Services 'umbrella', where turnover of individual clients is aggregated) although this will vary according to factors such as the number of titles involved and the average selling price.
‘We try to balance the requirements of today's increasingly technological bookselling environment with nurturing and helping to build new imprints. Publishers who have established themselves and grown with us include Windgather Press (landscape history), Wallflower Press (film) and Maia Press (new fiction).
‘We are small but growing, we have a good reputation with all the major retailers and wholesalers but try to set terms and conditions of supply that independent publishers can live and prosper with. Above all, we believe in the importance of building relationships across the board.’
Charles Lumsden trained as an accountant with Peat Marwick, gaining his ACA in 1982.
He went on to work as a banker with Hambros, specialising in dealing with smaller companies. This led to increased involvement with the companies concerned and the setback, in 1990, of having been the single largest private shareholder of Roger Levitt, whose firm collapsed.
Charles then set up Charles Lumsden & Associates as the provider of specialist advice to growing companies, usually in the form of a non-executive directorship and small shareholding in the company concerned. The typical turnovers of the companies involved are between £750,000 and £10 million.
Areas of expertise include family businesses, fundraising, turnarounds and acquisitions, forensic accounting and strategic direction.
He was a director of Metro Publishing, where he handled fundraising, the acquisition of copyrights from Richard Cohen Books and the subsequent sale to John Blake.
His involvement in Publishing Services is as strategic advisor, advising on new contracts, strategic links and overall business development. Charles says:
‘My advice, although rooted in finance, covers wider areas, After all, finance is more often a measure of outputs than inputs.
‘If the culture of the business can be got right, other problems are normally surmountable, as, once the financial structure and culture are aligned in the company's interests, success will follow.’
Because of Publishing Services' mixed client base (ie publishers, authors and organisations), each with different requirements, we have access to a wide range of external services. These are provided by small companies and freelancers. Our policy is to recharge clients for such services at cost. We do not gain commercial benefit from our recommendations as a) this preserves our impartiality and b) we consider this to be part of our retainer service.
Our policy is to test external suppliers on smaller jobs before moving on to larger ones, so as to minimise risk for clients. The areas covered include: bibliographical data provision, editorial, design, cartography, photography, illustration, typesetting, print and print brokerage, export consultancy, local publicity, national publicity and database/web support. |
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