TIMES may be hard for publishers, but the Scottish Publishers
Association is doing an effective enough job marketing Scottish books
for one former member to come back into the fold. Kenneth Roy's Carrick
Publishing has decided to rejoin the 60-strong SPA.
''It's much improved,'' says Ken Roy. ''Most Scottish publishers can
count on a decent number of sales to bookshops where they're known or
libraries in Scotland, but the problem is the outside sales where we
don't have the marketing clout. Our Who's Who in Scotland sells well
here and there is a market for it outside. But four to five thousand
copies is still small beer to a rep in New York. We miss a trick or two
by being a small fish in a pond, and as part of a larger organisation we
stand a better chance.''
A new edition of his Who's Who is due out at the end of this summer
and Carrick has moved from its original base in Ayr to Irvine. It is at
the small end of SPA membership. Among the big players is Murdoch's
HarperCollins, which is effectively London based but still retains a
Scottish branch from its Collins roots. It's been as hard hit as any by
the recession, partly because it expanded too far, too fast. But another
big SPA member, Edinburgh-based Chambers, has kept a steady course and
recently acquired its dictionary rivals Harrap, who had moved from
Ludgate Hill to Kent following a management buyout a few years ago.
Chambers will now be in a much stronger position on the UK scene and can
afford to promote more Scottish titles.
Helen Kemp, the SPA's administrator, thinks that Scottish publishers
have fared better than most during the recession. ''There is still the
fact that the public are buying fewer books and the booksellers have
been tightening control over what they buy, but because many of our
publishers were not so over-extended, they were able to weather it. That
is reflected in our Scottish Book Fortnight, which has the largest
number of titles since it started.''
However, there are casualties. Blackie, a distinguished name in
Scottish publishing, expired this year, although Nelson-Blackie will
continue as an education imprint and as an SPA member. But if times are
tough in publishing, that is even more so for publishers linked to
universities. Another sad loss in 1992 was Aberdeen University Press,
which went down with Captain Bob's Pergamon Press empire. The receiver
was called in, fired everyone and has just sold AUP to James Thin, the
Edinburgh bookseller which owns Mercat Press. It is apparently under the
Mercat flag that the old AUP titles will now sail, and AUP will
disappear.
One AUP title to escape the sinking ship was Alastair Hetherington's
BBC auto-biog which I featured a fortnight ago. He had the resources to
publish it himself, as Whitewater Press. There are about 15 such small
outfits in Scotland outside the SPA but none looks like getting bigger,
especially in the current climate. Among the SPA membership to have
grown successfully in the last decade is Lyle, which specialises in
antique publishing. Canongate, under Stephanie Wolfe Murray's skilful
management, has remained successful, as has Lochar publishing.
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