HOW BREXIT MIGHT AFFECT PUBLISHING MORGAN ST. JAMES
The following excerpts are from an article on the Melville House website by Nikki Griffiths. She interviewed Philip Jones, editor of the Bookseller. Click here to read the original full article.
Might the appetite for book buying increase or fester in this uncertain period of change? I think there will be a recession, and this will hit book sales. No one knows how long it might last or the damage it will cause. The last recession surprised publishers by pulling books in quickly, and it is to be hoped that we remain battle-hardened so that we can resist the worst of it. Of course there is also now a huge opportunity for publishers to bring out books exploring the full ramifications of the vote, as well as more coloring books to calm us all down. I’ m not sure the latter will offset the former but it won’ t stop publishers giving it a go.
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How might Brexit affect overseas sales and rights deals? Could the cheaper pound in fact help UK exports? Will relationships with European customers and agents be damaged?
Yes, a falling pound is not all bad, and actually some have said that the pound had become overheated. That said, publishers are not currency traders, and everyone outside the big groups( who may be able to offset losses in one region with gains in another) will find their ability to trade internationally( compete for rights deals, for example) diminished. I think the American publishers will look again at acquiring European rights, and I’ m not sure agents will be able to resist. Digital changes all this too, of course, and a reduced pound will enable the big US groups to more easily acquire World English. The drift to the West will become more pronounced. I think European publishers will be incredibly supportive in the short term, but inevitably as the EU and the UK develop in different directions those close connections that we have all forged will become weaker.
Do you think indie publishers and bookshops might fare worse than the big conglomerates and chains? Yes, for the reasons given above: but small presses tend to be nimbler than the big groups and this will help them take what advantages they can from the fluctuating markets.
JULY-AUGUST 2016
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