Linda Proud, a cofounder of Godstow Press, gave a candid and nonconformist view of the publishing industry and the writers lot as she addressed the issue of poor financial returns for writers.With a background in picture research, and having written a trilogy of novels and another six titles ranging from Christanity to sacred art, Proud delivered a profound personal reflection on just who is to blame for a situation where the majority of writers are earning less than £10k per year. And it isn't the publisher.
Proud began by detailing her career in publishing: a passion for art led her to take up a career as a picture researcher, initially at Marshall Cavendish and then with Mitchell-Beazley, and by 1975 she was freelance. The previous year had seen the birth of her trilogy as an idea and, at the same time, she began a study of philosophy. For the next three decades she wrote and studied, and was one of the top picture researchers of her generation. Her work on the Cultural Atlas series, published by Equinox/Phaidon, took her to Russia, France and Israel in search of original research material. She also worked regularly for Time Life.
Proud talked about her own books, and the years of research she undertook which, ultimately, would reap little financial reward for her,
'Consider England [1994] took over 5 years to produce and I got £7k for it. It's not exactly a living, and one has to work in other ways to earn a living. A friend of mine, a publisher, once said to me:”You have to understand you will never make a living as a writer!” Indeed, my next book had 20 years of work behind it, writing and picture research and conceptualising, all for a £1k advance.'
With her next two titles, 2000 years of Christianity and Angels, Proud earned £3k on them with no royalties:
'The publisher had no interest in collecting the royalties. It causes a ghastly emotion called resentment, and in my 30s and 40s I was really bothered by it.'
She went on to ask 'whose book is it anyway', and gave her view on the current book market as one where the writer and the publisher have been somewhat devalued; with the ending of the Net Book Agreement, in particular, having a detrimental effect: 'Who is to blame? Not the publisher. Not the bookshop, they want their discount and that is right with high rents and staff wages to pay. No one is really flourishing except commissioned titles.' Proud pulled no punches when she landed the finger of blame: 'It's us. The customer.'
She proposed that libraries have given people an idea that books are free, one which is not easily overcome, and believes there needs to be a renaissance in reading,
'People have no time for reading, yet they manage to spend hours watching the tv. If reading is to be fuelled, the books need to be worth it. If the NBA could be restored a lot of the problems within the industry would diminish.'
In 2001, Proud purchased a printing press off the internet and subsequently founded Godstow Press in Oxford with her new husband, David. She discussed the titles produced by her press and the methodology behind them, all the while endearing the Oxford SYP audience to Godstow's fine, beautifully-produced books which are evidently the product of much labour, thought and aesthetic attention.
They write 'for love' in that they do not take any wage from the press (the couple work for a school in London, producing their materials and doing everything from commissioning to sales), and aim to publish books they think 'are gorgeous, that no one else will publish'. This means they operate by such means as buying in stock and selling it on, or buying up surplus stock to prevent them being pulped. This dedication to producing beautifully produced titles, with the reader's pleasure in mind, was evident from their books on display.
Proud rounded off her talk by stressing the importance of their belief in sharing; although unusual for them to break even on a title they will split their income with an author, between 40-50%, and ended on an admirable statement all the more candid in today's familiar corporate environment,
'We'll do something beautiful with a book, we're mad. Books are beautiful things. Why produce rubbish and charge so much for it?'
With such consideration for the author, product and reader, it is encouraging to witness a divergent and creative business philosophy in practice.
