Number of exhibitors on the IPG stand at LBF EXCLUSIVE BENEFITS RISE FOR INDIE PUBLISHERS Tom Tivnan


Independent Publisher Guild members have an seen overall rise in pay packages and benefits, according to the IPG’s most recent salary survey of its members. Te survey, conducted in February


and March with 72 IPG companies contributing data, showed that two out of every five IPG member directors were paid in the £60,000-plus range, compared to a third at the time of the IPG’s last salary survey in 2009. Te most common pay bracket for managers was £35,000 to £40,000, up from £25,000 to £30,000 in 2009. Editors, executives and co-


ordinators’ most common pay range was £20,000 to £25,000—unchanged from the previous survey, though there are more staff earning in upper brackets now. For assistants, the joint most common brackets were £15,000 to £20,000 and £20,000 to £25,000, with


Perks and benefits also increased.


Just over two-thirds of IPG members operated bonus schemes—up from 50% in 2009. Average holiday entitlements rose to 24.9 days, from 23.5 days in 2009, and just over 75% offer flexible working hours, up from two-thirds in four years ago. “Retention of staff obviously is a key


Shine: “Never been a better time to work for an independent publisher.”


similar evidence of a reasonable increase since 2009. Bridget Shine, IPG executive director,


said: “Tis doesn’t mean everything is rosy, because we know how difficult the market is for our members. But the salary rise does show that indie publishers are able to offer their staff very attractive careers with competitive pay packages.”


READ PETITE SET FOR LAUNCH


A big marketing campaign will launch new digital short story and journalism venture Read Petite to consumers, led by Waterstones founder Tim Waterstone. Te financing of the start-up


company is currently being negotiated, but was said to be “substantial” and contain a sizeable marketing budget. Authors will have the opportunity


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to host their own pages on the site, which will charge users a subscription fee to read short stories and serials from published authors through a browser on any device. Authors can upload their own material onto the site, as can publishers and agents—but the


Waterstone: “Read Petite really appealed to me.”


involved in Read Petite through an approach from Denny, after toying with getting into digital bookselling. He said: “I had been wondering how I should get into digital and if I should. But with this plan, the epiphany for me was that it is going to be a subscription website. With the success of Spotify—that really appealed to me.”


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Discover the allure of our book papers T: 01883 331800 www.arcticpaper.com


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thebookseller.com 15 APRIL 2013 | THE BOOKSELLER DAILY AT LBF 3


BIBLIOCLOUD SIGNS OSPREY AND QUERCUS Publishing management app Bibliocloud has signed up Quercus and Osprey as its first major clients. Bibliocloud, designed by Snowbooks m.d. Emma Barnes, is an online tool that helps publishers manage bibliographic data, rights, royalties, contracts and AIs, as well as creating a customer-facing interface. Quercus and Osprey will both be able to use the system for free as a result of a £30,000 Arts Council England grant.


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benchmark is all authors have to have been previously published. Agent Peter Cox and consultant


Martyn Daniels are joint managing directors and former Bookseller


issue for IPG members, and these packages show the creative ways indie publishers are using to incentivise staff to stay,” Shine said. “In fact, we see quite a number of new members starting up businesses who are corporate refugees. It has never been a better time to work for an independent publisher.” Shine also said the IPG would have


“by far” its biggest presence ever at this year’s LBF, with more than 80 exhibitors on its 87 square metre collective stand. It has organised 255 “speed-dating” meetings for its members with buyers such as Amazon, Audible, Waterstones, Kobo, Wordery.com and Gardners.


editor Neil Denny has joined in the role of chief operating officer. Waterstone is the non-executive chairman. Cox said: “We are going to spend


a lot of money on marketing; we think we are pushing at an open door.” He added that Read Petite was “a company for people who like reading first and foremost—if the technology gets in the way, then it is not doing its job.” Waterstone said he became


NEWS IN BRIEF


HC’S NEW EROTIC IMPULSE HarperCollins is to launch a new romance and erotica digital first imprint, led by former Mills &


Boon editorial director Kimberly Young. The imprint, HarperImpulse, will be part of HarperFiction, and will accept unagented manuscripts. HarperImpulse will release adult and erotic fiction, as well as contemporary, historical and paranormal romance, in formats ranging from short reads to epic sagas. Three acquisition deals are in the works, while nearly 500 manuscripts have been submitted for consideration.


DÉBUT AUTHOR FOR BLACK CROWN Random House is launching a début author with a new free-to-play online narrative game, Black Crown. RH worked with Failbetter Games and the project uses its StoryNexus platform, which provides a structure for discovering content, with new features specially created for Black Crown by software developer Popleaf. The Black Crown author will be revealed on the website (blackcrownproject.com) in May.


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