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thebookseller.com FRIDAY 21 10.2016 NEWS


At the Frankfurt Book Fair BY LISA CAMPBELL AND PHILIP JONES Brexit-hit firms fear talent drain


Multinational publishers have warned of the consequences of a “hard Brexit” on their businesses, with concerns over whether restrictions on migration would hamper their ability to attract the right talent to work for them. In an exclusive interview with The Bookseller Daily, Cengage Learning c.e.o. Michael Hansen right said his company would consider moving its European headquarters out of London should a “hard Brexit” strategy be adopted by UK prime minister Theresa May. Meanwhile Ian Hudson, c.e.o.


of DK Publishing, has said the uncertainty around who will be allowed to work in the country is already impacting recruitment. He said: “I’d like to be able to provide assurance to those staff affected that their futures are secure—and I cannot. We are already seeing this affect the types of people applying for jobs with us, which impacts on the diversity of the workforce, which we all need to improve on.” Hansen said: “Our concern on the


Brexit side, which many businesses in the UK share, is Britain regressing to an isolationism is going to make it harder and less attractive for


us to do business in the country. We have, for now, maintained the position of our European headquarters in London. But we will observe what transpires over the next couple of months and I will make a decision that is in the best interests of the company.” When asked if he could move


the European headquarters, which employs “hundreds” of people, out of London, Hansen confirmed: “Yes. We might move it. For us it is important that we can attract, in an easy fashion, talent to wherever our locations are. Obviously, depending on how negotiations


between Britain and the EU are going, if it leads to what is now being termed a ‘hard Brexit’, I think that is going to make it harder for us to attract talent.” Hudson, until recently deputy


c.e.o. of Penguin Random House UK, added that although deals up until 2018 were not being impacted at this year’s fair, next year’s Frankfurt, where books to be published post-Brexit in 2019 would be under discussion, could be. “For our types of books, we are asking for a commitment a long time ahead,” he said, “so any lack of certainty or drop in confidence could impact us.” For now, though, he said that China and Asia remained strong territories, but there had been a dip in South American trade. At the Conservative Party


conference earlier this month, May announced that she intended to give an Article 50 notification by the end of March 2017, using a “royal prerogative”. Her opponents argue this would unlawfully remove statutory rights granted to UK citizens under the European Communities Act 1972, which made EU law part of UK law.


Urban goes from blog to book with Transworld EXCLUSIVE


Transworld m.d. Larry Finlay and senior commissioning editor Henry Vines have signed one of the hottest books of the 2016 Frankfurt Book Fair: The Story of Everything by influential blogger Tim Urban right. The deal, for a substantial six-figure sum, was made with Richard Pine and Lyndsey Blessing at Inkwell Management. The title will be released in 2019. The book will be in the style of Urban’s hugely popular Wait But Why blog, in which


he uses stick-figure illustrations and “sometimes epic prose” to explain topics from “procrastination to artificial intelligence to marriage”. Described as a cross between Randall Munroe’s What If? and Bill Bryson’s A Short History of Nearly Everything, the title will “synthesise the complexity of both recorded history and the vast unknown”.


INSIDE  POUNDLAND


The plunging value of sterling is causing


difficulties, say some UK publishers


GET LOW


05 16


Dutch publisher Eric Visser asks booksellers from Flanders and the Netherlands what they can teach their overseas peers


NORTHERN LIGHTS


22


And Other Stories’ Stefan Tobler examines why publishers


may be better off outside publishing hubs


PLUS NEON PLAY Q&A HORACE BENT


21 30


BY TOM TIVNAN


Since Urban launched Wait But Why in 2013 his articles have racked up impressive readership numbers: his four-part series on tech billionaire Elon Musk has been viewed 4.5 million times. Urban gave a TED Talk on procrastination earlier this year, which has been viewed 7.7 million times. US and Canadian rights to the


title were sold in a major pre-empt to Andy Ward at Random House.


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