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Stephen Page, chair of publishing house Faber, gave a lecture at University of West London’s Dr William Barry Theatre, on Thursday 9 November to an audience of students, staff and members of the public.
‘The revolution will be published: rising to future challenges in the book trade after four decades of change’ reflected the industry’s history and considered its future growth.
Introduced by Sara Raybould, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education and Student Experience), who confessed her continued love of encyclopaedias despite the advent of Wikipedia, and UWL Professor Film, Media and Design Garin Dowd, who said: “The services of Stephen Page to publishing are difficult to overstate – we are very honoured to have him here to speak to us tonight.”
Stephen outlined five revolutions in in publishing, starting in 1982, when Tim Waterstone opened his first bookshop, kickstarting an explosion of bookshop chains, the professionalisation of publishing and vast amounts of shelf space.
Then, in the mid to late 1990s, prices became competitive, with books sold in supermarkets. This, and the advent of Amazon sounded the death knoll for many bookshops. “I thought Amazon was a charming idea, couldn’t see It working really,” he said, remembering early discussions.
In 2007, Amazon launched the Kindle “a shop in your hands”, between 2007 and 2012, the industry struggled with challenges around pricing in the face of cheap eBooks.
“However social media brought a whole new opportunity for books,” Stephen said. A continued demand for physical books has created today’s dynamic and exciting market.
After his lecture Stephen spent time talking to many would-be writers. Taking questions from the audience, he told one budding author:
“Write the book you want to write – the thing that really sings n the page when you read it is he original voice.
“Be relentless, persistent and hopeful, because in the end, a lot of writing doesn’t end up being published. Being an indie author is a completely valid way to publish your work.”
