The Bookseller.com

1st December 2008

Lorraine is chief executive of Publishing Scotland with responsibility for programme management, reporting to the Scottish Arts Council. She is also a member of the Board of BookSource (a commercial arm of Publishing Scotland).

A surprise attack

15.05.08

At the BA Brighton conference, the thought-provoking Charles Leadbeater looked at the transforming power of the internet to allow new forms of publication and new expectations of the value (financial) of knowledge, information, and reading. It would be, he said, "like organising spaghetti". Indeed a challenge.

Clearly he has never worked for a trade association. Especially not in the publishing business where stiletto nibs are wielded and dipped in a strange ink. Forgive the metaphors -  it's obviously catching.

In Brighton lots of old friends expressed to me their astonishment at the press attacks on Publishing Scotland and their surprise that a publisher – commercially successful -  should try to undermine our organisation, which is responsible for advocacy, development, training and services for the sector in Scotland. The issue was based on money. That much people understood. Who should get the money, who wasn't getting the money in the current year was less clear (answer of course, government cut-backs).

Publishing Scotland, however, is set to gain some funds from next year's budget, the first under the new SNP Government in Scotland which intends to make fundamental changes in cultural provision, transforming the Scottish Arts Council – and its opposite number in the screen and broadcast world – into one 'Creative Scotland' organisation.

For publishing support this marks a real change. To date such help has been focused on 'literature' – poetry, literary fiction and cultural non-fiction – an important element, of course, and one which really needs support in our brutal commercial world. But in a sector dominated by SME independent presses, other help in important to keep the business alive. Digitisation, international rights, training, market research. Yup. Heard all these words in Brighton. With the words 'Creative Industries' now passing round the cultural sector in Scotland, such help is possible, and that's what we looked at, raised our fingers to test the drift of that all-important wind of change, and bid to have some of its funds for publisher projects, lest it should all go to other sectors like games or film. (No offence, chaps!)

They liked our ideas and, for next year, we have been promised some extra money to take them forward. What we didn't expect was a volcanic eruption or nuclear war. Collaboration was what we wanted. And in fact lest anyone think this is a pervasive state in Scotland, actually we've had a great part of our industry in Scotland writing in support.

As I hand over the reins in Publishing Scotland to Marion Sinclair at the end of July, I hope to do so with a good basis to go forward.