Say you had never met Iain MacGregor of Edinburgh independent Mainstream Publishing. Sit back now and mull over what his voice would sound like. You could be forgiven for thinking, as I once did, that it would at very least be a soft lowland burr, his speech perhaps even peppered with the occasional "Och aye, the noo," or "Jings...

When asking people about how they got into the book trade, most talk of a long-held desire to work with books. Caroline Mileham, Borders’ personable books category manager, says her entry wasn’t as calculated. “I applied for loads [of jobs] and I got one at Waterstone’s. There was no real ‘I want to work in books...

Andrew Welham is, by his own admission, a man who just can’t say no. Over the 23 years he spent at Penguin he gradually took on extra responsibilities until he was running marketing, audiobooks, new media, sales, production and inventory management—quite a remit. And then he was asked to run Dorling Kindersley.

"My view...