Meeting House: Emma House speaks to inspiring bookwomen from around the world.
Trini Vergara is the founder of newly established Trini Vergara Ediciones based in Buenos Aires, Argentina; Madrid, Spain and Mexico City, Mexico. With a Masters degree in Economics she started her career in her family run publishing company Javier Vergara Editor which she left in 1996 when the company was sold. Together with a business partner she launched V&R Editoras before selling her shares in 2018. She spent 2 years as President of the Argentine Chamber of Publications and founded Entre Editores, an umbrella company which saw the establishment of a national publishing conference, a national training school for publishers and a new subscription service book club called ‘Mujeres que Leen’ – (Women Readers). She founded Trini Vergara Ediciones in 2021 after 2 years of R&D and published the first books in March 2021.
1. You grew up in a publishing family, did you always want to follow the family footsteps and become a publisher?
I grew up in a house with lots of books and lots of chatter about the family publishing company which both of my parents worked at. My parents were hugely passionate about what they did and were natural storytellers; publishing made them happy. Whilst my parents didn’t explicitly encourage me to choose publishing as a career, it was certainly subliminal, I absorbed their passion as I grew up and had a leaning towards being creative. What really struck me was that having a publishing company, you really could publish whatever books you wanted.
This led me towards thinking about studying literature at university, however I knew by thinking about the bigger picture, that publishing was a business and that I would need the skills to think about the business side of things as well as the creative side. The definitive moment came after my studies however, when I took a year off and travelled to Europe. At the beginning of that year I went with my parents to the Frankfurt Book Fair and spent days walking around Hall 4. I realised how global the industry was and how it was a world of people publishing great stories. This was my lightbulb moment and I knew there and then that this would be my career, with or without the family business.
2. Between 1986 and 1996, you worked for your family’s publishing house, Javier Vergara Editor. What did this experience teach you and why did you decide to spread your wings and leave the family business?
Those 10 years were a real education. My first role was in both production and publicity, and as there was no publicity department, I had to launch this function and department to gain exposure for our books. This was in a time before social media, so I made many friends with journalists and people in the media and ran this department for about 3-4 years. I then moved into the editorial department and started a new line of business books and published 50-60 in a series called Business Class. I read a huge number of books about different areas of running businesses which became a good lesson in how to run a company. I joined the board of the company and started to share decisions with my parents and other members of the board which opened my eyes to the international markets. My parents had offices in 7 countries and we regularly brought everyone together for one big meeting which gave me many valuable insights. I learnt that publishing may be very international in the way it works but the rules of the core business are generally the same the world over. I felt like a global player.
The decision to leave came with the decision of my parents to sell the company. My father decided to sell, but for me it was shock and I didn’t agree with the decision. I left their house on the evening they told me and as I walked home, I made my decision to leave and create my own company. I did this in 1996 with a business partner and we had many successful years of running the company together before she sadly passed away in 2011. I eventually made the decision to sell my shares in the business. I then spent 3 years ‘in transition’ where I became the President of the Camara de Argentina de Publicaciones (for 2 years) and founded Entre Editores, an umbrella company which housed a new Escuela de Editores (School Of Publishers) to encourage young people into the industry, a new national conference – the “Colloquium for The Future of Publishing” as well as a new book recommendation platform “Mujeres que Leen” – Women Readers, which led to “Women Readers – the Club” a subscription based literary box book club”. All of this came on the back of conducting major surveys of women who are avid readers in Argentina, Mexico and Spain, which created some interesting datasets about book-buying consumer trends.
3. Has anyone inspired you in the field of publishing?
I have read many biographies of publishers and one which has really stuck in my mind and inspired me is that of Michael Korda and the story of Simon & Schuster. I was struck by his story of leaving Hungary, escaping communism, and travelling to New York, and working extremely hard to build his career. He was a ferocious editor! I also admire Beatriz de Moura who built Tusquets Editores – she is fabulous.
4. What is the proudest moment in your career?
Yesterday! I found out that one of our first books published in Spain a week ago has already sold out and needs to have a new print run.
5. Do you find that being a woman has created barriers in your career? Particularly in reaching senior positions?
Because I worked in the family business and since then have always worked for myself, being a woman has not been a problem. When I became president of the Camara however, I worked with a lot of men who didn’t seem like to have a female boss. This is however an organisation that is more politics than business. Argentina is the most egalitarian country in South America, women are much freer than Chile for example. It’s different.
I do however have a personal theory of the disadvantaged. Being a woman is a disadvantage. I was born in Chile before coming to Argentina, and again living in Spain, I was a foreigner, I felt this too was a disadvantage. Through hard work and a constant will to learn, however, I managed to succeed.
6. Do you believe that the landscape of publishing in Argentina encourages women to become involved in the industry? Do you believe more needs to be done to support women to get into senior positions in the industry?
More needs to be done to get women into senior positions. We need to have more self-belief and confidence to aspire to senior positions. There are few female CEOs in Argentina. The School of Publishing which I established had many women as teachers providing some great role models.
7. Your new publishing house Trini Vergara Ediciones is based in three countries: Spain, Mexico and Argentina, and publishes all its books, in all formats, simultaneously in all three countries. What have been the challenges in starting your own publishing house, especially given that it has bases in 3 different countries?
From an early age I learnt that you must think globally and not just locally. Argentina is an important but complicated country and the Mexican and Spanish markets are the biggest. By having offices in those 3 markets you are covering almost 80% of the Spanish speaking book market.
By having local offices, you can develop local authors, understand local tastes and needs, and react quickly. I spent 2 years preparing the company to be able to publish simultaneously in all 3 markets in all formats which is definitely a challenge. I have an experienced team however across all 3 offices and we communicate every day. For me having this programme of simultaneous publishing was extremely important.
We publish commercial fiction under 2 imprints (Motus for thrillers and Gamon for fantasy).
8. What excites you the most about the future of the international publishing industry?
I’m excited about the new opportunities for small publishers and small bookstores. Digital is more egalitarian and provides many more opportunities to reach more readers. Across the industry we have consolidation of the market and we have Amazon but I don’t feel threatened by the big groups and I feel like online bookselling is democratic. I believe we can be successful despite the market being consolidated. Agents and booksellers are paying more attention to new publishers, small publishers that have commitment, originality and passion, and renewed ideas. We are seeing many new authors emerging from many different countries which is exciting and more agents and publishers bringing these voices to the world.
9. Do you have any advice for other women looking to succeed in the industry?
Work hard, be successful and fulfil your goals. I follow 4 rules;
- Show commitment to your cause or goal. Really go for it and be committed – which will help you all the way.
- Planning – in the medium term – not short and long term. You must imagine yourself and what you want to do, where you want to be.
- Adapt, adapt, adapt. Play by the rules but be creative!
- Educate yourself in your speciality; prepare yourself, take courses, download webinars, speak with colleagues, learn as much as you can.
You are then a warrior.
Emma’s always looking for more Meeting House interviewees. To take part please get in touch via Twitter, Facebook or info@womeninpublishing.org.
Meeting House: Emma House speaks to inspiring bookwomen from around the world.
Véronique Fontaine has been leading the award-winning publishing house, Fonfon, since it was established in 2010. A digital creation specialist, Véronique is experienced in developing innovative literary projects, such as Fonfon apps and the Curious critters club. Her dedication to the Quebec book industry is well-known and she holds a number of industry positions; vice-president of the Association nationale des éditeurs de livres (ANEL) and president of its digital, technologic and innovation committee and member of the Salon du Livre de Montréal corporation. Véronique is also a collaborator on various projects carried out by two university research chairs.
1. Why did you decide on a career in publishing and what was your pathway into the industry?
This is a long story! It is also a sad story that turned out to be a beautiful one. At first, I wanted to be a classical musician and had no plans to work in publishing. My dream was to play clarinet in a professional orchestra. I studied classical music at university, and achieved a Masters degree in clarinet interpretation. However, in August 2007, three months after I finished, a tragedy happened. My father died from a heart attackwhich was a shock for my family because he was in very good shape and was only 52 years old.
My father was working as a teacher in a college for future policemen and future investigators. He was himself a retired crime scene specialist, and in 2003 created his own publishing house, Les Éditions André Fontaine, to publish reference books. When he suddenly died, his publishing house already had a good reputation in this field. He was the only one working in the business, so when he died, my two sisters and I decided to take it over. I think it was a way to work through our grief, feeling that we could do something for him, keeping him and his name alive in a certain way. This was my introduction into the publishing industry, and I still work with crime scene specialists for Les Éditions André Fontaine today.
The childrens’ books publishing house came about because one of my sisters had the first baby of the family the night before our father died, meaning that they didn’t have the chance to meet. So, my sister decided to write a story for her son, sharing memories of our father with his grandson. We then decided that we would publish this book for our friends and family. Ninon Pelletier, a talented artist, fell in love with the text and agreed to do the artwork. We met significant people working in the industry who helped us, and a few months later, we had a beautiful book in our hands, and 2000 printed copies – way too many for just our friends and family! By March 2010, we had launched ‘Fonfon’ – the new imprint of our publishing house, specializing in picture books for children. A kind of tribute to our father, because Fonfon was his nickname when he was young. From this I discovered my love for working with illustrators, and authors and we continued to publish children’s books.
2. Do you have a career highlight?
I have many accomplishments that I’m quite proud of because I worked so hard to develop the publishing house! But I think that ‘Fonfon Interactive’, a huge digital production that we launched in 2016, is an important moment in my career. We had special funding to develop this experimental project of book apps, which we wanted to develop into something special in digital publishing. We worked with authors, illustrators, musicians, actors and a big team of digital developers and designers to optimize the user experience. I learnt a lot doing this production, it was the first project of this magnitude in the book industry in Québec.
After that, publishers on the board of the association (ANEL) asked me to get involved in the association and proposed I become the president of its digital, technologic and innovation committee. I accepted the offer and I’m still in this role today, and in 2019, I became the vice-president of the association.
3. Who or what have you been inspired by in the publishing industry?
It may sound strange, but my greatest inspiration comes from my musical background. I like to say that working on a text for a picture book is like creating music. Because most of the time, the texts will be read out loud, by the parents or the teachers, the musicality of the text is very important. I’m always looking for good rhythm in a sentence, the good intension, the nuance, and those parameters are also important elements in music. I do the same with illustrations. Are they fluid? Do the illustrations have enough space to breathe? Those are competences from my musical background, and they influence my work each day!
Because I was a musician, I know how it is to live as an artist, I know that it’s not easy and there are a lot of challenges that form your art. As such, the most important part of my work is to be respectful to the vision of the creators and to offer them the best conditions I can to support and recognize them.
4. What have you found to be your biggest challenges in publishing?
The first five years were the most difficult. There were challenges everywhere ! Building the reputation of the publishing house, learning how to do the work, understanding the law and managing the copyrights, and finding my place in the publishing industry. At first, my sisters were working in the publishing house with me, but they left in 2012 to work in other fields, so being alone from 2012 to 2016 was definitely the hardest part. Doing the multiple book fairs in Québec, managing the production of the books, managing the finance, working with the distributor. Sometimes, I look back on this period and I don’t know where I found the energy to do it all! During this time, I was working with freelancers for the production part, and it was only in 2016 that I hired my first employee. Now, we are still a tiny publishing house, but we are a team of five (all women)!
5. Tell us more about Fonfon and the interactive aspect.
The Fonfon series is designed to stimulate a love of reading in children aged 3 to 8, with colourful, engaging books that educate, enrich and entertain, all made entirely in Québec with eco-friendly materials.
Fonfon holds its talented authors and illustrators in high regard and embraces a vision of sustainability, releasing only a limited number of new publications each year to ensure a focus on carefully curated and beautifully crafted stories that will keep appealing to children’s imaginations for years to come. We have three collections:
• Stories for laughing: This collection is all about enabling children to experience the sheer pleasure of diving headfirst into a great story.
• Stories for living: A collection of picture books for children that tackle sensitive topics or address thought-provoking themes – these are the kinds of books every good bookstore needs!
• Stories for reading: Stories for Reading is a collection for early readers designed to spark the joy of reading through short stories that leave ample room for the imagination!
We also have La boîte à pitons, which is the digital part of our production. In this collection, we published Fonfon interactive, these tablet applications immerse children in a story and empower them to try their hand at being an author themselves…The apps are designed to appeal to 3 to 8-year-olds and have been developed for both home and school use. They are available in English and French.
Finally, we publish audiobooks, with well-known actors and composers. This part of my work is an interesting one, for the publisher and musician that I am!
6. Has the pandemic had an impact on Fonfon, have you started doing anything differently?
The main difference is that my team have worked from home since the beginning of the crisis, so I’m the only one at the office. We had to work differently, like every business, and to develop new way to communicate daily. We have created more digital and audio products. We also decided to publish more digital content to promote our new releases, we participated at the book fair on a web platform… Well, as everyone has, I think!
7. What is the situation for women in publishing in Canada? Are there many in senior leadership positions?
I cannot answer for the Canada at large, but for the French part of Canada, the good news is that there are a lot of women in senior leadership positions in our industry. A lot of bright and strong women and I admire them all! Last summer we encountered a crisis of multiple sexual harassment allegations which led to a movement determined to end harassment in all its forms. It was another big challenge to handle and there were a lot of denunciations on social media. Being Vice President of the ANEL I was involved in the creation of a new committee of women. I have the privilege to participate on this committee and I have to say that this group is amazing. We are eleven women from different positions in different publishing houses, and we also work with book industry associations. We discuss solutions to help every French publishing house in Canada to adopt better practices. We have worked on updating the code of ethics, and continuing education programmes, because we want to help every member of the association to be aware and to recognize the wrong comportments more quickly. This group of women is certainly the most inspiring committee I’m involved with. The strength of this group is impressive because it is built on empathy and on respect and because we share the same goal – which is to be part of a systemic change. We are proud of our profession and we want to make sure that people that work in our industry do it well, in the ethical fashion that commands our profession.
8. Do you think there are still barriers for women in the industry?
In Canada, things are getting better for women. It’s not perfect, there is still work to be done, but I think that we almost have equal opportunities for men and women in our industry. However, there still are barriers for women, and I often experience situations where being a woman is a disadvantage to me. Simple things like, being in a meeting, raising a point and feeling like no one heard what I said. A few minutes later, we hear from a man making the exact the same point as I did, and then all the group reacts and agrees with him. It seems like a minor detail, but it affects you. And when that kind of situation that occurs each day, it can make you feel very sad and angry. So, for me, situations like these are barriers. It’s not that you cannot reach your goal as a woman, but it is more difficult to be heard as a woman, so you have to work harder if you want people to recognize your skills and competencies.
9. What advice would you give to women aspiring to become leaders in the publishing world?
I would say that I strongly believe that there is a place for women to take in the publishing world. For me, leading doesn’t mean to take control, it doesn’t mean to impose ourselves. It means seeing things from another perspective, it means listening to other’s ideas and being curious, it means being respectful of every human being, it means trying new things and making mistakes. Follow your own instincts! Then people will look at you as a leader because you’re unique and true, and that is what will inspire writers and publishers to follow you.
10. Having not anticipated going into publishing is it now a lifetime career for you?
Definitely yes! I hope that I continue to work in my Publishing house for the rest of my life. Each day I learn something new and each day I meet new people I didn’t know before and I feel so fulfilled. As with every job some days are more difficult than others, but I am so proud of what I’m doing, and I enjoy it every day.
Emma’s always looking for more Meeting House interviewees. To take part please get in touch via Twitter, Facebook or info@womeninpublishing.org.
Anne Friebel, Founder, Palomaa Publishing, Germany
Anne Friebel entered the publishing industry 4 years ago and has already started a digital female publishing community with The Female Publisher, an adjacent podcast called “books of our future”, and her own publishing company, Palomaa Publishing, focusing on developing feminist non-fiction. She has been nominated and awarded several times for her work, most recently was announced as the winner of the in augural PublisHer Excellence Award in Innovation.
How did you get into publishing and what attracted you to the industry?
After almost fifteen years in marketing and consulting, I wanted to set up my own business and work independently. At first, I thought about writing a book myself on a topic that had been on my mind for a while. But then it occurred to me that I would have a much greater impact with my own publishing house. With a publishing house, I can cover the topics that are important to me and promote the women I would like to see and read more about.
At first, I shied away from launching a publishing house because I knew that it would be difficult to make good money in this market with the traditional model. However, I discovered print-on-demand, which allows me to bring books to market quickly with a high degree of flexibility and a low commitment to resources. I now define my work as a publisher a little more broadly than “just publishing books” but have other mainstays and am widely involved in the book industry. This broader understanding of my work brings me a lot of fulfilment and variety.
Did you start in the industry by immediately setting up your own business? That’s quite unusual, most people start in another company then branch out on their own.
Yes, I started my own business straight away. I believe that you can start something new at any time in your life if you take the time and energy to familiarise yourself and start from scratch. I was confident that I could familiarise myself with this market and use my skills and knowledge to provide new impetus.
The lockdown in 2020 and the shutdown of many events in relation to the founding of my publishing house proved to be beneficial for me. I was able to publish my first book in peace and quiet and learn about the business. When the Frankfurt Book Fair took place again in 2021, I was there right away and grew into my work as a publisher step by step.
What were your initial thoughts about the sector?
When you think of publishing houses in Germany as a person from outside the industry, you immediately think of the big houses. You think of bookshops full of printed books, the pleasant feeling of books from the library and the whole market which has a lot of tradition attached to it. I initially thought – before I found out more – that you would certainly need tens of thousands of euros to start a business in the book industry. But now I think that you can also start very lean and agile and that much more is possible than previously thought.
What challenges did you face setting up your own company?
The biggest challenge for a small independent publisher like mine was and is visibility. We produce wonderful books on important social issues, and I want everyone to know about them. It was clear from the start of my publishing work that we had to start here immediately. Visibility from day one, so to speak – despite the pandemic.
Tell us more about The Female Publisher, why did you establish it, and what do you hope to achieve?
Our network The Female Publisher was born out of a wonderful feeling I got at the Frankfurt Book Fair 2021. I was still quite new to the market at the time and had lots of questions. At the fair, I met numerous female publishers who I asked about their work, Who I learnt from and got recommendations from. They were all very open and willing to share their knowledge which was an unexpected experience. In the weeks and months that followed, I thought about how this experience could be translated into a network that would be accessible to everyone in the industry and would be a trusted circle of women sharing knowledge and supporting each other. We set up an email distribution list and invited women in publishing and program management to sign up for news, digital events, and personal meetings. This was very well received and within 14 days we had 100 members on the list. The Female Publisher now has almost 200 members from German-speaking countries.
What does your digital community have for its objectives?
I want to bring women together and create an atmosphere of cooperation instead of competition. My vision is a network that is barrier-free and offers interesting opportunities for exchange, knowledge transfer and inspiration. The smallest goal could be the feeling of togetherness, the biggest goal joint projects. I believe that if even one woman stays in the industry because of this network, takes the lead, publishes progressive books, shares her knowledge, inspires others, or is inspired herself, then our efforts will have been worthwhile.
How do you feel about innovation in the publishing sector?
The wonderful thing about our industry is that it still has a lot of development potential in terms of innovation – it’s very exciting to see how everything is changing and growing. The book industry has a rich tradition to build on. At the same time, we are currently in the middle of a disruptive phase in which the laws of publishing are being rewritten. What does well-curated content mean and how can we make our target groups understand this value? Which channels and media will our readers use in the future and how can we optimize our content there? What distinguishes a text written by a human from an AI-generated text? I think these are all exciting questions that we need to ask ourselves. And I also think that our industry will have a completely new face in twenty years’ time.
How do you feel you are contributing to doing things differently in the sector?
On the one hand, my own history naturally gives me the perspective of a career changer. I rarely have the thought “We’ve always done it this way and that’s why we don’t do it now”, but always think “Let’s try it, because what if it works?”. This brings in new perspectives and shows what is possible instead of focusing on the limits of a project.
Secondly, I bring a feminist perspective to many issues. I want to address equal rights in the management levels of large and small publishing houses. I would like to see more agile and flexible working in the book industry. And I prioritize cooperation over competition. These are all points that can promote innovation and break down old ways of thinking.
You recently were given the inaugural PublisHer award for Innovation in Publishing. What does this award mean for you?
I would say the PublisHer Award for Innovation in Publishing is one of the absolute highlights of my four years in the publishing industry. It was an incredible feeling to receive the award on stage at the Bologna Bookfair and completely unexpected. I know that many women are doing incredible things in the book industry, and I am very grateful to be recognized among them for my work. The award motivates me to continue to work for equality, cooperation, and innovation in our industry.
What do you hope to achieve over the next 5 years, for your publishing company, for your community and for your own personal growth and development?
For my own publishing house, Palomaa Publishing, I can see the German Publishing Award in my mind’s eye (aim big!), for our community we would like to achieve even bigger collaborations and even more members with The Female Publisher. And I personally would love to set up or help shape an international project for a company in the book industry in the next few years. New product development in New York? Digital innovations in Shanghai? Sign me up please!
Meeting House: Emma House speaks to inspiring bookwomen from around the world.
Ameena Saiyid, OBE, Knight of Arts and Letters (France) Star of Distinction (Pakistan), is the Founder and Director of the Adab (Literature) Festival, and Publisher and MD of Lightstone Publishers, Pakistan which she launched officially this month.
She was President of the Overseas Investors’ Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and Secretary General of the Jinnah Society and is on the Boards of Habib University Foundation, Institute of Business Management (IoBM), Institute of Art and Culture (Lahore), and Sindh Madrassatul Islam University. She is a member of the federal education minister’s Search Committee for the selection of scholars on Pakistan Chairs abroad, a member of the foreign ministry’s committee of Arts and Culture and a board member of Kashf Foundation.
In the UK, Ameena is a Trustee of the Vicky Noon Education Foundation, which gives scholarships to Pakistani students to study at Oxford and Cambridge Universities ,and a director of Pakistan Literature Festival.
Ameena was MD of Oxford University Press, Pakistan for 30 years. She is the first woman in Pakistan to become the head of a multinational company.
Q1: What attracted you to the publishing industry and how did you get into publishing?
I was conscious of the challenges in the educational system in Pakistan which comprised low standard state schools and a growing number of private schools which became popular because of the failure of the state schools. However, I was dismayed to see foreign books being used in private schools based in contexts with which Pakistani children were unfamiliar and could not relate. I felt strongly that, in Pakistan, where half the population was below the age of 15 and needed quality , relevant and affordable schooling, the corresponding support from publishers was missing. I felt I could make a small contribution in this area. My first job in publishing was with OUP but I left in 1986 to set up my own publishing company, Saiyid Books, with the aim of publishing textbooks for schools. Since I did not have the means then to invest in publishing, I decided to sustain my business by importing school textbooks and general books. This worked out well and my business began to make a profit by 1988. However, it would have taken long to organically become a publisher. In the meantime, the head of OUP Pakistan left and a team from OUP UK arrived in Karachi to headhunt. They contacted me and, after a discussion, offered me the position of sales director. I refused and said the only position I would accept would be that of country head. There was silence and the meeting concluded. I thought that was that and cheerfully went back to my business. A few days later, I was called again and offered the position of country head. I discussed the offer with my family who thought I was out of my mind to leave a successful business of which I was the proprietor for a salaried job. However, for someone who had joined an organisation at entry level, to become its chief executive was exciting. Also, during the interviews, I had spoken about my aspiration to publish and was offered the resources to do so significantly. The OUP management of that time were true to their word and allowed me to make investments in publishing. With great excitement, I went about setting up a full publishing structure by recruiting editors and designers and actively began commissioning authors. It was difficult to get experienced editors, book illustrators and designers so I arranged for their training both in Pakistan and abroad by sending them on various publishing courses. Soon we were up and running and captured the burgeoning school market with our locally-originated, reasonably-priced but benchmarked against the highest international standard textbooks.
Q2: You became the first woman to be appointed as a head of a multinational company in Pakistan – What does this achievement mean to you ?
It means a lot to me as it enabled me to open the way for other women and give them the confidence to walk the same path. In those days, it was unheard of for a woman to be the CEO of a multinational or even a local company. When women began knocking on the doors of boardrooms, I felt that I helped leave the door ajar for them. Being elected the first woman President of the Overseas Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OICCI) in its 150 years’ history, a body of all the heads of multinationals in Pakistan, created greater ripples and many in the chamber were aghast though many supported me.
Q3: What challenges have you had to overcome in your career? And how have you overcome them ?
The challenges were many and they came from all sides, including internally in OUP.I must commend my managers in OUP Oxford in those days who trusted and supported me through thick and thin and this played a major part in my work and the success of the Pakistan Branch of OUP which grew by leaps and bounds in turnover and profits but also in prestige, profile and respect. The market was a different matter. I was doing field work in my earlier days and would visit booksellers, libraries and government offices in addition to schools. Booksellers, especially in Peshawar, a conservative town, would refuse to talk to me and insist I send a man with catalogues and books. They were terrified about their reputations if they were seen talking to a woman. Eventually they gave in and finally even invited me to sit and gave me tea and orders. I’ll never forget the expression of an official in a government office in Lahore when I walked into his office. He looked as if he had seen a ghost. He got up and ran out of the room and left me standing there bewildered. On his way out, he said, “Send a man if you want any work done.” I think I overcame these setbacks by persisting and not giving in to prejudice. I like to think that perhaps people got educated in the process and realized I was not going away so they might as well make the best of it.
Q4: You are also the first woman to be appointed first vice-president and then president of the Overseas Investors’ Chamber of Commerce and Industry – what does this entail ?
I was elected Vice President and then President from 2009 to 2011. The Overseas Investors’ Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OICCI) is a prestigious and high-profile chamber of almost 200 captains of international businesses in Pakistan. Being elected was not easy but I worked hard and tenaciously for it for years. I faced many taunts from some people such as “How will you find the time to fulfil your responsibilities when you have to manage your home and children?” Some asked “What will you do if your husband gets transferred from Karachi?” I remember someone telling me “you can’t give me orders”. Again, my strategy was to dig in my heels, ignore the unpleasant part of the experience and serve out my term as best as I could. I had to work twice as hard and spend time on chores which others were paid to do but I found that easier than getting reluctant people to do them.
Q5: Tell me more about your new publishing venture – Lightstone Publishers.
I feel as if I have returned to my home and roots after 30 years. Having left my own fledgling publishing company, Saiyid Books, to join OUP, I am absolutely delighted to be in charge of my own business again: it is liberating, and as if I never left Saiyid Books. I have a small but great team who are agile and dynamic. I’m thrilled at the response from the market which is keeping us busy. We publish mainly school textbooks in all core subjects but also non-fiction general books and fiction. I’m particularly pleased about being able to publish fiction as Pakistani authors have achieved international fame in this genre. We have our head office in Karachi and a small office in Lahore and are busy promoting our list across Pakistan. Of course, we suffered a setback on account of Covid-19 but managed to sustain ourselves and are now glad that things are beginning to improve with the opening of schools after six months. We are delighted about being an indigenous and efficient publisher with links to international publishers whose books we adapt for Pakistan. I feel that I am opening pathways for women entrepreneurs in publishing and find it so rewarding.
Q6: And please tell us about the Adab Literature Festival.
I went to the Jaipur Literary Festival in 2009 and it opened my eyes to the power of the written word and how authors were treated like rock stars in India. I returned to Pakistan determined to provide such opportunities to our public and authors. I mentioned this to a Pakistani literary critic and writer, Asif Farrukhi, who immediately joined me in the quest to launch a literary festival. We approached the British Council in Karachi and they rose to the occasion and provided tremendous moral and material support for our literature festival. It was launched in 2010 and was an instant success with an audience of 5,000 and around 35 Pakistani and international authors. After that, there was no stopping us. We had them year-after- year, launched another in Islamabad and had one in London in collaboration with the Southbank Centre in 2017. My aim throughout was to provide a model which could be replicated across Pakistan by others so that it became a movement to promote reading and writing. Now there are dozens of such festivals being held across Pakistan. When I left OUP in 2018, my friend and literary partner for almost a quarter of a century, Asif Farrukhi and I continued with our favourite occupation and launched the Adab Festival in 2019 and then organised another in 2020 fortunately just before Covid. However, tragedy struck and Asif Farrukhi passed away suddenly in June 2020. I felt bereft and have still not come to terms with it.
Q7: What are the proudest moments of your career?
I think the proudest moments were every time I received a book on which I had been working from the printers. There were thousands of such moments but I relish them all. If you ask for a single proudest moment, it was on 20 October 2020 when I had the official launch of Lightstone Publishers which, for me, was a defining moment.
Q8: Who and what inspires you ?
I was inspired by many people such as Ravi Dyal and Santosh Mukherjee of OUP India. They were competent, decent people who taught me the ropes of publishing. I was inspired by their quiet dignity and humility although both were intellectual giants. I learnt a lot from Sockalingham of OUP Malaysia who again was so knowledgeable about running a publishing business but was a great teacher and generous with his time and knowledge. My managers Roger Boning, Peter Mothersole and Charles Lewis were all inspirational people, fair, competent, and gracious. So I’ve been lucky to have had the opportunity of working with so many people who inspired and encouraged me to learn, grow and achieve and gave me the confidence to hang in there. I owe whatever little I have achieved to them.
Q9: Being a female leader in Pakistan is hugely inspirational, what advice would you give to aspiring female publishing leaders in Pakistan?
I would urge female publishing leaders to be strong and not get intimidated as that is unavoidable and inevitable in our patriarchal society. In order to survive, they must have confidence in themselves and insist on being accepted on their terms. Above all, they must never get discouraged and give up. I hope they will not be inhibited by traditions and demand their rights and never accept the lack of empowerment of women as their lot
Q10: What opportunities are there for women in publishing in Pakistan? What are your hopes and aspirations for women in publishing?
I feel the opportunities for women in publishing in Pakistan are many and it is really a low-hanging fruit which they must grab with both hands. Publishing as a whole is not very developed in Pakistan while the number of writers is rising. However, strong marketing efforts are needed to get people to buy books by shouting from the rooftops.
Women’s perceptions, priorities, and expectations today are different from what they were earlier. Women are now questioning structures and attitudes both within their homes and outside and are challenging their marginalization and ghettoization. This applies to women in publishing as well. I have great hopes for women in publishing because I see that they are bold and hard working. I remember a time when women felt they should have less challenging jobs so they have time left over for other interests. I find now that they are taking work very seriously and look for demanding roles in order to learn, prove themselves and rise in their profession. A hope and aspiration I have for women in publishing is for them not to be inhibited by frankness and honesty in literary works and feel that they have to remain within the bounds of perceived morality and virtue. They should publish books which recount the human experience boldly and honestly otherwise it will not qualify as literature.
Emma’s always looking for more Meeting House interviewees. To take part please get in touch via Twitter, Facebook or info@womeninpublishing.org.
Meeting House: Emma House speaks to inspiring bookwomen from around the world.
Ana Nicolau was born and raised in Bucharest, Romania. She received her bachelor’s degree in French and European law at Université Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne in 2010, and a second bachelor’s degree in Romanian law from the University of Bucharest in 2011. Pursuing a path in publishing, she concluded a MA in Publishing at Oxford Brookes University in 2014.
In 2011 Ana started working full time at Nemira Publishing House as a copyright manager, representing the company internationally. In the following years she became more involved in the editorial process and was promoted in 2014 to editorial director. In 2015 she became the general manager of Nemira, and a member of the Board of AER (the Romanian Publishers’ Association). In 2016 she relaunched the children books imprint Nemi, and in 2018 a new science fiction, fantasy & thriller imprint, Armada, followed in early 2021 by the debut of a new non-fiction imprint, Orion, and the start of Nemira’s audiobook program, all part of the Nemira group. In 2021 she founded a second business in partnership with her brother, Radu Nicolau, which will be the first audiobook platform on the Romanian market – Echo, which debuted August 2021.
1. You studied law at university, but decided to go into publishing, what was your motivation to pursue a career in publishing?
I don’t think I ever imagined myself a lawyer or a judge when I went into law school. I was more enticed by the prospect of doing something different from the publishing business I had grown up into and striking up on my own. When I was two years old my father, Valentin Nicolau, founded Nemira. Books, writers, editors, and artists were always part of my universe. I started interning there when I was 12 years old. The summer after college my father needed somebody to cover for the copyright assistant who had left abruptly. It was my first time working in the editorial department and I was mesmerized by the amount of book proposals I was getting from agents and foreign publishers. Before that summer I never really comprehended the ties publishers have to this wonderful international book community. That’s why I decided to take some time and seriously considered the possibility that maybe after all my place was in publishing and with the family business. I went to my first Frankfurt International Book Fair book fair 4 months after that and I fell in love completely with the rights community and the energy there.
2. You moved up through the ranks in Nemira and became its general manager in 2015. Who or what has inspired and motivated you in your career?
I consider both my parents to have had a great influence on me in different ways. My father instilled in me a love for books and knowledge. We’re very alike in many ways. I always admired his passion, his determination, his courage, and fairness. My mother has a heart of gold and a kindness that I can never praise enough. I consider myself lucky to have had the chance to work side by side and learn from both. It’s a rare gift to be able to work with your parents. You get to know them as adults, as co-workers and as managers. Of course, family dynamics in a shared business are challenging, but ultimately it has been really rewarding. When I started in 2011, I actively tried to learn as much as I could about all aspects of the publishing business. I did rights for a long time but quickly became involved in the editorial selection and in the production process. Being a family-run company and a relatively small one at that (around 40 employees at that time) it was easy for me to get to know everybody and learn about their work. Over time, I wanted to understand more about the industry and how other publishers work so I joined the MA in Publishing at Oxford Brookes in 2013. I kept working long distance and tried to apply as much as I could of the lessons I learned there. Both my parents were obviously very excited at the prospect of having another Nicolau in charge of the family business, so I got a lot of support from them.
3. What challenges have you faced in your publishing journey – either personally or professionally?
I think the greatest challenge was my father’s abrupt passing in 2015. I was 26 years old at that time, still fresh in the publishing business and faced with taking over a company in a tumultuous market and continuing my father’s legacy. The support of my mother and my colleagues at the time was invaluable. I had to learn a lot, quickly, and I believe I succeeded not only to maintain my father’s legacy but to grow and consolidate our business in the past 6 years. Another great moment of doubt was the beginning of last year when the pandemic hit. I felt acutely the responsibility to provide for my employees despite the uncertainty of the market and setting a course in the middle of the storm was truly terrifying. But the great advantages of running a small to medium sized company is that you can be agile and respond quickly to changes in the market. And that’s what we did – we transformed our editorial plan which is usually set in stone into an ever-fluctuating plan. We published books that had a good potential to sell online while the bookshops were closed. We quickly rescheduled more brick-and-mortar titles for when the bookshops opened. But we never stopped publishing new titles which turned out to be the right move and many bookshop owners later thanked us since they were eager to get new books to sell and nobody else was publishing any new titles for a while then.
4. The last 6 years have seen great growth with new imprints in various genres for Nemira, what is the publishing scene and reading culture like in Romania and where does Nemira fit in and contribute?
The Romanian publishing scene is very dynamic and diverse. The trade market is estimated at around EUR 80 mil. a year and ebook sales are only 1-2% of that. With a population of 19 million, the average per capita expenditure for books is only EUR 4, one of the lowest in Europe according to the Federation of European Publishers (FEP). There are no government-endorsed programs to encourage reading, which is a very sore point for publishers and library funds for book purchases are at the lowest point in history probably (another sore point). Some publishers such as Nemira, Humanitas, Trei, or Curtea Veche have a relatively long history on the market, having been around since the ‘90s or ’00, but there are also young publishers like Black Button Books or Signatura that are very dynamic. A large part of trade is concentrated in the hands of several bookshop chains like Cărturești or Diverta (who recently filed for bankruptcy after the pandemic crisis last year). More and more sales are done online through retailers like elefant.ro or libris.ro. Pre-pandemic book fairs were an important part of the publishing scene in Bucharest, marking the two strong publishing seasons in May and October. As for Nemira – we started out as a genre publisher in science fiction and fantasy and quickly grew into a general publisher. We’ve always been the proud publishers of classic authors like Frank Herbert or Ursula K. Le Guin, while also publishing modern classics like Stephen King, George R. R. Martin, Amor Towles, Jhumpa Lahiri or Min Jin Lee, and finding new voices that speak to younger generations and write across genres like Matt Haig or Naomi Novik. We’ve also made it into our mission to promote new generations of young Romanian writers. But above all our main goal is always to offer the pleasure of reading to our readers and develop a strong bond with them.
5. You have since launched a new audiobook platform; can you tell me a little bit more about this?
Echo is the first audiobook platform in Romania, and is a joint project with my brother, Radu Nicolau. We’ve combined my experience in publishing with his love of tech to give birth to a second business in our family. Echo aims to bring readers’ beloved authors from a wide range of genres, read by some of the best actors or by professional readers, all in an easy-to-use and intuitive app (powered by Beat Technology). This would not have been possible without the great support of our fellow local publishers like Curtea Veche, Trei, Publica, Niculescu, Humanitas and many others who believed in this dream of ours. We are also very grateful for the backing of Cărturești, the leading retail chain in Romania (winner of Bookshop of the Year at London Book Fair International Excellence Awards 2021), who is our strategic partner. A novelty of the platform is that it is not based on an unlimited subscription like most European audio platforms. Fair remuneration for authors and publishers was at the basis of our project which features a credit-based subscription system that benefits rights holders while also being very attractive and offering a premium service to users. Our listeners can choose between three types of subscriptions that give them a certain number of credits to use every month in our app. Books are priced in credits, most ranging between 1 to 3 credits. The feedback so far has been extremely positive on the market.
6. What comes next for you and Nemira? What hopes and aspirations do you have for your career, your publishing company, and the Romanian Publishing industry?
It’s hard to talk about hopes and aspirations for my career without also talking about my personal life. Running a family business is different from just working as a publisher in somebody else’s company. I guess my greatest hope is that I will not be the last generation of Nicolaus to care for Nemira and our books, that I’m just at the beginning or at the middle of a story. That in the coming decades my children or my brother’s children will grow up in this world and will come to love it like I did. One thing is for sure – this very long-term approach to business makes me a better manager, more concerned with the impact of my actions (or inactions) in the future. This is one of the reasons why I take my role in the Romanian Publishers Associations very seriously and strive to affect change in our industry. Traditionally, Romanian publishers have been very divided and have had a hard time working together toward a common goal, but I feel that a second generation of publishers that are now inheriting the business from their parents are slowly turning that around.
7. What are you most proud of in your career so far?
My father taught me never to shy away from a crisis. Last year in March when things felt as they were crumbling around us, when we weren’t sure what the next day might bring, my team and I were looking to the future. That’s when Echo started. When we saw the potential in building a local Romanian audiobook platform. We’ve learned so much from this experience. We had to switch from thinking as a publisher to a developer’s point of view, we spent hundreds of hours negotiating with other publishers who were used to see us as the competition rather than a partner and there were times when I wasn’t sure if we could pull it. Launching a new business is never easy, more so in these times, and doing that while running a publishing house through a pandemic is almost insane. But again, the specific dynamics of a family business, the support of my mother and sister-in-law (who joined Nemira in January 2020) and the wonderful team that we’ve built over the years have made this possible.
8. What is the publishing industry like in Romania for women, especially female leaders, and entrepreneurs like yourself? How do you see this in the global context?
When I took over the company after my father’s sudden death, I was in my mid-twenties, fresh out of a publishing MA and had little experience. Most of my competitors where males in their 50s or 60s that had seen some decades in publishing and most of them had started off from scratch and were self-taught. Everybody thought I would sell the business at the beginning, of course. I don’t know if it was my age that made them think that, or the fact that I was a woman but almost nobody thought I would succeed. There were only a few women publishers back then, and a few famous editors. I feel this has changed over the last 7 years and I’ve certainly tried to help with that. Nemira’s management team is exclusively female. 80% of my editorial team is female and you can see that in the selection of the books we publish. On the other hand – the most important literary agency in Romania – Simona Kessler Literary Agency – is run by Simona and a team of strong-willed women. New publishers have taken flight in the last years that drive the feminist debate – like Black Button Books or Hecate. Female readers outnumber male readers, and it’s about time the publishing scene reflect that too. To put it in the global context – the me too movement never had a lot of force here. There were never any public scandals or outings like the ones that happened in France and elsewhere.
9. Are there any specific programmes or support schemes for women in publishing? Again, especially to reach leadership roles.
No, not really. I’ve tried to implement that in my company but there’s nothing official in the industry. You’ve given me something to think about. I think the main challenge for women in publishing now are children. I’ve seen many women that have tried to do both – have a career as an editor and have a family – been forced to take a step back to focus on raising their infant children. Childcare is expensive and most times they don’t have the support of their family. It’s an impossible choice – do I spend time with my child and care for their education or do I put in the hours at work to promote in the company? Nobody should have to decide between the two but it’s a reality for a lot of my peers.
10. Do you have any advice for women looking to succeed in leadership positions in publishing?
I think that the best advice would be to find a supporting partner. And a publisher where you like the culture and the people you work with so you can grow there. Those two are immensurable to me. Also – don’t get boxed in. Try different positions in a publishing house. A lot of people think they want to work in editorial, but they might have a good brain for sales or marketing.
Emma’s always looking for more Meeting House interviewees. To take part please get in touch via Twitter, Facebook or info@womeninpublishing.org.
Meeting House: Emma House speaks to inspiring bookwomen from around the world.
The ARI Agency was established by Arevik Ashkharoyan who, having worked for 10 years in the corporate world decided to pursue a career inspired by her love of reading. She started a literary agency with a partner in 2010 and helped establish the Armenian Literature Foundation in 2014. In 2016 she launched The ARI Literary and Talent Agency to represent literary and creative talent of Armenian origin from all around the world.
In 2017 Arevik launched a non-profit organisation – the ‘ARI Literature Foundation’ to implement projects aimed at the development of the publishing sector, establishing international dialogue and promoting reading and writing.
1. How did you get into the publishing industry – what is your journey to now running ARI Agency? How did you manage to move from the corporate world to publishing?
The first 10 years of my working life was spent working at international and local non-profits and state organizations, and right before my 30th birthday I realized that I want to do something of my own and to stop working 9 to 6 for someone else. This was a very important and life changing decision which I will never regret. I didn’t know what I wanted to do at that point, but I knew that I really wanted to work with books, as reading has always been my passion and publishing industry sounded very attractive to me.
I talked to a publisher acquaintance of mine about this and he told me that there was a missing link in the local industry called a literary agent. I had to literally google it and watch some movies about writers and their agents. That’s when I started researching the local literary scene, reading contemporary authors and was surprised at what I found. Small countries like Armenia, especially those with a soviet past, have a bad tradition of underestimating their own writers. My generation was brought up on Tolstoy and Dostoevsky; the mark of big empires on smaller nations is always overwhelming. But for Armenia, with an ancient history and “glorious” past we are so proud of, it takes time to accept the values of modern times.
So, I started the first ever literary agency in Armenia with a partner. I learnt the job from ground zero, how publishing industry works – not only locally but internationally. In about a year, it was obvious to me that this would be the job I would do for the rest of my life, and in 2016 I left my business partner and established ARI Literary and Talent Agency. Now I work with around 15 Armenian contemporary writers, as well as promising emerging writers or total newcomers. Among my clients are indeed some of the best authors in Armenia and I am proud to be working with them.
2. What challenges have you faced in your career and how have you overcome them?
The first challenge you face when you represent literature from a small country is pitching it to publishers who have never heard of your country. You need to tell them where you come from and give them some background about your country, language and history before you start talking about literature.
Another challenge was to realise that only agenting and selling rights of Armenian authors wouldn’t earn me a living wage, let alone run a company. However, it was also obvious that I wasn’t going to give up this profession for an employed role. So, we started offering services to help us cover necessary costs. And now we also have a long list of clients – independent local publishers who buy rights with our help.
The others problems we face include the lack of creative writing training and other necessary conditions for the development of the book market in Armenia and its promotion worldwide. To solve this, I established a non-profit organization called the ARI Literature Foundation, which is implementing projects to provide those conditions not only for me, but the wider industry. ARI Foundation is now implementing such projects as Write in Armenia International Writing Camp to create dialogue between young and emerging writers from different countries and to find and train the new generation of Armenian writers. Another project we do is Let’s Read! Clubs, to promote reading from a young age and ensure a new generation of readers. A recent endeavour – Zabel International Women Writers Forum, which we are starting in October 2020 – is to invite established women writers from all over the world share their experiences and empower young women writers in their future career.
The biggest challenge, though, is the lack of professional literary translators from Armenian into many languages. We have tailored a Translators’ Association and Residency Program and are now trying to find funding for its implementation.
I do understand that most of these issues should be solved by the government, or, at least, by governmental funding of non-profits to implement this kind of projects. But, I think, and this is not only true of Armenia, changes first come from individuals before they find solutions in the cultural policies and later state funded programmes. At least there is the translation support project from the national Library of Armenia which is called ‘Armenian Literature in Translation’, which is also a result of private and non-profit representatives, including myself, lobbing for it for years.
3. What do you most enjoy about your job?
I really enjoy book fairs; these are always my happy moments. And of course, with every new edition of the books, it’s like a new and stronger motivation to continue my work. But there are many other moments to look forward to, such as conversations with writers and feedback of readers.
Once a friend of mine told mine that it must be amazing to get paid for reading books. Yes, it is amazing, unless you have to first earn the money then to pay yourself. But it is still worth it.
4. What have been the highlights of your career in publishing?
Every next rights deal is a special highlight for me. These deals are made with such difficulty and the foreign editions come so late that I haven’t yet got used to the moment of holding a physical copy of a new foreign edition of a book I represent in my hands.
So, I do believe that the real highlights are still to come and one of them would be to sell movie rights to one of our books. I represent a wonderful fantasy novel, which has a great movie potential.
5. What is so special about Armenian writers?
Every literature is special in its way. Armenian literature has some outstanding storylines and ideas which can be described as search for identity at national and personal levels.
Armenian contemporary writers have lived through many shocking and life changing events. The collapse of an “Empire” after 70 years of Soviet reign in the region, finally gained a long-desired independence, which came with its hardships and a regional conflict, still unresolved, and a genetic memory of a Genocide. All these and our incredible pride of our ancient history, gave birth to a literature about struggle for independence, preservation of identity and creation of the new culture. Of course, we can name a dozen of countries with similar topics in their literature. But what’s outstanding in the contemporary Armenian literature is the new language that authors are creating to express themselves and the new realities. There has always been a gap between our literary and spoken languages and the current generation is working towards narrowing the crack. The contemporary novels are not strictly plot driven. Most of them are post-modern, a belated new Armenian post modernity.
Apart from these literary fiction titles, we do have some commercial genre fiction as well, such as high fantasy and fantasy-romance. But it is difficult with commercial fiction, since being a WRITER in Armenia used to mean something different than in the most of the world. It was considered a sacred person, and literature a holy place. It is this stereotype that the new generation is now breaking and creating great literature for everyone and not only the select few.
Anyway, the novels and short fiction that I represent are selected to fit different readers and will come as a surprise to many of them worldwide.
6. Has anyone inspired you?
I was quite inspired by some agents who I met in the very beginning of my career and all three of them have become my mentors, I still keep contact, work with them and hang out at book fairs around the world. My godmother in agenting is Bettina Nibbe from Nibbe Literary Agency in Munich, who I met during her trip to Armenia for a publishers’ forum in 2011. And the other mentors and friends are Nermin Mollaoglu from Kalem Literary Agency, Istanbul and Rema Dilan from Peter Lampack Agency, NY. Outstanding women and personalities.
7. What is the situation for women in publishing in Armenia?
The situation is very complicated. There are neither many female publishers, nor writers. However, women are a majority within translators. Armenia has a controversial history of women in leadership, such as the first woman diplomat in the early 20th century, whereas in many European countries women still couldn’t vote, and, at the same time, quite a traditional and conservative society later. Right now, with revolution and government change two years ago, the situation is slowly changing, but there is still along way to go for women to break through in this sector and many others. The question why there are not many women writers among outstanding classics is unfortunately still not clear to many. And the question about why there are not many today in contemporary Armenia is still to be answered. It is interesting that when we do a creative writing programme for young writers 90% of applicants are young women. But as it comes to getting first books published, it is vice versa. Something is preventing young women from choosing writing as a career and the reason could be a viewpoint around a woman writer in a traditional and conservative society. But this will change gradually with every success that women are having these days.
8. What do you do in your spare time?
My job is a lifestyle. My spare time is spent mostly on reading or watching movies. But since I am also a proud mother of two, I try to spend as much of my free time with them as possible. But apparently my best communication with kids is either through reading for them or discussing the books they have read. They are great readers and I find it very effective to teach them things through the books I offer them to read.
Emma’s always looking for more Meeting House interviewees. To take part please get in touch via Twitter, Facebook or info@womeninpublishing.org.