26/10/2020
It’s not often that you get to hear from across the spectrum of publishing in one place at one time – both educational and trade – but that’s one of the many positive outcomes of COVID-19.
Facilitated by the APA’s President Lee Walker, four more industry leaders from schools, scholarly, independent and general trade publishing houses joined a panel to reflect on 2020 and the impact of lockdowns and restrictions on the book industry.
Trade publishing was represented by Louise Sherwin-Stark from Hachette Australia and Ben James from University of Queensland Press, while the scholarly educational sector had Andrew Stammer from CSIRO and David Barnett from Pearson Australia.
The panel touched on the positives and challenges the sector has faced. Many more positives were noted than negatives, so if you’re looking for something upbeat than what you may have experienced this last year, you’d benefit from watching this conversation back.
The “thirst and power of good digital” platforms for working and learning online, reaching audiences in their homes and having more connection with those living and working regionally was discussed. Of note was the acceleration of digital platforms in all areas of the trade. Walker noted a recent Mackenzie report which says digital has advanced seven years in the last six-nine months.
Another positive mentioned was the fact that reading activity is up – especially print books. With so many people connecting via Zoom, downtime has been sought in a hardcopy read. This was universally noted, as even science-related magazines from CSIRO have seen an increase in downloads and sales, supporting students as they worked from home. Scientists and field workers, Stammer mentions, were unable to go to the lab or “do their usual work”, but they were able to turn to reading journals.
Barnett spoke about Pearson’s Global Learner Survey, including the responses of more than 1000 Australians, which suggests:
- 78% of respondents believe Primary, Secondary and Tertiary education will fundamentally change because of COVID-19 with an increased role of Online Learning at Schools and Universities.
- Trust and confidence in education has maintained and there’s strong support for Australia’s educational sector in its response to COVID.
- The digital divide is more pronounced due to the changes seen in education delivery online.
- There is decreasing value placed on University degrees and more on vocational education (which could provide an opportunity for publishers.)
Ultimately, Barnett suggests, there’s a need to invest in digital platforms and the quality of data we are all collecting.
Sherwin-Stark spoke about the position of publishers in the Black Lives Matter movement seeing a surge in sales on books about race. “Published material was there and the audience came. It was ready to go.” She also says, “Books are a trusted source of information, and in a world of fake news, people have been turning to them, in order to understand the situation better and to improve themselves to impact on the wider circumstances.”
Sherwin-Stark also gave a huge shout out to the innovations of booksellers across the country; and spoke of the events happening with the new look Australia Reads, that aims to get those new and returned readers since the pandemic to “develop a reading habit.”
All the panellists were very proud of the industry and the role it has played in the pandemic. The collaboration across publishing, and with the wider book industry was noted. But it was perhaps Stammer’s articulation of the value of books and well-researched texts that have been critical to Australia’s response to the pandemic, which was most positive.
He says,“I feel very proud to work in this industry particularly at this time as I think we are making an important difference.
Stammer says the industry has been making great contributions to the cultural life of Australia. On scholarly published work, “The fundamental mechanisms through which scientists and knowledge leaders disseminate their work is through journal articles. Without these articles we cannot make reasoned decisions. These mechanisms that scholarly publishers are involved with establish verifiable truths.”
Improving the collection of data, rekindling some of the creativity lost though only collaborating online with team members, and the shake-up of higher education were mentioned as some of the challenges for the future.
Ultimately the panel reinforced that during this time of great uncertainty, while there are many things to learn and improve on in the publishing trade, reading materials produced in Australia are solid and trustworthy, and the industry has responded extremely well to what the pandemic threw at it.
Members can watch back this and other BookUp Online sessions here.
These events as part of BookUp Online have been made possible by the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund, and BookUp will return in April 2021 with plans for both an in-person and online conference ahead of Sydney Writers Festival.
More about BookUp Online:
Read more about the other BookUp Online sessions: