21/12/2018

Recently the APA received a call with an enquiry about TitlePage. It was from a man who had been in the publishing industry for seventy years. Coincidentally, the Australian Publishers Association turns 70 this year! We asked Eddie Coffey, of Peribo Books, if he would be willing to share some reflections about his career that has spanned the life of the APA and taken his whole family into the world of publishing and book distribution.

How was it that you came to be in the book industry?

It was a chance meeting in England in 1948 (I was 20) with the man who became my mentor. Not only did he love books: he loved selling them. I worked alongside him for 16 years, until William Collins, the finest publisher in England at that time, lured me away to run their Manchester office. Three years later I became their national sales manager. Five years after that I was offered the job of running Hodder & Stoughton Australia. Hodders of course was a very old-established 19th century English publisher and had been here for 58 years. In that time they had never made a profit. 15 years later, Australia provided 60% of the world profits, which was very rewarding and extremely exciting.

What has kept you in the sector for decades?

The excitement. The enchantment of books. To this day, every day is like Christmas. Lots of challenges. I have been very fortunate to be part of it.

What was the industry like when you started?

Totally different from today. Discount to booksellers was 25%. Educational discount 16.6%. There was no such thing as returns. No ballpens. No TV. No videos. And, of course, no internet. No air conditioning. No automatic cars. All orders written by hand.  No lamination of book covers or jackets.

What has been your most memorable experience in publishing? Is there one connection or book that stands out to you?

There are so many. In 1982 I published Australian Cricket: the game and the players by Jack Pollard, an 1162 – page book, with a foreword by my idol, Sir Donald Bradman, AC. We sold 16,000 copies at $39.95 within 4 weeks. That was a very high price. Simultaneously we published a limited edition of 452 copies (452 was Bradman’s highest score) at $295.00, an extremely high price for those days,  and it sold out before publication. The great man signed and numbered every copy. Number 452 went to him of course. Sir Leonard Hutton, former captain of England, presented number 50 to the legendary ABC cricket commentator Alan McGilvray at the Adelaide oval test match in 1982 on the ABC’s 50th birthday, and Alan responded by presenting number 364 to Sir Len for his then record test score in The Ashes series in England in 1938.
And you won’t be surprised to find that I presented myself with number 1 – my highest score!

Your family now mostly runs Peribo. What's the focus of your company today? Who does what and how do you operate?

When we came to Australia, I was concerned only for my wife. I had my new job, our children had their new schools, but there was potentially homesickness ahead for my wife.   So we decided to open a children’s bookshop in St. Ives. It rapidly became quite profitable and our accountants recommended that we form a family trust. Such a thing would have been illegal in England, but I was reassured when I was told that the Prime Minister, Mr Fraser, had one. So, for $100, we formed one and inherited the name, Peribo PTY LTD.   

Later on, a Latin scholar publisher asked me if i knew the meaning of Peribo. I didn’t. He told me that it translated to 'I shall perish', to which I replied that I accepted it as a challenge. It is still here!   

The focus is on book distribution. Peribo represents over 120 international and Australian publishers. They collectively have over 65,000 titles. Our aim is to do for them what they would do themselves if they were here.  My son, Michael, and daughter, Jane, are joint Managing Directors. I am allowed to be Chairman. No job is too mean for any of us to do, though of course we have staff. It is run in the old tradition of a family business and service is king.  

About 10 years ago our local bookshop was in trouble. We bought it and restored it to its former glory. We also opened two more stores, concentrating on fashion, furnishings, gifts, jewellery and homewares. They are close to home too. It keeps us busy and also employs two of our grandchildren.

You were a Board member of the APA in the 1970s. What were the key matters in Australian publishing at the time?

Closed markets. For many years, Australian booksellers had bought directly from overseas, principally the U.K. But, particularly following WWII, overseas (and especially British) publishers formed Australian subsidiaries with the obvious intent of increasing their sales. Many Australian booksellers were annoyed by this, probably because 'buying direct' was perhaps more lucrative.

I remember George Ferguson, the first director of the ABPA (and former managing director of Angus & Robertson in its heyday) lecturing on the subject of closed markets. He opened his speech with 'once a title is held in bulk in Australia, the market is automatically closed'. He was right. When supplies from the U.K. might take three months, who can afford to import when the book is readily available here? I also spoke publicly on the same topic more than once and friends thought that I was very brave!!

What’s a challenge you observe in the book industry now?

Many people describe books as expensive. I inherited the Hodder & Stoughton yearbook for 1928 (the year of my birth) when I first opened the safe here. All of the books published in that year were there. Novels by Zane Grey, HG Wells, Saki and Sapper, etc., were all priced at 7/6 (that’s seven shillings and sixpence!). The wage for many working men was one pound (20 shillings) a week.   That would not quite buy three novels! Now, the average wage might be $800 to $1,200 per week. And the average novel $20-$30. That would buy 40 – 60 novels a week!! Books are very,very cheap today.

Do you have any pearls of wisdom for newcomers to the industry?

Realise how fortunate you are to be 'in books'. I sold my first book, a Ladybird, in 1948. Books have been my education. Because of books, I have become involved in pretty well all of the arts. And, since this is where it all begins, I am particularly involved in children’s literature. It was my good fortune to have discovered books.