Ingram Publisher Services has built a network of more than 50 U.K. publishers it distributes in the U.S. across its various brands, including Consortium, PGW, and Two Rivers. We spoke with Meredith Greenhouse, VP and general manager of Ingram Publisher Services, about the transatlantic publishing relationship and how U.K. publishers are adapting to the American market.
What types of U.K. publishers are you working with across Ingram in the U.S.? Who is succeeding?
We have quite a few university presses like Manchester, Edinburgh, and the Royal Society of Chemistry, which are really important in this market. On the Two Rivers side, they have more craft and gift book publishers that are really working well in the U.S. now. These include David & Charles, the Guild of Master Craftsmen, and Welbeck. Consortium has a lot of the translation publishers, like Charco; literary ones, like Fitzcarraldo; and some publishers from other categories that are growing, like 3dtotal Publishing, which does very interesting art and design books and is one of our biggest accounts. And PGW has a lot of the literary publishers like Canongate and Faber, which are both members of the Independent Publishers Alliance.
What distinct value do these publishers bring to the market that U.S. publishers haven’t replicated?
These publishers are doing really well in this market because it’s unique content that they’re bringing in. For example, the literary ones have some really important authors. If they’re not selling the rights, you can do something with them and make a big impact here. On the fiction side, it’s definitely worth a publisher having someone with boots on the ground here to try the market. Fiction’s harder to break out here, so you really need somebody who’s trying to help, and we have marketing capabilities here that they don’t.
Is print-on-demand a big part of this, or are publishers primarily shipping physical books?
It’s a mix of both, because it depends on the type of publishing. Stock is a big deal, because when you are printing and shipping from overseas, it takes a long time, which can be a challenge. If something’s popping, you can’t wait. Then POD may be an option. The gift publishers, like Welbeck, are obviously printing overseas and coming into the market with full color books, while a lot of the academic publishers, and some new projects—like Vinci Books, which is a digital-first publisher, and Storm Publishing, which works with independent authors—use the benefits of POD as a test case. If a book works, they can always go offset.
Are you seeing publishers build out U.S. teams?
Yes. Faber did something interesting where they started a U.S. division where they have a marketing person and a publicity person in the U.S. to try and help drive sales. Some of the other alliance members are keeping an eye out to see if it would benefit them in the future as well. Some use publicists who do publicity marketing, like Emily Cook, who runs Cursor. Having someone who understands the market and knows what direction to go is really helpful, because it is a different, much larger market than in the U.K.
What do you commonly advise U.K. publishers regarding the U.S. market?
We partner with them a lot on pricing. We consult with them on ways to position their books for this market. We are always advising on metadata. And we’re always trying to set expectations. The short version: if you’re just putting a book in the market, that book is not going to sell itself.
How does international publishing factor into Ingram’s overall strategy?
Across all of our brands, bringing in international books from other countries is an important strategy overall for Ingram. Most U.K. publishers come to our sales conferences when they’re in person, and they have a community where they can share ideas on what’s working and what’s not working. Sustainability has become such an important aspect for British publishers—David & Charles is trying to be carbon neutral and has a whole plan where they’ll ship books to the West Coast and then put them on a train instead of a truck, finding creative ways to minimize their carbon footprint. We want to address these concerns and learn from them as well. It’s mutual.
