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Promise of life for Barn Owl

30.10.07 Caroline Horn

Barn Owl Books, the independent publisher facing closure unless it can raise £20,000, has received some £5,000 in the first week of an appeal backed by children's laureate Michael Rosen. Rosen called on 400 authors and individuals from the publishing industry to contribute £50 each in order to save the company, which was set up by Ann Jungman to bring classic titles back into print.

Barn Owl ran into difficulties last year when the Arts Council turned down a request for funding to publish six books about disability, race and religion. "Once you have paid a 60% discount to booksellers and paid your distributors, you barely cover the cost of the book," Jungman said. "It is hard to make books like this work commercially but I feel that publishers have a responsibility to make this kind of book available." Barn Owl published the titles without the funding.

Jungman is now confident that Barn Owl will survive. The company has a backlist of 60 titles—including some Bernard Ashley titles and Steve Skidmore and Steve Barlow's 'Mad Myths' series—and publishes a further eight books a year.

Caroline Horn children's Michael Rosen Barn Owl

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By Clive Keeble

Within the next 48 hrs I will be sending my seasonal order to Frances Lincoln (Barn Owl distributors), a timely reminder to ensure that pages 59/60 of FL's Children's Books catalogue gets full attention. Quality titles which knit well in the independent shops ; well done Ann Jungman for persevering, and a special thank you to Michael Rosen for highlighting this issue.

30 Oct 07 15:52

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By Clive Keeble

The crucial factor here is why should corporate book outlets (be they internet, "high street", or supermarket) believe that they should by right receive a minimum of 60% discount. The bookchains expect to receive their 60% from all and sundry to counter-balance their marketing losses on certain populist dreck which goes in on full s-o-r as well as often a co-op marketing "bung". Independent publishers like Barn Owl are,for want of a better word, being screwed if they want to see their titles spined out in a few selected corporate "bookshops" (Waterstone's currently list "Arabel's Raven" - a star title -as only available in 20 shops). It is time for a serious re-think about discount demands, and stocking regimes,within this trade. One Bath publisher is only prepared to offer a uniform 35% to *all* outlets : the books are not cover price inflated to counter-balance the avaricious discount demands of corporate outlets. The bookshops in this country would be far better served by a more level playing field. Thankfully I am an independent small bookshop proprietor rather than an independent publisher : I will survive but fear for the long-term prospects of some darned good small publishers.

31 Oct 07 06:27

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