In October at the annual graduation exercise at UWI, St Augustine campus, Jamaican-born publisher Ian Randle will receive an honorary doctorate for his contribution to Caribbean publishing.
Randle founded the first commercial scholarly publishing company in the English-speaking Caribbean called Ian Randle Publishers Ltd (IRP).
He is absolutely elated at being given such an honour.
Becoming a publisher is something the 64-year-old stumbled upon quite mistakenly. According to him, it definitely was not what he had in mind for a career at all.
"I read for an honours degree in history at UWI (Mona Campus). At the time I really had no career ambition or known exactly what I wanted to do. However, while an undergraduate, I was offered a job in publishing," Randle said.
A British publishing company–Caribbean University Press, started up in Barbados and he was offered a job at its branch in Jamaica. Randle would begin publishing monographs in Caribbean History. He then worked for another British company as the Caribbean editor for Collins Educational Publishers, United Kingdom from 1970 to 1974.
But it was while studying international politics at the University of Southampton, UK, that Randle got his "big opportunity." In 1975, he was head-hunted by a British educational publishing company, which was looking to set up a business in Jamaica.
"I went back to Jamaica at Heinemann's Publishers Caribbean Ltd and ran it for 15 years. It was the first serious attempt by any publishing company of indigenous publishing in the Caribbean," Randle said.
In 1996, he founded the Caribbean Law Publishing Company which has now merged with IRP.
To date, over 400 books have been published through IRP.
But how did Randle manage success when it has been long said by Caribbean publishers how difficult it is to start a publishing company in the Caribbean, and keep it running?
Randle said it is extremely difficult but his personality never allowed him to quit.
"I am the kind of person who likes to jump in and then learn to swim. Once I believe in something I go after it with everything," the father of three said.
He said his success comes down to four simple things: Risk taking, this is at the core of starting up a book publishing company; reinvention–creating new books on a continuous basis; early strategy–don't see the market for the books you produce as being restricted to the Caribbean. And lastly, produce a high quality product–your book can sit in any library, anywhere in the world.
"We have always insisted on producing books at the highest international standard–from content, design to illustration–everything must be at the best quality," said Randle.
He said a good publishing company builds a reputation and clients then seek you out....you never have to go after them.
"In all the years I have been doing this we have never had to run out and look for authors," he boasted.
On the flip side, Randle said there are many reasons why it is difficult for Caribbean publishers to become successful.
He said to begin with, publishing is not seen as a lucrative or viable business to get into.
He said to start up, if you can't fund it yourself, it is extremely difficult to get financial assistance from banks.
"Traditional commercial banks want tangible assets for security. If you start a publishing company, no assets exists. Even when you have started up and have a sales history, you think you can go back to the bank and show them that the business is making revenue, they still refuse financial assistance," Randle said.
"Even today, this problem still exists," he says.
But why? Randle said in societies that are not yet largely developed, we don't seem to recognise the value of intellectual property.
"In theory, look at some of the books we value today. Unless they go out of copyright, a book can survive 50 years after the death of an author," Randle said.
He said until traditional banks come to recognise the value of intellectual property as opposed to physical assets, start up for most publishing companies will remain a problem.
Another drawback, especially in educational publishing, Randle said, is the gestation period–the length of time a book takes to be produced and published.
"This type of publishing requires heavy investment. We are talking about research development, development of authors, illustrators and education. You are looking at least three years of production and perhaps another year for publishing. It is almost kind of a miracle that any kind of publishing has taken place in the Caribbean," said Randle.
He said a lot of writers continue to look outside of the Caribbean when it comes to publishing, not because Caribbean publishing companies don't exist or aren't willing to take on Caribbean authors, rather it is a clear case of not having the resources to do so.
He said if you are producing a reading book for primary school level or an integrated science for secondary level, the system and the curriculum demands a complete series is produced.
"No school is going to take one book that covers one syllabus. So it is not a matter of producing a book, a series takes time, effort and money.
On the other hand, Randle said even if they were willing, capable and had the resources, one of the major drawbacks with publishing in the region is the inability to effectively market and sell what was produced.
"If you are an author, you want to know that your book can be sold anywhere in any part of the world, but that takes resources which most publishers do not have. He said this is the very reason why Caribbean authors seek out metropolitan publishers, not because they are better but because they have the ability to market what they produce.
Randle is now officially retired, his eldest daughter Christine is now the chief operator of IRP, while he enjoys the fruits of his labour, travelling, still lending guidance where he can and is most present whenever called upon to lecture on what he knows best–publishing.
Fact File:
Randle is the holder of a Bachelor of Arts degree with special honours from UWI Mona, a Master of Science in international studies, University of Southampton, UK, and a diploma in publishing from the University of Denver.
He is a founding member and vice president of the Caribbean Publishers Network; a board member of the Edna Manley Foundation in Jamaica and also served as a member of the Caricom Task Force on Culture from 2009 to 2011.
He has been honoured with a number of awards for services to publishing, among them the Silver Musgrave Medal from the Institute of Jamaica, the Order of Distinction, Officer Class, and the Prince Claus Laureate Award in 2012.
Info: wikipedia.org
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