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Books with Attitude

Scott Pack, Publisher at The Friday Project, is best known as the former Waterstone’s Head Buyer who was dubbed the “most powerful person in book publishing”. It’s a label that saw him demonised for not promoting the same books favoured by certain newspaper columnists, but there’s no denying that he was good at finding out what people wanted to read and selling to them at attractive prices.

These days, Scott writes an increasingly popular blog called Me and my Big Mouth, which is chock full of book recommendations, games of fantasy tennis, songs he’s fond of and tales of the mad bin woman.

I dropped Scott a line to ask him about the future of e-books, his media reputation, and his ideas for a fantasy book prize. This is what he had to say…

In December you pointed out that the Waterstone’s e-book Bestseller charts had changed — in a couple of months — from a list that was headed by a French-language edition of Dickens, to a place that is “abuzz with major league crime”. Are we really getting more switched on to e-books, or is it just a fad made possible by Sony’s Reader and other hardware?

With the revelation that Waterstone’s have sold 30,000 Sony Readers since the launch late last year then it does look like we are getting more switched on to eBooks and it is more than just a fad. I have had my own Reader for some months now. It was a freebie so my attitude to it is almost certainly different than if I had bought it. I have read lots of submissions and manuscripts on it as well as reviewed some new books from other publishers but, and this is crucial, I haven’t purchased a single eBook. I know I am not alone in this. I think people like the technology but find eBooks to be overpriced. I suspect they will come down in price quite a bit in the year ahead.

Whilst researching your career from the web, I was amused to note the praise you have received from bloggers, little-known writers and small publishers, in complete contrast with the vitriol that’s been poured on you by ‘big names’ who thought you were strangling the book trade as Buying Manager for Waterstone’s. How did you manage to pull that off?

Most of the time, not all of the time but most of it, the people having a pop had never met me or had any dealings with me at all. The exception is Tim Adams who lied his arse off during the interview and then wasn’t very nice about me when it appeared in print. I think he is a wanker but at least the physical description he gave of me was based on an actual meeting. Nick Cohen was quite unpleasant about me in the New Statesman, calling me bull-necked — the tosser, despite not knowing me from Adam.

I tend to speak my mind and am very direct. That rubs people up the wrong way sometimes. During my time at Waterstone’s I made some observations, often about how old fashioned and clunky the industry was, and there were people who objected to that. That is absolutely fine and both views are valid. There was a perception, false though it was, that I wielded a lot of power and if you think someone can make or break a book and you don’t like the cut of his jib then you are unlikely to be singing his praises across your bangers and mash at The Ivy, in publishing meetings or in print. Fair enough really.

In general though, people who have dealt with me directly are pleasantly surprised that I am not the complete cunt I am sometimes made out to be. I am a bit of an arse but not quite as bad as my press would suggest.

I personally find the independent publishing sector to be a vibrant and exciting source of wonderful books so I was happy to go out of my way to support it when I bought books for a living and am still keen to do so now I have a blog that a few people read. That approach has won me a number of friends and I see that as a wonderful by-product of what I do.

So, after that rant what I really mean is that the people who slagged me off usually didn’t know me and the people that did know me tended to be a bit nicer.

How did your critics in the publishing and media world react when you left to become Commercial Director at web-to-print publisher, The Friday Project?

Initially it garnered a bit of attention but I quickly fell off the radar into obscurity.

You’ve been blogging at Me And My Big Mouth for over two years now. What’s the most unexpected thing that’s happened as a result?

Being sent a free Sony Reader. Receiving a parcel of CDs from John Connolly.

What do you most appreciate in book and cover design?
As a reader I like something tactile and gorgeous. I love the untrimmed pages you often get with American hardbacks.

If you had a few thousand quid spare to set up your own book prize, what would you call it and how would it differ?

I have often been tempted to start my own book prize — only in my head, mind you. I love the idea of creating a huge prize fund and then the shortlisted authors would be invited round my house for tea and cake. All of this televised on BBC4. We would chat about the books on the sofas in my living room and then I would announce the winner. The runners up would receive a freshly baked cake from the Pack kitchens.

Posted by: Ben Locker
Published: 22nd January, 2009 at 10:38 am in Blog, The North Meadow Interview.
Tags: books, e-books, publishing, scott pack, the friday project, waterstone's
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