In Depth
Octopus' eternal optimist
14.04.08 Alison Flood
Andrew Welham is, by his own admission, a man who just can’t say no. Over the 23 years he spent at Penguin he gradually took on extra responsibilities until he was running marketing, audiobooks, new media, sales, production and inventory management—quite a remit. And then he was asked to run Dorling Kindersley.
"My view in life is never say no—you’ll always learn something new," says the indomitably cheerful Welham, who seems capable of putting a positive spin on no matter what. What about when his role as Penguin deputy m.d. became surplus to requirements in 2006? No worries! "I had 15 different jobs at Penguin so I never got bored, but you do get into one company’s culture. I also felt after 23 years with one company it was a good time to try something different," he says.
And what about when he was seconded to New Zealand to set up a special sales division, faced with sceptical Kiwis unimpressed with the concept, and being landed with a Brit from head office? A "wonderful opportunity". And even running Penguin’s abortive entry into CD-ROM publishing? "It was very useful to step away from trade publishing—it allowed me to start thinking about content rather than books."
The shock departure of Antony Forbes Watson from Penguin in 2005—when Welham was asked to become deputy m.d.—must have been a trying period: "It was a challenging time, but one of the good things was the company held together very strongly."
Welham is clearly a man who gets things done. When at Penguin he variously launched the UK’s first publishing website, oversaw the integration of DK’s travel division with Rough Guides, initiated the full digitisation of Penguin’s travel list, and dreamt up and saw through the launch of Penguin Audiobooks. He has been at Octopus for just over a year, and already he has overseen the launch of Octopus USA and the acquisition of two small publishing companies.
But even Welham must have been daunted at leaving Penguin with nothing lined up. In the end though, he only had six weeks off between leaving Penguin and starting at Octopus. "One of the calls was from Tim [Hely Hutchinson]—he'd spotted that I had clearly really enjoyed my time at DK." A meeting with Hely Hutchinson and Octopus c.e.o. Alison Goff followed, and the pair "got on like a house on fire".
Octopus had undergone a significant restructure before Welham started, laying off staff and cutting back on titles in an attempt to drag it back into the black (it broke even in 2007). Welham joined as part of the new guard, and runs all Octopus business outside the UK as well as helping to run the UK company.
He realised—thanks to his time at DK—that illustrated publishing is where his heart lies, and insists ("I'm not being glib") that he has "not enjoyed myself so much for a long time. You can see things are happening at Octopus, it's a place to be."
He has overseen the acquisition of MQP and Red Books and promises further buys later in 2008. He's also investigating new territories to establish an Octopus presence, after Octopus USA gets on its feet.
Overseeing export sales means travel is a big part of Welham's life (he's used to it, having spent a week of every month in New York during his time running DK). He's been in Florida earlier this week for Hachette Book Group USA's sales conference, where the first Octopus USA titles will be presented, and is full of vim about the project. "The US market was only 15% of Octopus' business. For illustrated publishers it should be a minimum of 25% because of the size of the US, so this is a huge opportunity."
He's delighted with HBGUSA's sales force and its ready grasp of illustrated publishing. "If you're selling a new novel it's a question of belief in the book, but if you're selling a bread book you've got to get inside what the book's unique selling point is against the competition. Driving core backlist is the bread and butter of illustrated publishing."
He has never been tempted to stray into the editorial side of publishing. "Selling, operations and marketing is what I do. It's all about recognising what you're good at, and not kicking yourself about what you're not good at."
He has been told, he says, that one of his real skills is developing people. "One of the pleasures I get is looking across management in publishing and seeing the raft of people I've developed over the years. To me publishing is a people business. If you can spot talent and develop it, that's what it's all about."
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