Frankfurt 2024: Hachette's David Shelley in Conversation

"If a parent doesn't want a book in a library in Florida, we have to be resisting that," said David Shelley, CEO of Hachette Book Group and Hachette U.K., during an executive talk with Publishing Perspectives editor-in-chief Porter Anderson at the Frankfurt Book Fair Wednesday morning.

Shelley, who was named CEO of Hachette Book Group in November 2023, after heading Hachette U.K. for several years, discussed the surprises he's encountered while getting to learn the American side of Hachette's English-language business, publishers' role in politics, his view on growth and acquisitions, and the rising tide of censorship.

David Shelley

"We have to be saying, trust the librarians who are skilled at their jobs," Shelley continued. "We have to be open to kids being exposed to a lot of stuff. And frankly, what they're exposed to in libraries is nothing compared to what they're exposed to on the Internet." The bans and challenges, he added, seem "a sort of performative war, to some extent."

While there have been "lots of wonderful things about coming to America," Shelley said, book banning and the concomitant backlash to diversity, equity, and inclusion, have been "chilling." As someone who grew up a "young, queer teenager" in Margaret Thatcher's Britain in the 1980s, Shelley called it "very, very disturbing" to see the progress of recent times threatened. And noting that book-banning efforts have overwhelmingly targeted books written by LGBTQ authors and authors of color, he worried "from a book publishing perspective" that it might lead to young readers thinking that "books aren't for me."

Elaborating on diversity in the industry, Shelley said it was "important to acknowledge that progress has been made," but there's "a lot farther we have to go." The goal at Hachette is to "be representative at all levels of seniority" of the company's readership around the world. Looking specifically at "intake levels" and new hires, "that is looking a lot better," as are mid-levels. Although board levels are making progress, "in our company and the industry, there is a lot more work to do, particularly at senior level."

He pointed out that during the book fair, there will be "a lot of middle-aged white men speaking to each other in these sessions," and that's "uncomfortable because it's not representative of the readers we're serving." Touching on the gender make-up of the publishing workforce, Shelley remarked: "Broadly, as an industry, we need fewer senior men and more very junior men."

On the subject of the role of publishers in politics, Shelley said he felt "very passionately" about publishers' responsibility to advocate for the interests of their authors and for things that will protect the industry at large, like preserving copyright. When it comes to AI and the major questions it poses, Shelley said he favors transparency and believes consumers have "a right know if something is created by AI."

Currently, publishing finds itself up against "incredibly well-funded lobbying groups" working on behalf of major tech companies. And though people sometimes talk about AI in a passive way, "as if it will happen to us and we can't stand in the way of it," he prefers being action-oriented, and said he believes "we can shape our destiny to some extent."

Asked about his approach to acquisitions, Shelley reported that when considering a potential acquisition, he considers two main things: can Hachette learn something substantial from it, and can Hachette add value to it. If it "doesn't emphatically tick those two boxes," he said, it's probably not a great acquisition, and in general, he doesn't like the idea of acquiring something "just to add size or scale." Without adding value or learning something, "you're just bolting on turnover."

Discussing collaboration between Hachette Book Group and Hachette U.K., Shelley emphasized that "the supply chain could really benefit." Between the two companies, Hachette packs and picks around 120 million books per year, and there's "interesting things to be done" that will help both sides of the Atlantic be more efficient and reduce the time it takes for books to get to market. He said: "If we could shave 24 hours off delivery time in the U.S., which is our aim, that would be revolutionary for us."

Shelley also shared some amusing anecdotes about cultural differences between the U.K. and the U.S. Idioms can be a challenge, and he recalled learning through a conversation with an American colleague that "I don't want to teach granny how to suck eggs" is not an expression in the U.S. Likewise, he was mystified by someone telling him that they "didn't want to be on JV."

He's found too that the way people talk about their successes and failures differs between the two countries. British people can have a tendency to be a bit self-effacing, and something that might come across as "arrogant or boastful" in the U.K. would not raise any eyebrows in the U.S. Similarly, he remembered sending out an e-mail asking colleagues to share a story of a time they failed, and what they learned from it.

"Within an hour I got e-mails from five British people and three Germans, who were all quite happily sharing their failures," he said. "From the Americans it was kind of tumbleweeds." --Alex Mutter

Powered by: Xtenit