MY BACK PAGES: An undeniably personal history of publishing

by Richard Charkin, Tom Campbell

Richard Charkin's experience as a publisher is unique among his generation. Over the past half century he has been (at different times) a scientific and medical publisher, a journal publisher, a digital publisher and a general publisher. He has worked for family-owned, publicly-owned, university-owned companies and start-ups. In this memoir he uses his unrivalled experience to illustrate the profound changes that have affected the identity and practices but not the purpose of publishing.



Of course there are stories about well-known personalities he has encountered in his career - Madonna, Jeffrey Archer, Robert Maxwell, Paul Hamlyn, Mohammed Al-Fayed and many more. But his primary purpose is to provide an insider's account of the social, technological, commercial and geographical developments as seen through the eyes of a gifted all-round publisher who has made a very significant contribution to the profession.



This is an insider's account of the last fifty years of the publishing the 

essential guide for writers, readers, students of publishing, and book industry 

professionals including librarians, booksellers, literary agents, printers, 

copyright lawyers, digital experts. 

226 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 17, 2023

Reviews

[Prachiti Talathi Gandhi · Rating 5 out of 5]

A 50 year record of the publishing industry. Worth a read for new entrants.

[Quiver · Rating 3 out of 5]

Charkin's book ought to be especially interesting for those readers trying to understand the recent history of (largely) UK publishing.

With my general interest in many things book, I enjoyed My Back Pages for its tone and occasional humour, for its historical vignettes, and for Charkin's autobiographical peek into the publishing side of things. However, in some chapters and with some paragraphs I struggled to engage. I found myself skipping over the many personal and company names thrown around. Bit players, who I may or may not have heard of, avidly flourish throughout, especially towards the end of the book—all to the detriment of the narrative flow. At times it felt like specialist reading. Perhaps a much longer book should have been written instead, with more context that properly introduced readers to people, companies, communities, so that they become fleshed-out characters in the narrative rather than just flat mentions.

[Peter Thew · Rating 5 out of 5]

A confession - I spent my working life in book publishing and my career more or less coincided with Charkin's with whom I briefly worked in the early noughties. So, I may be said to come to this book with some bias. Nonetheless, for anyone who worked in the industry in the past 50 years or those interested in it, this is a fascinating read. It's not an autobiography, more a series of short reflections on different periods of his life and experience. Given that he worked across a wide range of companies in different capacities, his is a unique view of British publishing - and well worth reading.

[Susan Messer · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is a very interesting and entertaining look at the business of publishing over the past 50 years. Charkin has seen so many sides and features of the publishing world, sat at so many tables and in so many meetings. Although I've worked in publishing for most of my adult career, I've always been on the editorial side of things and was grateful to now have this bigger picture regarding what it actually takes to run and thrive as a publishing company/publisher.

[Chelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting read for background publishing info!

[Colleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Richard Charkin has done a great job of discussing a broad picture of British and English language publishing and the changes that have taken place in the last 50 years in the industry everywhere. This industry, like most others, has responded to changes in readers tastes, to market conditions, to social changes, economic fluctuations, and particularly to the technological innovations that have taken place at a tremendous pace in these last 50 years. I worked in the publishing industry and related fields for the last 30 years, and loved viewing my career in these contexts that he describes so well. Charkin has stuck to his theme of the business changes and his responses to them as a publisher, without turning this into simply a list of people, places, and his reminiscences of the good and bad times. A few sentences here and there provide enough reminiscence to set the scene for the bigger picture - the smoking in the office, the extravagant partying at times, and how these things also changed. Despite his subtitle, this book is a useful text for publishers at any stage in their careers to understand the business a little better, and how it is in a constant state of change and development.