Eyewitness: The Rise and Fall of Dorling Kindersley: The Inside Story of a Publishing Phenomenon

by Christopher Davis

By the close of the last millennium Dorling Kindersley had become one of the most recognisable brands in publishing. Across the range of illustrated household reference titles, from children's books to travel guides, its distinctive look of colourful images cut out against a white background could be seen on bookshelves throughout the country - and indeed the publishing world.

Apart from three minor acquisitions, DK had grown organically over 25 years to be a publicly listed company with a turnover of £200 million, some 1500 employees, publishing arms across the English language markets, a 50-strong international sales force that dealt with more than 400 publishers, a direct selling business with 30,000 independent distributors, and had expanded its skills for delivering handsomely designed reference books into the new media of videos, CD-ROMs and online educational content. Then a series of catastrophic printing decisions brought the company to its knees, and ultimately into the arms of Pearson.

Christopher Davis is uniquely positioned to tell the story of DK's rise and fall. He joined the company at its foundation and in due course became Group Publisher. The narrative he provides is a dual one, encompassing the visionary genius of Peter Kindersley and the publishing revolution he fomented, and charting the remarkable, sometimes precarious, frequently hilarious, roller-coaster ride as the company grew from a handful of people in a studio in South London to a substantial global business.

In the rapidly changing publishing climate of today, this book is also a nostalgic reminder of a time when creativity could flourish unburdened by the shackles of corporate bureaucracy.

Genres: History

312 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Ada · Rating 4 out of 5]

The four star rating of this book is mainly merited by attention to its presumed audience- the British publishing world. As such, it is a four star book detailing the business connections, friendships and creative ideas that led to the rise of Dorling Kindersley (including the despotic, but charismatic leadership of Peter Kindersley which might have ultimately led to the company's demise). It's not a particularly quick read- and many might find the constant name- dropping a tiny bit annoying.

But there is a story to be told here- the story of a huge publisher brought down by a marketing guru who somehow convinced himself that he needed to print 18 million copies of a book that was only supposed to sell 5 million. Christopher Davis is also very emphatic that the bureaucracy and the emphasis on marketing is a harmful influence on publishing today.

If there's anything that I took away from this is that DK owed its success to finding ideas that had not been exploited yet and packaging and selling them in a unique way. Their massive spend on photography and design paid off... their massive spend on marketing (27 % off their revenue at the time of the company's downfall and acquisition by Pearson) did not. Food for thought.

[Meredith · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was well along in my publishing career in educational publishing when Dorling Kindersley's unique look ala their Eyewitness series hit the U.S. market in the late 1980s. Both editorial and graphic/design employees at Ginn (now defunct) were transfixed by the look and wished we have come up with it ourselves. The author describes the look, which emanated from the changeover from physical page makeup to computerized page makeup: "Gone were messy paste-ups and the brief hits enjoyed from the inhalation of cow gum; gone were two-colour artworks and clunky cutaway diagrams. Now the screen opened onto a pure white field on which could be planted a full-colour photographic cut-out image, moved here and there to accommodate text, dotted with leader lines like acupuncture needles to highlight its features, and then given a three-dimensional twist by the subtle addition of a shadow."

This book is a retrospective by Christopher Davis, one of the key players at DK from its conception through and beyond its sale to Pearson in 2000. The author employs verbally colorful language and reminiscences about the people (DK employees, authors, sales/marketers, and so on), the books, and the processes to describe the phenomenal roller-coaster ride that took the company's revenues from under ten million pounds a year to about 200 million pounds a year.

I think anyone in publishing would enjoy reading this book. The four stars I give it are a bit inflated because from a literary standpoint the writing isn't great and there are more names mentioned than matter (except to those mentioned, and I give the author extra credit for getting everyone into the history he could, since they all earned it!) and there's no index. But the book deserves four stars because it will undoubtedly be the only book that tries to explain the rise and fall of Doris Kindersley and by one so involved at all stages.

[Jemma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delightful account of possibly the most remarkable publisher of the late C20th, by one of the founders, the late and truly lamented, Christopher Davis. A gentlemen in the true sense and a bon viveur who remembered enough of the tale to set it down here for posterity. Surely a British film is the logical next step.

Perhaps the greatest surprise though is the darker side of Peter Kindersley. My impression had been of an amiable organic farmer, which appears to be the case but only part of it.