Richard Charkin on Book Publishing and Great Publishers

Richard Charkin began his career in 1972 as Science Editor of Harrap & Co. He has since held many senior positions in the publishing world with companies such as Pergamon Press, Oxford University Press, Reed International/Reed Elsevier, and Current Science Group. At Macmillan Publishers Limited he served as Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck. He was also Chairman of Macmillan India Ltd. In 2007 he was appointed Executive Director of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. with responsibility for operations worldwide, spearheading growth through acquisitions, new publishing and international expansion. He's also a damned fine blogger , and a captivating raconteur. I met Richard at his home in London. We talked in his garden - in competition with the occasional helicopter and airplane - about, among other things, what he considers to be the biggest challenges facing book publishing, and those publishers who he thinks have best met them.