Pewter at Gold: an interview with Annika Bennett

Q: You’ve been working for Gold Leaf for almost ten years now – you’ve nearly reached your pewter anniversary! Previously you worked for several large academic publishing companies. What was it like to move from a senior role in a company where you were in charge of a team to working for yourself?

A: At first it felt a bit strange getting used to working with a smaller team, because I had always worked with large publishers. However, I also found it quite exciting. It gave me the opportunity to take a broader view and understand strategic opportunities for publishers across the board. Getting used to working from home also had both advantages and disadvantages – prior to Covid, after which almost everyone had to get used to it, there was a tendency for others to think that I wasn’t doing a “real” job. I had to be strict about keeping to my working hours.

Q: One of your key roles is to act as Gold Leaf’s statistician. Do you have a background in figures and quantitative analysis?

A: I grew up in Germany (I have dual German and British nationality and am bilingual) and took the German equivalent to “A” level Maths. I also studied Computing as part of my degree.? When I was an employee I worked in sales, when naturally understanding the figures was crucial; but I have always been interested in the financial aspects of business analysis. My first love is Music – I majored in Musicology – and people who practise music tend to be good at Maths. I am confident when using software applications to present and analyse surveys. I prefer the ones that are both logical and flexible! And I enjoy finding attractive, user-friendly ways to show data.

Q: I understand you have worked on a number of large research projects, on such topics as the future of books, the librarian’s role in HE and shifts in approach to teaching at university level; and many smaller or medium-sized projects. Do you prefer some types of project over others?

A: All the Gold Leaf projects I’ve been involved in have been interesting. It’s great to have the opportunity to dive into so many topics and a privilege to be able to work on the issues that are relevant to modern publishing. The large projects give me a chance to immerse myself in an issue or series of issues to explore the detail – they take up a lot of headspace. Smaller projects enable me to get closer to the client and become more of a temporary “member of staff”, which is good for relationship-building. Two of the Open Access projects I’ve worked on – both medium-sized, one for a German company and one British – were in some ways similar, but looked at the same issues from entirely different angles. I enjoyed the opportunity to understand the different viewpoints.

Q: You also facilitate two librarian advisory boards. Could you tell readers a little about them and how you interact with them?

A: Again, in some ways these are different from each other, though both have a very diverse, international membership and both are run virtually. I facilitate one on behalf of a large German publisher, the other for an American university press. Sometimes the German publisher asks me to contact the German board members in German and I enjoy the opportunity to interact in both languages. Advisory boards are an excellent means for publishers to gain interesting and diverse insights from librarians across the world. They are an extremely efficient way of obtaining in-depth market research affordably. The librarians themselves benefit from the interchanges with each other. Sometimes the two boards are asked more or less the same question, but respond to it very differently. I really appreciate the close contact with the librarians that working with the boards gives me.

Q: What do you most enjoy about working for Gold Leaf?

A: Most of all, the variety. I like working with my small team of colleagues – I do enjoy that. I think that we complement each other very well. We have quite different skills and temperaments and different ways of working. I have never been bored with my work for Gold Leaf.

Q: And what do you find most challenging?

A: I think one of the biggest challenges is keeping Gold Leaf in clients’ minds without pestering them. We can offer such a range of activities that both existing and new clients may not be aware of them all. We’ve recently relaunched the website and gained many new followers and I hope this will help. Another challenge is to make sure the research I carry out remains impartial when I’ve been working with a client for some time. However, my colleagues will set me right if they think I’m becoming too partisan – which, in the end, would not benefit the client. Getting the balance right can be trickier than it sounds – and again, it’s good to have colleagues who can help.

Q: The academic publishing industry has faced several serious challenges in recent years: the radical rethink driven by the Open Access movement; the restrictions on HE imposed by Covid; political populism and the scepticism it has created about the value of tertiary education. Of course there have been winners and losers, but on the whole most academic publishers have so far survived. Are you optimistic about the future?

A: I think there will always be a demand for a published form of academic exchange and scholarly communication. Therefore, there will also be a need for professional publishers. However, they must stay on top of what at present is a very fast-moving industry and find ways of keeping flexible. There has never been a more important time for publishers to read the “room” sensitively and adapt accordingly. And of course Gold Leaf can help with that.

[the interview was conducted by Linda Bennett ]