Under the Radar:Clodagh Feehan, Mercier Press
HOW about this for innovation: when Capt Seán Feehan set up Mercier Press in 1944, he taught himself German so that he could establish what was selling well at the annual Frankfurt Book Fair – and then snap up the English language publishing rights.
“Mercier was originally a religious publisher, and the centre of learning in theology at the time was Germany,” explains Clodagh Feehan, managing director at the Cork publisher since 2004 and the third generation of the family to run the business. “Having found a book that interested him, he would then sell the rights on to Britain, America, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand . . . There were print-runs of 20,000 and 30,000 at a time, compared with 3,000 or 5,000 today for the Irish market. We were a world leader in religious publishing.”
Mercier’s longevity in the publishing world is illustrated by the fact that, at next October’s Frankfurt Fair, it will be presented with a special award to mark 55 years of unbroken attendance – based on the fact that Feehan’s annual trips can be traced back to 1955, though most likely they began several years before.
When Seán Feehan died in 1991, he was chairman of the publishing house, succeeded as managing director by John Spillane, who had joined the company in the 1960s as an accountant. But as Spillane neared the end of his tenure in 2003, the choice of a successor was still unclear – and that uncertainty became highly disruptive for the business.
“I remember I’d been through university at the time and was working as a software developer, first at EMC, then DeCare Systems and later at Pfizer – so despite the family business, I knew nothing about publishing, recalls Clodagh (36). “I was aware that an executive search was going on but, beyond that, the job really didn’t register with me, though I knew that the Dublin office had been closed as part of a consolidation caused largely by the fact that the future was unclear.”
Despite that lack of involvement, Feehan found herself persuaded to join the business on a temporary basis to become involved in project management.
That temporary job soon became full-time. In mid-2003, she was named deputy managing director – and from January the following year, responsibility for Ireland’s oldest independent publisher rested squarely on her shoulders as managing director.
“To be honest, I found the business of publishing much more daunting than the business of being managing director,” she laughs. “It’s a very complex business. Authors and booksellers, for instance, want something very different from our relationship. Our end-users, the readers, are ultimately our customers, but we don’t access them directly because we go through wholesalers and retailers. And if a retailer wants a bigger discount, it erodes the author’s royalties. It can be difficult to keep everyone happy . . .”
Difficult, but not impossible. Mercier grew well between Feehan’s arrival in 2004 and 2008, hitting a new high of €1.2 million for turnover for 2006-2007. However, the economic downturn has inevitably taken its toll.
“We had a tough year in 2008, but we didn’t lose any money or any staff. 2009 was a different story: sales were down 20 per cent and we had a turnover of €905,000, though we did manage to remain in profit, which I put down to severe cost-cutting.
“However, I believe this year will be much better. We hope to increase sales by 10 per cent and see turnover back around €1 million. We’re looking at list acquisition – we bought the Anvil list in 2008 – and we’re considering capital investment in digital print-on-demand technology, which would make a big difference to sales of our backlist, which is already very popular.” Mercier also plans to go live with its first e-book in the next three months. “It will be something of an exploratory exercise, I suppose. The jury is still out on whether e-books will replace the traditional book. Personally, I believe they won’t.”
ON THE RECORD:
Name:Clodagh Feehan
Company:Mercier Press
www.mercierpress.ie
Job:Managing director
Age:36
Background:Graduated with a BA from Limerick University in 1995, took a higher diploma in business information systems from UCC in 1998, and did Stanford University's professional publishing course in 2009.
Worked as a software developer in legacy and web-based systems for EMC, DeCare Systems Ireland and Pfizer.
Joined the family business, Mercier Press, in 2003, becoming deputy managing director, and then managing director in January 2004. Turnover reached €1.2 million in 2006/2007. Acquired the Anvil Press list in 2008. Achieved the Fás Excellence Through People HR standard in July 2009. Now considering investment in digital print-on-demand technology. Mercier’s first e-book goes live within the next three months.
Challenges: "I would say our biggest challenge is to identify fresh opportunities to grow within a mature industry, while at the same time identifying new business models which incorporate and take full advantage of the opportunities digital technology presents."
Inspired by:"The key message of the Stanford University professional publishing course I took in July 2009 was, 'If you can't predict the future, you have to invent it.' So I would say I'm inspired by anyone with the creativity and the courage to invent their future . . ."
Most Important Thing Learned So Far:"If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you always got. We could continue as we are, a tidy family-run business turning over a respectable €1 million a year – but I'm more ambitious than that for Mercier Press."
