It was the heatwave of 2016 in Europe, and Beatnik publishing director Sally Greer was in Switzerland with partner Martin Berweger before making the move back to Aotearoa New Zealand. We’d been friends for several years and I happened to be in Paris enroute to Germany. Given we were practically in the same neighbourhood, Greer was leaving no stone unturned so our paths could cross.
It didn’t pan out, but I marvelled at how the Auckland designer managed to criss-cross the globe, keep her business afloat and still have energy to keep her friendships intact. News earlier this year that Beatnik picked up the 2022 Bologna Prize for Best Children’s Publisher in Oceania came out of the blue for Greer, now based in Wellsford. We’re on the phone squeezing in an interview with baby number three due any day. “I did not see this happening,” she tells me, referring to both the award and her pending offspring.
The self-confessed introvert says that looking back, her entry into the publishing industry 15 years ago was a pure leap of faith. It came amidst the turbulence of the Global Financial Crisis and the digital medium about to engulf the literary landscape. “I guess I threw myself in the deep end.”
She jumps back to her days in London, where she lived for five years working as an art director in the early 2000s. “I was sitting with my boss, a total Eastender, watching Bro’Town and he thought it was the funniest thing, he couldn’t stop laughing.”
It gave her an inkling into how stories from Aotearoa might translate on the global stage, and Beatnik’s international and local awards are proof of this. Last year Hare & Ruru: A Quiet Moment by Laura Shallcrass won the NZ Book Award for Children and Young Adults for Illustration.
The highly successful Ripe series with Angela Redfern will soon follow up with Ripe IV, and Greer’s long-time partnership with Moana poet Courtney Sina Meredith (the highly acclaimed Brown Girls In Bright Red Lipstick, Tail of the Taniwha and Burst Kisses On The Wind) shows the difference a decade can make.
Brown Girls In Bright Red Lipstick was launched at the Frankfurt Bookfair in 2012. Greer remembers the headiness of the moment and Meredith performing at the fair’s opening. “It made sense to back her all those years ago despite everyone saying there’s no money in publishing poetry. Her books have had a profound impact.”
Design was a strong influence given Greer’s skillset, and her published books were seen as beautiful small objects; the 42-year-old remembers the frustration of not being taken seriously. “Initially we enjoyed a lot of support from gift stores but we had to prove our books also had beautiful content.”
Beatnik started gaining attention in its fifth year, with a growing number of nominations and greater frequency of making award shortlists. The Bologna prize has been helpful in increasing their international profile, especially with the pandemic. Demand from the United Kingdom for Beatnik’s children’s books has soared. “There’s a lot more awareness and we’re keen to build on that.”
Navigating the ebb and flow of publishing hasn’t always been easy. Greer reflects on the early years keeping watch on the company’s balance sheet, the experience transforming what began as a passion into “just business”.
“You stop worrying what others think,” she says. “It comes down to having the right systems in place and making better decisions.” She praises Beatnik’s manager Rachel White, with extensive publishing nous, as a steady guiding hand.
Not one for trends, Greer’s business acumen means she can rely more readily on instinct when it comes to the projects she’ll greenlight. “You’re deciding who to invest in… after a while, you figure out that in business it comes down to good relationships and that requires a level of trust,” - emphasising the dynamics required for the publisher/author relationship. “It’s not just about publishing a book and walking away, it’s a relationship and you have to be prepared to promote your book.”
Technology should have been the death of the printed book but Greer says looking back over her career and her time in the publishing industry, the desire to hold a tangible object seems to be built into the human condition.
“People ask, why stay in publishing when the digital space is taking over? But there still remains a desire to hold an object, something tactile and you see this in the music industry with vinyl.”
Covid has been one of the biggest challenges she’s observed in the industry but as a small indie company, there are benefits when you have to pivot quickly. She’s excited by the growing number of New Zealand writers, particularly Māori and Pasifika being published by her larger contemporaries - and the increase of similar indie players too.
