Features / If I Knew Then
If I Knew Then: Richard Jones
Richard Jones is publishing director of Paintworks-based Tangent Books. He did his school work experience on his local newspaper, The Kingswood Gazette, before getting a job there as a reporter in his gap year and once graduating from university. Richard has worked in print ever since, spending 10 years working on various newspapers, another 10 as a magazine editor at Future Publishing and now more than 10 as a book publisher.
How did you start Tangent Books?
I’ve worked in print all my adult life – newspapers, then magazines. When I left Future Publishing in 2002, I set up a contract magazine business and me and my business partner Steve Faragher thought we’d have a go at books as well. Steve ran the mag business and I looked after Naked Guides, which then became Tangent Books.
If you knew then what you know now, what mistakes might you have avoided?
Unless you are very lucky, you need a lot of capital to set up a business. I should probably have got more start-up money.
What advice would you have given yourself when starting out?
Just do it.
If you knew then what you know now, would you still be sitting there?
Probably. Book publishing has been through huge changes in the last 10 years.
What do you know now that you didn’t know then?
I understand how book distribution works. Sounds obvious, but it isn’t.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve received so far?
Do it yourself. I wrote my first book in 1992 – Caught in the Act: A History of Ashton Court Festival 1974-1992. I called in to see John Sansom at the old Redcliffe Press office on Park Street and asked him if he’d publish the book. He said no, but told me that if really wanted to get the book into print, to do it myself.
What is your business highlight?
Introducing Tony Benn to a packed audience at Foyles in Cabot Circus for the launch of Memoirs of a Black Englishman by Paul Stephenson OBE.
What is your business low point?
Borders going bust wasn’t great.
What keeps you awake?
Print bills.
What’s changed from when you started out?
Pretty much everything. eBooks and the dominance of Amazon are the two most significant changes of the last 10 years. The format and buying patterns for books has changed hugely in a short space of time.
What’s still on your to-do list?
Write my own book.
What’s next for Tangent Books?
I’m finally going to concentrate of converting the backlist to eBooks and focus on a long-standing project to publish a book with Chris Chalkley from the People’s Republic of Stokes Croft. More digital, more radical and not quite as much print.
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