“Fail Harder.” Peter Collingridge www.aptstudio.com / fail@aptstudio.com

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- Talk given to Society of Young Publishers

- London Book Fair- Pecha Kuch (21 seconds per slide!)- 21 April 2009

“Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.” Sir Winston Churchill

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- Asked to do this 12 months ago

- “Fail” seemed apt then

- Since then - lots of big failures - capitalism, economy.

- Failure seems a bit grand for my minor personal disappointments

- Some things you want just don’t work out

- Inspire you to fail

- Winston quote

- Twitter?

Why am I here?Who Am I? 3

- Not existential dilemma

- Don’t consider myself publisher

- On fringes of publishing for 12 years: Canongate, Film, Apt, Enhanced Editions

- Evangelising about technology, creativity, beauty and the web

- PASSIONATE that Books and web made for each other

- Uphill struggle for last 11 years

- Suddenly all going on

How Did I Get Here? 4

By failing to get what I wanted.

- If you had asked me when I graduated where I would be 12 years later, not here

- Here is glamourous Acton, where I live

- But actually I’m very happy. Working on incredible projects with great people, making beautiful stuff

- But only because I failed to get what I wanted

- Harry Beck’s tube map: struck me on this slide that similar: Harry was evangelical about technology improving something (Tube map) so did it on his own, and believed it would ultimately work out. It did.

- So - here’s some failures

1993: Wanted Oxford. 5

Fail. Got Edinburgh.

- School. Wanted to do graphics. Made me do as 4th A level so I could go to Oxford.

- Worked hard and focused on going to oxford to read english and French. Fail

- Went to Edinburgh, found out had to do 9am lectures on linguistics in this building. Fail.

- Tried to switch to School of Art - wouldn’t have me. Fail.

- French department rubbish. Dropped it. Fail.

- BUT! English Literature was perfect for me.

- Courses on hiphop, film, cultural theory, economics, history, psychology.

- Made me decide I wanted to be “paid to be pete”

Fail. Got Vienna.1995: Wanted Paris. 6

- Heart set on Paris as part of lit (hey, I was a 18 year old arts student!)

- Applied ERASMUS. Fail.

- Got Vienna.

- Only requirement of literature was to speak English. Yay!

- Spent all time listening to hiphop and writing my thesis on Tricky (see picture)

- And getting into books, literature, finally.

- Also got into the internet.

- But - still had 8 am jacobean poetry seminars on a MONDAY!

1996: Wanted to be a hiphop DJ. 7

Fail.

- Had been in bands at Uni.

- Taught me about being a “producer”.

- All about the getting the crowds (and the girls) in.

- No musical talent.

- Worse than drummer: Scratch DJ

- Loved it. Minor success, but incompatible with career.

- Abandoned in 1998 other than Book Fair party slots. Which don’t count!

1997: Wanted to be an ad exec.Fail.

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- Ah. Advertising.

- Perfect communion of my love for language & visual communication

- Glamour, creativity, wealth, recognition

- Fuckers wouldn’t have me

- Application forms dripping with 2:1 post-Marxist / Jameson theory.

- No dice.

1997: Wanted a (Guardian Media) job.

Fails:JWT.Kiss FM.Grey London.The Guardian.Pentagram.Penguin.HarperCollins.Wieden + Kennedy.Mook.Poke.

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Fail. Lots.

- When graduated had zero interest in publishing.

- Lots of job applications that I convinced myself i REALLY wanted

- Ended up setting up a cashmere outlet for friend’s dad

- Thank fuck not at JWT, KissFM, Grey.... other ones I’m still bitter about!

- Then met girl through band who lived on a canal boat

- She was editor at Canongate....

1997: Joined Canongate Books 10

(Parent) Fail.

- Got job Canongate: knew Jamie from Chocolate City (funk club)

- Pre-life of pi days

- “Lucky” to get £10 day. Parents supported me.

- First task was counting the books in every store in Ediburgh. Yup.

- Most visible part of Canongate (to my parents) was Rebel Inc: Irvine Welsh. Gave appearance of publishing the odd pamphlet from smacky stairwells.

- Really good for me: entrepreneurial, cult, fun, creative. Taught me to be maverick in approach.

Second Coming.The Pocket Canons 11

- Fantastic project: republish bible in individual books with celebrity introductions (Nick Cave, Bono, Will Self)

- Most staggeringly beautiful book design I’ve ever seen

- Brilliant. Audacious.

- Taught me that people buy good ideas.

- But it’s all in the execution.

- Also, my parents got it. It was in the paper! And they were proud!

- “Second coming of the bible”. Jamie compared to jesus etc (hair!). Blasphemy.

- Talking of second comings....

Fail.“Amanuensis.” 12

- This is _really_ embarrassing failure. Ego.

- I thought I was doing well at canongate, really enjoying working with Jamie

- Flourishing under his leadership

- Drinks with one of the board, late at night (common occurrence)

- He said “We thought you were Jamie’s amanuensis when you joined”

- Yay!

- I thought this was some Christian word and that I was destined to be the second coming of Byng.

- Until I looked it up in a dictionary.

- It means gimp.

- FAIL.

First business plan.Wanted to be an internet entrepreneur. 13

- Realisation at Canongate that I was not going to be a designer or art director, or editor or publisher

- Self-glorified PA

- Had been getting increasingly into the web

- Friends filmmakers

- Decided to have creative business ideas instead

- business plan: pop promos for books

- taught by ex-MBA how to write business plan

- learned a huge amount and am indebted to him (David Graham)

- Submitted business plan to Scottish Arts Council for £25,000 funding

(Premise fail.)Got Funded! 14

- And it worked!

- Was good idea: make good films, let people watch them, they will buy books from a site that is converting 8% of visitors to customers

- Well executed: Gil, Life of Pi (3m). Others not so much.

- Flawed strategy. People watched but didn’t buy. In their millions.

- Fail.

- Made me resolute to focus on commercial AND creative success.

- To this day more focused on it than some of our clients!

Fail.2000: Really wanted this jacket to be better. 15

- All going well at Canongate then? Good company, good job?

- Also acquiring books.

- The Testament of Yves Gundron, Emily Barton.

- I was the only one who had read it.

- Someone briefed in the most awful jacket.

- I had a vision for Angus (Pocket Canons) to do it: could see it in my head. Instead sub-Tolkein fantasy photoshop disaster.

- In the end I had to fight to get US edition (above) used.

- Epiphany: no room for me here. Not being listened to.

- Accepted offer from Screenbase, company who had built Canongate web site with me

- Left publishing.

Full of Fail.2001 - 2005: Dot Com Dream 16

- Dot Com Dream - all going off - be part of a rock group in a bubble

- Boss who promised me everything and, in particular, trusted me and gave me space and latitude

- Also offered me bigger salary.

- Bubble burst. FAIL!

- Perversely, I decided to focused new business on publishing (not famous for technophilia or pecunious)

- Boss was weird mix of trust and micromanager: whenever we did something, he’d come in and change it at the last second

- I ended up running new business and production - learned a huge amount

- Personal clashes led most of us to leave and set up on our own: company died

- Owed lots of money. Horrible. Horrible.

- But luckily learned some very very valuable lessons - which jobs to take on, cashflow, running a small business and team - whilst (just) being paid - during a recession.

- Left in May 2005.

2005: Apt 17

Fail-free!

- Set up Apt to consult to publishers

- Joined in 2007 by James Bridle. Wasn’t looking for people to join, but he was just awesome and very convincing.

- Done great work together: Granta, 4th Estate, James Frey

- Had some minor failures together: lost pitches really wanted, been close to killing clients, some twitter-based indescretions

- But maintained focus on quality of idea and execution

- Evening Standard “50 most influential” in publishing

- Both shortlisted British Council Young Publishing Entrepreneur: India trip above

- Update: UKYPE FAIL! (Congrats to Davy the winner)

Decision Fail2006: BlenderTen 18

- 2006 Apt was fine, growing, but I was in a bit of a rut. Still “dark ages” in publishing and the web

- Had lots of very rich friends in superstar industries

- Still had/have advertising hangup

- Massively talented friend / colleague and I cooked up a brilliant idea for getting rich quick

- Both “had a clue” about web. Independently and jointly very experienced.

- High-quality, high-price “White label” web stuff for the legions of design and (particularly) ad agencies who don’t have a clue.

- I was moving house, to London, having babies - couldn’t commit. Couldn’t decide.

- He went off and got a £250,000 year job....

- Source of very great frustration to me

2009: Enhanced Editions. 19

- 2008 the day Apple launched the App store

- Blogged as to why publishers were not in there

- Decided that this is what I would do instead

- Broke rule that would never become publisher

- Set up “A team”

- Used all 12 years experience of books and tech

- Enhanced eBooks on iPhone

- Launching this summer

- No idea if it will fail

- Got a good feeling....

Fail Harder. 20

- Enhanced Editions pulls together all my working passions (as did English Lit)

- Where I’m at now is the logical conclusion of my failures.- Failure recently got me to India with the British Council- Persistent, tenacious, ambitious failures.- Mini revelation in India (predictably!). “Found myself”

- UKYPE made me comfortable with “entrepreneur”- Encourage you to...

“Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better.” Samuel Beckett

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- Most of you at beginning time in career.

- See yourselves as an object in movement, not at a point in time- Economic climate great time to think things through.- I would encourage you to be wildly ambitious.- Take risks, CHEAPLY!

- Follow your passion with integrity and quality.- Do what makes you happy, not rich.- Fail quickly, cheaply, forwards.

- If I’d got what I wanted I’d be very unhappy now.