Five Questions with Dan Conway, CEO of the Publishers Association
Dan became CEO of the Publishers Association in 2022, having previously been the membership organisation’s Director of External Affairs and leading the team responsible for policy, public affairs, communications, media relations, research and statistics. Alongside his role at the Publishers Association, he is a Board Trustee for World Book Day, and Non-Executive Director at Publishers’ Licensing Services.
Prior to his time at the Publishers Association, Dan’s career focused on public affairs and politics and he has held senior roles at TalkTalk and within leading communications agencies.
We asked Dan some questions about publishing, his career path and the #BookThatMadeMe.
What was your route into publishing and what do you enjoy most about the industry?
I’ve always believed that books and reading can change lives. I’ve always been a big reader and throughout my childhood I loved reading and that continued when I went to university to study English literature. My career has been within public policy with a lot of it in the creative industries and media sectors. I came into the Publishers Association through the public policy route, so I’ve had this twin track route into publishing with my love of reading which led towards my degree, and also a strong professional interest in public policy.
The Publishers Association is the place where influencing public policy and a love of reading meet so I feel incredibly lucky to be leading this organisation and humbled to be leading an organisation that’s 125 years old.
I really believe that publishers are a force for good and are an absolute necessity in the times that we live in. I feel very lucky to be part of an industry with a social purpose and I think all of us involved in the book industry should feel the same.
How would you describe the publishing industry?
At the Publishers Association we represent a number of different types of publishers, we represent consumer publishers, academic publishers and publishers in the education and higher education space. Those businesses can be very distinct, look at different issues, publish different products, and be different in terms of sizes and specialisms but there are a few things that pull all of those businesses together.
I think publishers are a really important part of creating trusted information. Your publisher is somebody who is a check and balance between the author and reader, whether that’s running peer review processes in the academic publishing industry, doing legal checks in consumer publishing or ensuring that the teaching methods that are being promoted in education publishing are correct. It’s your publisher who guarantees the quality and guarantees that those checks are done. I think that’s crucial in bringing the work of creators to readers both here and around the globe. That’s what the publishing industry does.
What are you most looking forward to in your new role?
As we hopefully move out of the pandemic and move back to a world of normality, I’m looking forward to bringing our members together in various ways, through our events and through our in-person meetings. We are after all a membership organisation, and it’s been a slightly odd time not being able to bring our members together. So, one of the key things I’m looking forward to in my new role is creating some time for our members to come together and talk about things that matter most to them.
What’s the best book you’ve read in the past 12 months?
Mischief Acts by Zoe Gilbert, published by Bloomsbury.