Peter Tobey interviewed by Library Journal
The January 15 issue of Library Journal, just published, includes an interview with Peter Tobey, the vice president of sales and marketing for Salem Press. (The interview can be found online here.) Peter has had a noticeable effect on Salem’s growth and strategy in the past few years, and that growth is a major reason that we selected Salem as our distribution partner for our Milestone Documents series. I’ve enjoyed getting to know Peter these past couple of years–he’s an engaging and witty fellow, and those qualities show up in the sometimes-whimsical marketing efforts that Salem undertakes. This is very smart for a small publisher, because it helps the company to connect with librarians on a more personal level.
One thing the interview discusses is the ongoing consolidation of the reference publishing market and whether this portends a shrinkage of the market. Peter is correct, I think, in noting that consolidation by itself doesn’t necessarily engender market shrinkage. I would add another consideration, though, which is that even though companies like CQ Press and Greenwood have recently merged with other publishers, new companies have appeared as well. Those new companies have done well for themselves and are in fact doing innovative things in reference publishing. Berkshire is one. We’re another.