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Read Judy's interview just published in Kindred Spirit magazine special 21st Anniversary issue Sept/Oct 2008
Posted on: Tuesday, September 09, 2008
The Book Maker
Over the years, it has been common for Kindred Spirit to feature individuals who have managed to integrate their particular MBS passion with the way they earn their living or live their life. In this case we are turning the principle on its head as Claire Gillman meets a woman whose business ambitions and acumen drew her into the world of personal development and the spiritual realms and, as a result, many thousands of people have benefited. The lady in question is Judy Piatkus who for the past 28 years has run one of the biggest book publishing houses specialising in alternative health and MBS
Judy Piatkus didn’t start out in the MBS field at all. She says: ‘I always wanted to run my own business but when I was young, I didn’t know what it would be. I didn’t think in a particularly logical way. I wanted to work with books and things just happened.
Piatkus started publishing fiction because I had experience of that. In the ‘80s, we started publishing books in the parenting and alternative health area. It wasn’t until the early ‘90s that I even became interested in MBS.’
Fortunately for Judy, one of her team of editors was interested in MBS and she introduced the idea that Piatkus might publish books by some of the then unheard of authors who have gone on to become household names. Judy explains: ‘Because we were interested in different alternative health titles, MBS very obviously was the next step. Once we became interested in this area, we began to explore it and we decided that there was room for us in the market.’
Beginners’ luck?
One of the first MBS titles that Piatkus published was Power of Gems and Crystals by Soozi Holbeche. It certainly proved that there was a market for MBS titles, as Judy explains: ‘It was one of the very early books and it remained in print for the next 15 years.’
Another early success for Piatkus was Creating Sacred Space with Feng Shui by Karen Kingston. However, it was Judy’s publishing experience that created one of their best-selling titles. She says: ‘There was a chapter in the book on clearing clutter. We suggested that she wrote a small book on that subject alone and so she wrote Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui, and that went on to sell a million copies worldwide.’
Judy attributes the success of the book to the fact that it was the first to be published that was about sacred space in your home. It encouraged the public to think about their belongings and the energy created by possessions and to give thought to how you look after things and how that affects you and your life.
The Kingston book was the first of its kind but it opened the floodgates and many more books were published by other authors and publishers about this topic. Obviously, Judy and her team had had a hunch that Clearing Clutter was a topic that would sell well but how easy is it to spot a best-seller? ‘I did not always know which books would be great successes. The whole art of being a publisher is that you hope and you take measured risks. No-one ever knows which book is going to work and which is not. Otherwise publishing would be easy and it is actually really difficult.’
A little magic
Piatkus has enjoyed its fair share of success but it is one of their earliest titles that perhaps gives Judy the greatest pride in an MBS book.
In the 1990s Gill Edwards was doing workshops. She wrote Living Magically, which Judy describes as, ‘literally changing my life and how I saw everything that was going on around me, and also for the many thousands of readers who read it. It was a classic MBS text. Living Magically was always very special and then we also were very proud that we were publishing so many authors in this area.
Many lives, Many Masters by Brian Weiss sold hundreds of thousands of copies. It had been published in the US but we published it in the UK.’
In the 1980s, when Judy launched Piatkus, it was extremely unusual for a woman to start a publishing house. In fact, Judy points out that there were very few women who ran large business in the UK at all at that time. In many ways, you might expect a woman in the publishing world to concentrate on books for women but this was never an issue. She says: ‘It’s interesting because we didn’t go down the route of publishing women’s literature like Virago because we wanted to be a general publisher. It wasn’t easy but it was very exciting and you just got on with it. I realised that I had ignored any gender aspects to stay focused on what I had to do, i.e. to build the company. We wanted to be rivals to any publisher who was bringing out books in our subject and who might want space on the shelves.’
Realising the potential
When publishing alternative health and parenting titles in the ‘80s and ‘90s, Judy was competing on a level playing field against other publishers but when it came to introducing the British public to MBS titles, she faced an uphill challenge.
She says: ‘At the beginning of the ‘90s, when we first began to introduce books in this area in the UK, we had to overcome resistance from the booksellers and the media. Gradually, they began to realise there was a huge audience who were hungry for the books we had to offer.’
Since self-development books had been big business in the US for some years at that time, it begs the question: why were the British so reluctant initially? Judy has her own theory: ‘I think it comes from the fact that the British are very rooted in their land. Nations such as the US which had more immigration had a much more can-do attitude. They had no-one else to rely on but themselves once they landed in a foreign country. Australia is another country where there was more interest in self-help and MBS. Britain really came late to this changing consciousness. This gradually changed the whole of our lives. Society was gradually drawn into seeing things in a different way.’
And it wasn’t just individuals who were waking up to the benefits of personal development in their private lives. Business soon caught on to the idea too. Judy confirms, ‘Just the idea of doing these things at work was very unusual. The MBS and personal development books were for people who wanted to read them at home but the work place realised that if their staff were better trained, they would be more productive and achieve more.
Business people now have more understanding that if people can develop themselves personally, they will have more to bring to the workplace and they will have a more-rounded person.’
Embracing change
On speaking with Judy Piatkus, it soon becomes apparent that she has loved being involved in publishing books in the self-development and MBS field. In fact, she readily admits it, saying, ‘I felt really privileged. I think we all felt privileged to have the opportunity to introduce these new ideas to an unsuspecting public. In the ‘80s, self-development and self-help were virtually unknown quantities in the UK. We were pioneers of that.’
Nonetheless, in July 2007, at the age of 58, she sold Piatkus into the Little Brown imprint. She explains why: ‘I had been the publisher of Piatkus for 28 years and I felt that my time as publisher was coming to an end. I loved being a publisher for the whole 28 years but the market had changed a lot. Far more books are being published. We were far more successful than we’d ever been but my heart was not in it any more.
Many years ago, I decided I didn’t want to be going to the Frankfurt Book Fair when I was 60 and that I wanted to sell the company when we were doing well and both those things came together in Spring 2007. Being a publisher is a vocation because there’s so much reading and although I had the most fabulous team working with me, you have to read and it takes up all your spare time and I wanted some time without manuscripts sitting waiting for me in the corner all the time.’
In spite of retiring from Piatkus, Judy is optimistic about the future of publishing, even though she is sure that the business is changing. She is encouraged by the new models that are now emerging for publishing and can reel off lists of websites that are selling books or sharing knowledge with people about books in a new and exciting way.
Speaking out
As for Judy, it comes as no surprise that this dynamic woman is not hanging up her work clothes just yet. She is taking a well-deserved sabbatical for a few months before starting her new venture.
She explains: ‘I wanted to have a sabbatical so I am, and I am loving it. I am so happy. I just needed a break to think about life and the universe etc. It’s what I really needed to do so I would know that what comes next is right.
We are living in such exciting times and there’s going to be so many exciting changes happening in the next few years and it’s about finding something that I can be as passionate about as being a publisher.
I have got a couple of projects. I realised that one thing I would like to do in the future was to be a professional public speaker. As someone steeped in the world of MBS, everything began to fall into place. It looks as if I am going to be giving some talks, partly about the world of business and, I hope in due course that I might be able to talk about MBS matters.’
Judy seems like an obvious and ideal candidate to talk about how MBS principles can be incorporated into the business world. It’s certainly an idea that she is receptive to and, although she is nervous about public speaking, she feels it can be very rewarding and fun too. She is definitely keen to pass on some of her knowledge for the benefit of others.
She explains: ‘I think the important thing is that people follow their passion and the hardest thing, especially for young people, is identifying what that is. New ways of spending your time and being paid for it are being created every day. People need to believe that there may be a way of earning money while doing what they love. If publishing is what you love and that’s where your heart lies, then go for it.’
Judy Piatkus’ life to date is testimony to her utter belief in this theory. As is fitting for someone about to launch a second career in inspirational speaking, Judy should have the last word. She says: ‘MBS became a guiding principle of my life. I definitely try to walk the talk. I live fairly healthily and I definitely live as I would hope anybody who spent their life reading MBS books and meeting such amazing people would do.’
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