Lancaster, Pennsylvania Photo by Hannah Giagnocavo
Five questions to Ken Webb 1. Ken, you are one of the senior members of the Motovun Group. What made you join this group? The reason I joined the Motovun Group was to meet other illustrated co-edition publishers. I had heard a great deal about this organisation in the early 1980s and I was invited to join by founder members Anna Porter and Jan Martens in 1986. My first attendance was in 1987 on the boat trip from Split to Venice - A fantastic five days where I did a lot of business.
2. Were your expectations towards the group met? And what was the best experience you had so far? My expectations from those days have more than been exceeded. The best experience I had was funnily enough during the very early days when I managed to sell at least 15 projects within the first two meetings. In subsequent years to the present I have been able to sell a varying range of titles and quantities every year.
3. With your long lasting experience in the book publishing business, could you name some reasons why it is important to be or to become a member of MGIP?
Because it provides a wonderful and unique opportunity to not only meet customers and indeed those who sell too, but also to discuss our joint experiences in the book trade. It has been to me and I'm sure all other members too as international publishers very important to keep up to date with editorial, design and marketing trends that are going on worldwide.
4. Thanks to your activities MGIP was able to welcome many new members. What is the most important approach to acquiring new members?
In my time as membership recruitment director I always worked on a plan of:
a) Listing each country where we are only partly, or not represented at all;
b) Preparing a series of approaches to those who I know, then following up on a very regular basis;
c) Asking others for their suggestions, advice and likely interested potential members;
d) Membership change of any organisation like Motovun is an evolving fact of life. People resign / retire and some sadly pass away. It needs an incessant approach to not just maintain the number of members, but to increase the membership overall.
5. You took part in nearly all summer meetings of MGIP. Which one was the best, the most effective for your business and where did you have the most of fun? This is very difficult to say, because they have all been wonderful. I suppose because I like the water, I enjoyed very much the boat cruise from Split to Venice in 1987 and the Moscow to St Petersburg trip in 1993. Latterly I found the hotel at Lake Como absolutely perfect.
He was knighted Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur (Knight of the Legend of Honor) of France by the Ambassador of France to India during a special ceremony on March 12th.
And congratulations to Elisabeth Sandmann
and Jan Martens.
Their book Daniel Ost 'Meister der Blumenkunst' has won the European Garden Book Special Award at Dennenlohe Castle in Bavaria. Daniel Ost is one of the most well-known floral artists worldwide. The book shows spectacular photographs of his work on 400 pages.
'Überwältigende Blüten' (Magnificent Blossoms) by Rosie Sanders (Elisabeth Sandmann Verlag) also won a prize. It was awarded the Best Illustrated Garden Book Award for the year 2016.
You have also received an award? Why not share it with all MGIP members? Please let us know!
Thanks to Robin Wood's negotiations, the book bus will be displayed at the London Book Fair from April 12th to 15th.
Please do come along, if you are not at the dinner!
Do you have any content suggestions for the MGIP Newsletter? Please send us your ideas by the 8th of every month and we can include them.
Motovun Group of International Publishers
International Non-profit Association Under Belgian Law | Founded in 1977 - Founding President: Bato Tomasević Office: Theresienstrasse 40 | D-80333 München Germany | phone: +49 172 961 74 03 | Secretary: Barbara Glauning
Board of Directors: Jean Arcache (President) | Robin Wood (Chairman) | Juraj Heger (Treasurer) Jean-Baptiste Bourrat | Christopher Hudson | Kiran Kapoor | Jan Martens | Elisabeth Sandmann
Motovun Group of International Publishers
Responsible for editorial content: Philipp Sandmann, Barbara Glauning
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4. Thanks to your activities MGIP was able to welcome many new members. What is the most important approach to acquiring new members?
