How did she do it? How did Gail Rebuck, the head of Random House, turn a title that languished in the Amazon pre-order list into a record-breaking sales success in its first few days in print? Tony Blair's autobiography, A Journey, last week became the fastest-selling memoir ever, and all in spite of being moved to the crime or fiction sections of bookshops by opponents of the former prime minister, and without the usual lucrative serialisation deal with a national newspaper.
One of the most powerful women in publishing, with a network that connects politics, media and business, Rebuck credits Blair himself for the book's largely unexpected success to date – A Journey sold 92,060 copies in its first four days on sale, the best ever opening sale for an autobiography since records began in 1998.
"He broke the mould … he wanted it be human, honest and he wanted people to engage with it in a very different way," she says of the book that lays into Gordon Brown and talks of "devouring" Cherie's love. "He bypasses the criticism in the press to get to the people."
Security fears
In spite of its sales success, Blair's message has not been universally welcomed. He was forced to call off a London book signing and launch party last week amid security fears caused by anti-war campaigners. Rebuck, the chairman and chief executive of Random House, points out that fans still queued outside the bookshop to buy pre-signed copies. "People have a right to protest. At the same time a three-times elected prime minister has a right to sign his memoirs, the proceeds of which are going to charity."
After a long career in publishing and marriage to Blair's favourite strategist, Phillip Gould, Rebuck, 58, still seems a little put out by some of the stuff written about last week's chart-topper – one of six Random House titles in the top 10. Of the suggestion that Blair's decision to donate his share of the book's proceeds to the British Legion would help his sales and reputation, she says: "I don't know why people don't take it at face value. It's an extraordinarily generous gesture."
She dismisses reports that Blair agreed that a woman he calls a "long-time friend" should publish his autobiography over dinner a few years ago as "so silly" and the fuss over the title change from The to A Journey (which she says "just shows the idiocy of it all"). Of dropping "The", she adds, "I can't even remember when we did it, it could have been for design reasons." None of this press coverage can have hurt sales, of course.
Her tenure at the UK's second biggest publishing house has been successful, critically and financially. Last year operating profits rose 7% to £44.3m while this year has "got off to a strong start". So how much money will A Journey make? The size of the roughly £4m advance – dwarfed by Bill Clinton's $15m in 2004 but still large by British standards – has led some to question whether the deal will make any money for the Bertelsmann-owned publisher. Victoria Barnsley, the chief executive of rival firm Harper Collins and a great admirer of Rebuck's, says: "They will have to sell an awful lot of copies to cover that advance … It's got off to a hell of a good start. If it can maintain that start it will be a fantastic success. But that's a big if."
Rebuck laughs off these naysayers, but refuses to go into the complexities of the book trade. "I sincerely hope we won't be losing money on the book. I feel confident that the advance will be earned and that the book will do extraordinarily well in the US and elsewhere."
Was the decision to publish without doing an exclusive deal with one newspaper based on more than financial reasons? The Guardian ran an exclusive interview with Blair but every other national newspaper was given a snippet to make a splash with. "We simply did not want the book seen only through the prism of one newspaper," she states. "Because it was so rich and varied, so accessible, frank and engaging – unlike any previous political memoir – we wanted the public to access the book in as unmediated way as possible. I think it worked."
It seems odd for Rebuck to stress the need to disintermediate the publishing process – going straight from author to reader – when it is the central conundrum for her industry in the digital age. Over the summer, Random House was involved in a very public spat with Andrew Wylie, the uber-agent to such novelists as Salman Rushdie, Philip Roth and Martin Amis, who announced that he would release future e-books exclusively through Amazon's Kindle store. Such a move cut out the middle man – in this case Random House, which published the majority of the titles in dispute.
After a month-long standoff during which the publisher refused to do business with the agent, the issue was resolved at the end of August with Wylie, nicknamed The Jackal, withdrawing his threat and Random House increasing the percentage paid to authors and their agents from a standard 25% to up to 40%.
Increased pressure
Although the deal was hammered out largely by Markus Dohle, the head of Random House worldwide, the fight has increased pressure on Rebuck's part of the business. While glad that the Wylie dispute is over, she refuses to allow that the sort of deal eventually agreed in the US should necessarily be aped in the UK, where ebook sales are much lower – about a tenth – of the 8-10% of US penetration. "We are in a different evolutionary environment, about three years behind," she says.
The Wylie episode in some ways underlines the similarity between the publishing and music industries – both are bedevilled by questions of why exactly artists need middlemen anyway. Rebuck, one of the more thoughtful and interesting voices on the topic, is, however, fiercely protective of her business, arguing that it has to support a "fearsome infrastructure" of virtual storage and anti-piracy enforcers.
"Publishers are relevant. We have practical expertise and, of course, money. We give our authors advances which enable them to concentrate on their work in hand … My idea of hell is a website with 80,000 self-published works on it – some of which might be jewels, but, frankly, who's got the time? What people want is selection and frankly that's what we do."
She adds: "Our industry is going through the most profound revolution since Gutenberg. It affects everything we do. There is a fight for survival for long-form reading which I'm really up for but there are certain categories of books that will change."
Last week, the company announced its latest digital spin-off project (following a Nigella cooking app) – an interactive story targeted at teenage girls launched in partnership with Stardoll, a social gaming site. Dreamt up by a "group of young editors" at Random House, the serialised story, Mortal Kiss, will run over eight weeks.
Such experiments are part of the industry's efforts to work out how to keep making money from ebooks. "I don't believe digital books will overtake printed books any time soon," says Rebuck. "But in 10 years' time I think we may get 25% or 30% of our revenue from digital sales. But it will only really catch on when you can view all media on the same device."
She has about 70 manuscripts to read on an "old Sony e-reader" but also uses Apple and Amazon readers. When asked her favourite device she says "physical book" quick as a flash.
Wary of criticising the might of any one e-tailer such as Amazon, or indeed the rising power of the supermarket, she does worry about the death of high street bookselling. "It's extraordinarily important for us as a nation to keep a range of book buying choices in front of the public."
It would be weird for a publisher not to love books but her passion – developed during a weekly trip to Marylebone library as a child – is infectious. She is a keen advocate of literacy schemes for adults and children alike, chairs Quick Reads and is a trustee of the National Literacy Trust. "The importance and impact of reading a book cannot be overestimated. The fact that up to 12 million adults might be excluded from that is a tragedy," she says.
Charming, generous and an inspiration to many women in business (Lis Murdoch, the head of Shine group, calls her "one of my favourite people in the whole world … she's an icon, a mentor"), Rebuck is surprisingly difficult to interview. She can talk eloquently about books and reading and equality and is one of the most congenial lunch hosts, yet it's a challenge to make her talk about herself and nigh on impossible to get her to talk about her views.
Admittedly, I do quiz her on her connections to the Murdoch family in spite of her close links to New Labour. At BSkyB, she is that relatively rare thing on a British board – a female non-executive director of a FTSE 100 company. What does she think of James Murdoch's view that the "only guarantor of independence is profit"? "As a non-executive, all I'll say is that Sky does an awful lot of really laudable stuff. It's a tremendous British success story." But does it square with her public service ethos, I ask not very innocently and end up wishing I hadn't. "We're not going to go there. You can ask away and I'll wander next door." The story of how Blair, then the PM, popped into a dinner party she was hosting for her German bosses is famous. Yet the issue of her influence across political, business and media spheres is not something she likes to dwell on. "I don't think I'm particularly well-connected anywhere actually. I just go about my life. I know a wide circle of people and I like putting people together. But most of all I care about books and equality of opportunity. I want everybody to be able to read a book."
She was made a Dame earlier this year and was the Veuve Clicquot Businesswoman of the year last year. She has often spoken publicly about the need to encourage women into senior political and corporate jobs. "I was a feminist at university and I guess I still am … Many young women seem to think we're in a sort of post-feminist phase - although their assumption is equality, and whether that's achieved or not is open to question."
Her success in the industry - and unusually long stint, 19 years, at the same publisher – often provokes questions about her future. A few years ago she was linked to the top US-based job which ultimately went to the German-speaking Dohle. "I live in the UK, I'm very committed to living in the UK and I've never coveted living in the US, I'm very happy doing what I'm doing," she says, firmly.
But there are also bigger media-based jobs or public service roles. Barnsley says: "She is a real class act and I can see her taking on Channel 4 or BBC or a portfolio of jobs. Even though she loves publishing."
So would she want to run a FTSE 100 company? "No, I'm very happy doing what I do. I have one of the best jobs in the world."
How about something bigger within Bertelsmann? "Don't even go there!" she shrieks. "It's the fourth biggest media company in the world." At that, the photographer interrupts and Rebuck says, "Thank God. Enough already", before asking me to look at all her new books.
