Page 12 - ELG1906 May-Jun Issue 465
P. 12

BUSINESS NEWS                    .



        Brits behind as book trade booms?
                                                                                                                                explor
                                                                                                                                explores what is happening      es what is happening
        By Melanie Butler                   language publishing has taken a backseat,   In the last ten years, most major British ELT
                                            allowing smaller players to eat into the market.   publishers have concentrated almost entirely
                                                                                                                                  across Europe in our annualoss Europe in our annual
        McGraw Hill Education and Cengage   At this year’s London Book Fair, for example,   on general English course books for adults and        acr
        Learning are to merge, according to the   the biggest ELT display we found belonged to   on localised courses for overseas state school
        Financial Times. The new company, which will   MM publications, with two other European   systems. With the exception of Cambridge
                                                                                                                                                                   EU Special
        include National Geographic Learning, will   providers, Express and Global ELT, also having   University Press, they have also cut back on
        have projected cash earnings of US$3 billion.   a strong presence.      their supplementary titles.
        The strategy behind the merger is to expand   Europe’s largest specialist ELT book   This has allowed the European publishers                              EU Special
        the number of students, mostly in Higher   distributor, BEBC in Bournemouth, confirmed   to fill the gap with their own products: exam
        Education, who subscribe to Cengage’s   to the Gazette that the big British publishing   books from Global; graded readers from
        textbook subscription service, seen as a   houses are losing EU market share to   ELI and Black Cat; and methodology from
        solution to the ‘affordability issue’ in Higher   publishers who started out publishing for a   Helbling. They then expanded their lists to
        Education.                          local ELT market: Greece in the case of MM,   include course-book publishing, particularly
          With all the major British ELT publishers’   Express and Global, Italy in the case of ELI and   for younger learners in private language
        increasingly focused on Higher Ed, English   Black Cat.                 schools, a move which could help them gain a
                                              “They understand the industry much better,   foothold in the UK.
        WIKIMEDIA                           about to publish the first course book for the   coming to the UK, and the age of the
                                                                                 Under-16s now make up half of all students
                                            they react faster. Express, for example, are
                                            Occupational English Test,” Nick Edwards of
                                                                                youngest students has now fallen as low as
                                            BEBC told the Gazette.              three. However, only Cambridge University
                                              British publishers have switched away from   Press and National Geographic Learning are
                                            using ELT-specialist sales people, often using   actively promoting products for this market,
                                            the same reps for both ELT and Higher Ed.   such as short summer school course books.
                                            One result is that news of industry changes are   The fast moving Europeans are anxious to fill
                                            not filtering back to the editorial teams. With   the gap.
                                            most of the majors now already working on   Meanwhile  Anglo-American  National
                                            five-year publishing plans, the smaller, swifter   Geographic Learning, now part of the Cengage
                                            players are in a better position to respond to   McGraw Hill merger, are already the fastest-
        The London Book Fair                market changes.                     growing publisher in the BEBC charts.





































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