Ivan O’Brien—Managing Director of The O’Brien Press
Join The O’Brien Press for a celebration of fifty years of independent publishing at The Dublin Book Festival
How I started in publishing
The O’Brien Press started at the kitchen table when I was five, in 1974. Our home gradually turned into a busy office as the team grew, so we were all surrounded by it! As well as stuffing huge numbers of envelopes and all the other regular routing office jobs I worked for a summer in Irish Bookhandling, a distribution company a few Irish publishers had set up, so I saw all sides of the trade.
The pull of the family company was strong, and after a year away in 1996 I joined full time in 1997
I was always quite technically literate and introduced computers and desktop publishing to the company, which radically changed how we could work. As the technology was new I got work with various organisations while in college, either producing documents or training their staff, who put up with this over-confident geek in their midst! Through my college career I was always working for the company, in between the regular coursework. The pull of the family company was strong, and after a year away in 1996 I joined full time in 1997: and am still here!
Where I work now
For the first few years I worked in production and then in sales before moving to become Managing Director in 2006. The MD role brings a lot of spreadsheets and financials with it, of course, but also the chance to oversee and engage with every part of the company.
I know he would be proud that the legacy is secure
The buck stops with you when it comes to resolving any problems that arise, but I do have fantastic support in this. Physically I work in “dad’s office”, which it still full of his stuff following his sudden death just over two years ago. Keeping a company stable after a shock like that is not easy: but I know he would be proud that the legacy is secure. We have such a great team of dedicated book people working here.
The best thing about my role
The freedom to pick up the phone and talk to anyone about anything, whether in the company or outside, to explore mad ideas that might just become books!
A mistake I made
I should have worked elsewhere for longer before joining the company full time. I had gained quite a bit of work experience before and during college, and did learn a lot while working in Australia in 1996, where I built websites and worked with a few publishers—but another five years or so would have been better. I have seen cases where this has been done in a planned way, and it makes this easier for everyone: family companies are complex beasts!
A fulfilling moment
I went to the BEA in New York one year, where I had a single table downstairs in the Javits Center. US Booksellers walked past on their way to get their autumn advance reading copies signed by a bank of authors with queues being managed by barriers. It was deeply strange.
It was one of those serendipitous moments at a bookfair which opens up a whole range of possibilities
A young editorial assistant from Sterling saw my banner and said “oh, you’re from Ireland”. She had no connection with the country at all, but luckily I’d piqued her interest just enough…and within just a few years Sterling had bought lots of books from our catalogue! Primarily humour (the “Feckin’” series) but also history, folklore and more.
It was one of those serendipitous moments at a bookfair which opens up a whole range of possibilities, and demonstrates how a simple human connection can’t be replaced by a computer!
What the future holds
The O’Brien Press is proudly independent and intends to remain so. We produce Irish books for Irish people of all ages both at home and abroad, and publish to the highest international standards. We care about our creators and their voices. That’s the mission, and it’s not changing!
We are a very democratic company and I love that our publishing programme reflects the interests and passions of our staff, so if you want to know what books we are going to be producing over the next few years, just meet the team!
A book reccommendaton
I read The Brutish Empire by Des Ekin just before the Frankfurt Book Fair, finishing it on the train from the airport! A very readable account of all the awful excesses of imperial rule around the world, it shows where many of the problems we now face originated.
Join The O’Brien Press for a celebration of fifty years of independent publishing with the joint launch of a new edition of their first book, the classic Me Jewel and Darlin’ Dublin by Eamonn MacThomáis, and The Accidental Publisher: Fragments of a Memoir by company founder, the late Michael O’Brien. Friday 08 November at 8.30pm. Find your tickets here.
