Eating, breathing & talking books: Profile on Robert Watkins

Robert Watkins’ CV includes bookseller, account manager, publicity manager, marketing manager and Dame Edna impersonator. In January he was appointed commissioning editor of adult books at Hachette Australia. He shares his career journey.

Ever since I was a young boy I could always be found with a book in hand. So it made sense to me, at the age of 16, to apply for a job at a bookstore in Brisbane when my parents encouraged me to pursue full-time work.

That bookshop, QBD The Bookshop in Mount Gravatt, Brisbane, became a second home to me. As a junior sales assistant I loved unpacking, shelving, displaying, recommending and, most of all, reading every book I could get my hands on. Very soon I had new responsibilities and by the time I was 19, I was managing my own QBD store.

The years at QBD were very kind to me. The Robinson family gave me a taste for an industry that I would fall in love with. I even moved to the NSW Central Coast to open a store at Erina, eventually becoming the NSW stores supervisor. It was a wild ride, but after 12 years I was ready for a change.

One of my former sales reps let me know that Hachette was looking for an account manager to look after its Sydney accounts. I applied and was offered the job, and so began my three years on the road, meeting and sharing books with many of Sydney’s finest booksellers. One month I dressed as Dame Edna for an entire sales cycle. All photos are now locked away in a vault somewhere—if I showed you, I’d have to kill you.

A position came up for a publicity manager in Hachette’s Headline division. I was keen to continue expanding my skills so I jumped at the opportunity to interview for the role. Our now-CEO Matt Richell took a punt on me, and I went on to spend almost a year as a publicist. It was my first direct contact with authors, and I was inspired and fascinated by all of them.

When Hachette introduced the role of marketing manager, I again took the opportunity to try something new and exciting. My role saw me working across both the Hodder and Headline lists, looking after social media, paid advertising campaigns and point of sale for all of the authors that came under that division. It was a fascinating insight into how a publishing house translates that early buzz into store presence and consumer interest.

My dream job
After a brief hiatus last year I interviewed for the role of commissioning editor at Hachette Australia. This was my dream job, and I had all my fingers and toes crossed. In another sign of wonderful faith, publishing director Fiona Hazard gave me the chance to return to my second family, Hachette Australia. Only this time I would be working on Australian books across the genres I loved: lifestyle, cookbooks, pop culture and memoir.

My commissioning process involves staying on the pulse of popular culture. I spend an inordinate amount of time on Twitter (@arrjaydub #follow) and reading blogs. I’m a magazine junkie—I’ll read anything from a small literary journal through to GQ and frankie. You never know where you might find inspiration for a new book or author. I also try to attend as many writing events and festivals as I can because I do love to mix with writers and readers—these are the people we’re publishing for, and their opinions and ideas heavily influence what I look for.

So far I’ve signed several books, including the ANZ rights to Leandra Medine’s Man Repeller (October), which is based on the popular fashion blog, and Clean Living by Luke Hines and Scott Gooding (November), a healthy lifestyle plan from the two Bondi personal trainers who appeared on My Kitchen Rules.

While the commissioning workload can be quite frantic, there is nothing more enjoyable than working on a book from its very genesis. Signing a book and then watching it grow is thrilling and fulfilling—and I cannot wait to see the books I’ve commissioned on the shelf.

In my 18 years in the book industry, one thing has never changed. I eat, breathe and talk about books all the time (just ask my partner, he’ll tell you that I am constantly in my own little world of books). I’ve had the wonderful opportunity to work with the most passionate of authors, booksellers, sales teams, publicists, journalists and marketers. I couldn’t imagine another industry that is as dynamic and creatively challenging.

Category: Features