What I’ve learned: Martin Hughes, Affirm Press

Martin Hughes is the outgoing CEO and Publishing Director at Affirm Press, the Melbourne-based book publisher he founded and which was recently acquired by Simon & Schuster. He previously worked as editor of The Big Issue magazine; as a writer, editor and photographer with Lonely Planet Publications; and in journalism and public relations in Ireland and the UK.

Hughes speaks to ArtsHub about his experiences as a small press publisher.

When did you start Affirm Press and why? 

After The Big Issue I had an idea for a book called The Slow Guide to Melbourne, which I published myself with a backer, Graeme Wise, who had brought The Big Issue to Australia. The book went so well that Hardie Grant suggested we co-publish it as a series, which was a bit of a disaster, but led me to creating the infrastructure of a publisher. We published three or four books a year then, part-time and with zero clue of what the market wanted. 

Meeting and being mentored by Graeme was my first lucky break, and the second was meeting Keiran Rogers, who had been national sales manager of Hardie Grant. I sought out his advice when publishing our first commercial book – an illustrated biography of Peter Brock – and Keiran and I got fired up about the prospects of the business we envisaged, a dynamic and optimistic combination of strong social values and sales focus. That’s when the company really started as a full-time enterprise, in 2015. 

What do you know now that you wish you knew then?

The most successful authors are the easiest to work with, and the best collaborators become the most successful authors.

What were some of the challenges and joys of working in a small press? 

The start-up years were definitely the most enjoyable; we had nothing to lose and just went for it with abandon. We built a team of like-minded people we loved working with and created momentum. Part of being small and new was that we got great support (shout-out to author Cate Kennedy and bookseller Fiona Stager of Avid Reader for their warmth and encouragement). We only ever wanted to be ‘small’ in spirit, but were determined to get bigger, partly to achieve the economies of scale required in publishing. Logistically, the greatest challenge starting out were the distribution deals, which are understandably pretty crappy when you start out; it was vital that we improved every chance we got. 

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How has it grown since? 

We managed to grow steadily every year, which was incredible given the ups and downs and COVIDs on the way. Now we have a team of 27 people, publish 100 new titles each year across kids and general, and we always focus on Australian content. We also represent a bunch of like-minded Australian and international publishers. We added our own national sales team in 2023, which was the first time this century a new sales team had been introduced to Australian publishing. This was the culmination of a dream: to have our own people representing our brand.

What’s your proudest achievement as CEO and Publishing Director of Affirm? 

Our internship program actually. We must have had over 100 interns over the time, the vast majority of whom reported positive experiences and have kept in touch. Many of those interns have become our most important staff, including special shout-outs to Ruby [Ashby Orr], who has just become publisher and Steph [Bishop-Hall], our Production Manager, both of whom have been with us 10-plus years.

The fact our internship program has always been so enthusiastically embraced by the whole team at Affirm Press, who always give interns time and insights – well, that points to a pretty special culture and group of people. Helping to create that is my proudest achievement. 

Anything you wish you could have done better or maybe moved in a different direction?

I don’t think so, no. I started off way out in the left field, passionate but clueless, and I was lucky I had a patient backer. I feel like every day of the company’s history I have to move closer to the mainstream, but I’m really pleased that we managed to make a success of it without ever compromising our values. 

Most memorable launch?

Pip Williams’ The Bookbinder of Jericho. It was in the very la-di-da atmosphere of the State Library of South Australia, and one of Pip’s friends rocked up with these huge disc earrings each of which just said ‘C**T’. It just felt so right, a relief after the COVID years and a celebration of Pip’s amazing success with The Dictionary of Lost Words (which the earrings were referencing). That night was probably the peak and, paradoxically, the beginning of the end for me.

What do you mean?

We made The Bookbinder of Jericho the number one book in Australia for six weeks in a row, a massive highlight for sure, but it also coincided with the worst cash flow problem we had ever had (and they are very regular for an independent publisher). Suddenly we had no money to pay anyone. Our policy has always been to pay the little guys first and then get on the front foot with the big guys and never to duck anyone. Problem at this stage was that we’d no money to pay anyone and it got tense and stressful. From that point on I felt like I was forcing things a bit rather than having fun. 

So you went looking for a buyer?

No, not at all. We had no intention of selling and wouldn’t have appointed our own sales team if we had.  Even when Dan Ruffino from Simon & Schuster enquired, we said we weren’t interested. Although I wasn’t enjoying it as much, Affirm Press itself was going better than ever. Dan persisted and we eventually agreed over lunch to ‘explore possibilities’. When I opened the door to that possibility and heard Dan’s plans it got more and more attractive. 

How do you feel about Affirm being swallowed by Simon & Schuster? 

That’s not really an accurate way to describe this acquisition, because it’s a strategic move designed to build market share, not just taking over a struggling entity. Affirm Press is going brilliantly and Dan wants to turbo-charge its potential without having the back-end business hassles that were a burden on Keiran and me. 

And Affirm will continue to maintain brand independence, as a subsidiary of Simon & Schuster?

Yep, that’s the plan, keep our brand independence and culture, and that’s already underway. 

You must have some feelings of foreboding? 

Access to the international scale of Simon & Schuster will be a great benefit to Affirm Press staff, authors and creators. There were a few channels – in digital, audio and rights, for example – that we weren’t able to maximise before, but will now. I don’t know what changes may come when backend synergies are fully realised, but I do know Simon & Schuster has bold plans for future growth. 

If the future is so rosy, how come you’re not staying on?

I was going to stay on, but then in the time between announcing and completing the deal, I realised I wouldn’t really have the motivation or the passion to work for anyone else after so long. If I did, there would not be a better prospect than Dan and Simon & Schuster, to be honest. That is the most exciting place to work in Australian publishing right now, and Keiran is staying on (so expect more books about fishing and Carlton Football Club!).

With the death of Small Press Network, do you think things are looking grim for small presses? 

I wouldn’t count the Small Press Network out just yet and I don’t think things are any more grim than when we started to be honest. They are better in some ways; for example, it’s easier to get a distro deal now. The best thing for small presses and Australian content generally is that Australia has an incredible network of independent retailers keen to support independent publishers. 

It is really hard making a small press viable though, unless you’re really commercially minded, because the Government and Arts Council [now Creative Australia] have been fairly hopeless over the past decade in providing any kind of support to independent publishers (and independent retailers) that are more focused on contributing to culture. Even if there is a reduction in the number of indies in coming years, because they run out of steam or whatever, it will create opportunities for new publishing entrepreneurs.

What are you going to do now? Will it still be in publishing?

I don’t think so. I became a publisher because I loved reading, not realising that once I was a publisher I’d only ever get to read material that was unfinished or unfit for publication. I’m going to get back to reading for pleasure. I’m going to take some time off and reinvent myself.