August 3rd, 2009
After many years of close involvement with the publishing industry’s leading trade bodies, leading customer publishing company PSP Rare has resigned from The Periodical Publishers’ Association (PPA) in a controversial display of lack of faith.
PSP Rare’s decision is being seen as particularly significant. All of the directors are former chairmen of the Association of Publishing Agencies (APA) and all have previously sat on the PPA board.
Peter Moore, CEO of PSP Rare and a former APA chairman, said: “We felt that the time had come to part with the PPA. The PPA has become antiquated and we feel that the services it provides no longer apply in any way to modern publishing.”
“The Periodical Publishers’ Association provides no added value to the services already offered by its subsidiary organisation, the APA. We’re forced to subscribe to both by the PPA terms and conditions, a cost which we believe to be unnecessary.
“Myself and my colleagues from the other publishing houses feel increasingly disenfranchised with the PPA,” said Peter. “The total cost of membership for both associations is substantial, and in the current economic climate we can’t see many businesses wanting to stay with the PPA with such a poor return on investment.
“Whilst we continue to support the aims and objectives of the APA, if we can’t be members of that association without being members of the PPA then we have to be members of neither. It is up to the PPA to update their thinking, or they will lose out permanently.”