Indie Prospects: Why Independent Publishers are Stronger than Ever

Andrew Franklin - Managing Director, Profile Books, UK

Andrew Franklin is the founder and managing director of Profile Books, one of Britain’s leading independent trade publishers. Now employing 60 people and publishing 100 books a year, when he started it on April Fool’s Day 1996 there were only three people and no books. Before that he worked at (what was then) Penguin Books for 11 years. He has been coming to the Jerusalem International Book Fair (now Forum) since 1985 when he was one of the Inaugural Fellows. He was made a Friend of Jerusalem in 2011.

Dorit Tamir - Founder of Tamir and Alma Publishing, Israel

Following a long and successful career as a lawyer, Dorit has decided to follow her passion for the written word. Shortly after completing her BA degree in literature & creative writing she established, in 2012, the social initiative “Women Reading Clubs”. In 2015, aspiring to affect which books would be discussed in her reading groups she started publishing Hebrew translations to English and French prose (under “Tamir Publishing”). In 2019 she established a second publication house (“Alma books”) focusing on Fantasy and romantic genres.

Photo by Pazit Oz

Dr. Andreas Rötzer - Founder of Matthes and Seitz, Germany

Andreas Rötzer studied Creative Industries and Philosophy in Passau and Paris, obtaining his Ph.D. in Philosophy, and did several scholarships, traineeships and internships at Librérie Marissal in Paris, Farrar, Straus & Giroux in New York and Armando Editore in Rome et al. In 2004 he founded the independent publishing house Matthes & Seitz Berlin and has been Executive Director ever since.