Saving the knowledge

Some of you may have noticed an opinion piece I had in the Listener this week. My editor of twenty years has been made redundant by Penguin Random House. In my opinion a real mistake. Harriet Allan has been publishing editor for all my ten novels and also for many other senior New Zealand authors. She is highly skilled, sensitive and can recognise a winner when a manuscript comes across her desk. She recognised Denniston Rose had a future when other publishing houses turned it down.

Too often these days the people with real knowledge of a sector are made redundant – often because they are senior and I suppose a bigger saving can be made on their salary.  Hence the thriving industry of highly paid consultants whose industry knowledge is often sadly lacking.