Richard Charkin Shares 'Learnings' as New Publishing Guide Lands
Publishing veteran Richard Charkin has shared his personal career 'learnings' as his new industry guide reached publication on 24 September.
The article appeared just ahead of the 2026 Frankfurt Book Fair, the large annual meeting in Germany where publishers buy and sell translation rights and other deals for the year ahead.
The piece was published by Publishing Perspectives, where Charkin is listed as a columnist. It was timed to coincide with the arrival of 'All Rights Reserved' and to land before Frankfurt, when attention across the trade turns to new titles and future plans.
The new book is 'All Rights Reserved: Lessons in Publishing', written with Tom Campbell and published by Marble Hill London. It is described as aimed at newcomers and not-so-newcomers to the publishing industry. It follows the pair's memoir, 'My Back Pages: An Undeniably Personal History of Publishing 1972–2022', which was published by Marble Hill Publishers.
What makes the headline stand out is the wording. Charkin previously used a column to criticise the word 'learnings' and to say he prefers 'lessons'. He uses 'learnings' anyway this time. Readers will get the joke.
The book also looks forward. His author page notes that 'All Rights Reserved' involves predicting the future of publishing and invites readers to make their own predictions. That is a simple premise. Frankfurt is the place where those conversations start to form.
Charkin brings a long history to the exercise. He is the founder of Mensch Publishing and a former president of the International Publishers Association, the global federation for national publishers' organisations, as noted by The Bookseller. He also formerly worked at Oxford University Press. That mix of independent publishing, institutional leadership and university-press experience is unusual in one career.
Separately, Bristol University Press said on 23 September 2026 that Charkin had been appointed to its Business Advisory Board, which advises on business strategy. Its announcement described 'All Rights Reserved: Lessons in Publishing' as forthcoming on 24 September.
For general readers, this is the inside of publishing made visible. Books do not just appear. Someone commissions them, edits them, sells rights in them and argues about the words on the cover. Charkin has done all of that. Now he has written down what he thinks he learned. It is a reminder that the shelf starts much earlier.
