On the aging demographic of commission reps

NAIPR President Eric Miller reflects

An Independent Rep Reflects at Fifty

In this issue of NAIPR News Online we are reprinting Sara Huneke’s thought-provoking and remarkable story on commission reps from Publishing Trends. The thing that really struck me in the article was the aging demographic of independent reps. Ouch, the truth hurts. Especially since I just had my 50th birthday last month, and I was recently invited to Chris Kerr’s (of Parson Weems’ Publisher Services) 60th birthday bash in NYC. I remember when our group (Miller Trade Book Marketing) used to hire reps fresh out of the bookstores, young ones, and bring them to NYC for sales conference marathons. These reps were in great physical shape, but they could not handle the meetings, day after day. They would crack under the pressure, and sometimes it was amusing to see and sometimes it was frightening. My partner Bruce and I would look at each other as if to say, what's wrong with so-and-so? So, being a commission rep is not for everybody, and maybe that's one reason why the people who are in it, stay in it, and figure out a way to thrive.

While age and wisdom do not necessarily go hand in hand, years of experience count for a lot. It’s both art and practice that allow reps to put things together and to make important connections. Rep work, and especially independent sales, is a right brain kind of activity. It’s the ability to make people laugh, to synthesize widely differing elements, and to apply a deeper understanding to all kinds of situations in which sales reps find themselves. These unique elements are part and parcel in rep’s overall ability to survive in a fiercely competitive market, and still come out ahead while continuing to do their own thing. We are curious creatures, we old-timer reps, and the fact that we are still here in the 21st century—and making plans for the future—is a testament to the unique qualities a rep must demonstrate: the ability to promote a publisher of home improvement guides and a poetry press at the same time—to figure out how to succeed with both in a given territory.

I am not sure that the critical success factors as a commission rep or as an independent bookseller can necessarily be learned. One must already be an individual who can think flexibly and nimbly; one must understand innately how to make connections between seemingly disparate ideas; and one must be by nature a bit of a cockeyed optimist. A good sense of humor is also essential. Perhaps it’s not surprising that young people are not flocking to this business in droves because there are legitimate fears of dealing with the uncertainties and all of the vicissitudes of a very dynamic business. And yet there is no employer but yourself to turn to in your darker moments. Heck, you could starve to death in this business! And so it goes. But the fact that we have NAIPR, a unique and thriving association of independent reps who work successfully in the marketplace of ideas, who constantly adapt themselves to changing realities on the ground, who manage their businesses on their own terms, who have developed their own comfort zones and inimitable styles of doing business is, in my humble opinion, a beautiful thing.

Maybe the young ones will eventually figure out that they may be missing out on a on a significant opportunity. But in the meantime, we in the business, sprouting gray hairs and developing osteoporosis, will continue to soldier on and make the most of our hard-won freedoms and continue with our own brand of management and personal fulfillment.

Eric Miller
President, NAIPR